Change of venue granted in Wilberger trial

CORVALLIS, Ore. (AP) — Benton County District Attorney John Haroldson said Tuesday that a court has granted a change of venue for the trial of Joel Courtney, charged with murder in the disappearance of Brigham Young University student Brooke Wilberger.

Haroldson said a new location has not been determined but the prosecution agreed to the motion after talking to the Wilberger family, which supported the decision.

Wilberger, then 19, vanished from outside a Corvallis apartment complex near Oregon State University on May 24, 2004. Her body has not been found but she is presumed dead. Courtney, 42, who was extradited from a prison in New Mexico, faces a possible death sentence.

The case has attracted widespread media attention in the Willamette Valley.

Haroldson said he is willing to try the case in any Oregon county.

A tentative trial date has been set for early 2010.

He said there is a "naturally occurring awareness" in a small town such as Corvallis of a major crime and that he didn't want to try the case more than once.

Criminal cases sometimes are overturned because of pretrial publicity.

Courtney's lawyers made the motion for a change of venue June 5 but gave no reason at the time.