Trial venue is undecided for ex-BYU official

PROVO — A fair trial.

That's what 4th District Judge Steven Hansen promised a former Brigham Young University finance officer accused of stealing money from the LDS Church-owned school. The question left unanswered Wednesday, however, was where the trial will be held.

Hansen told John S. Davis' attorney, Fred Keller, to readdress the issue of changing the trial's venue prior to a Jan. 28 hearing.

Davis is charged with seven second-degree felony counts of theft and one second-degree felony count of racketeering for allegedly embezzling more than $300,000 from BYU.

Keller requested Wednesday that the court relocate Davis' trial to Summit County, where BYU students, employees and alumni make up 4 percent of the adult population.

"Where can the defendant get a fair trial?" Keller asked the court. "Our argument is that's Summit County."

According to court documents, Keller is concerned that a majority of members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints would favor BYU in a trial, since a portion of tithing money donated to the church by its members is allocated to the university.

"That's like an argument that people that are devout Latter-day Saints can't be good jurors," argued Deputy Utah County Attorney David Wayment. "That's sort of a repugnant argument."

Despite that disagreement, however, Wayment supported Keller's request for a venue change as long as the relocation remained within the boundaries of the 4th District Court, which covers Utah, Juab and Millard counties.

"Nephi is a very short drive down the road," Wayment said. "Ninety-three percent of the population over 18 is not affiliated with BYU."

Keller, however, disputed Wayment's assertions and said that small-town ties between the Juab County community and those affiliated with BYU would likely taint a jury pool from Nephi.

Hansen remained unconvinced by either side.

"I am not at this point satisfied that the defendant would not get a fair trial in Utah County," Hansen said, before delaying the a decision on the motion.

Surprised by the decision, Keller requested a chance to present additional arguments that support his theory that religious bias in Utah County would unfairly convict Davis.

Hansen granted the request and asked Keller to consider the possibility of "examining jurors on questions of tithing contribution," before the January hearing, where Hansen will make a final decision on the trial's location.

Wayment said that a fair trial is possible anywhere — including Provo.

"It's not like the old days when everyone in the valley was associated with BYU," Wayment added. "It's not quite the omnipresence it was 20 years ago."

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E-mail: lwarner@desnews.com