Accused serial rapist John Alexander
Scieszka will stand trial Dec. 1 as sched-
uled, but it won’t be in Athens-Clarke
County.

On Wednesday morning, ACC Superior
Court Judge Lawton Stephens granted a
motion made by Scieszka’s lawyer, Jo
Carol Nesset-Sale, to change the venue but
denied her request to delay the trial’s
starting date.

The venue will be determined by
Stephens because Nesset-Sale and Gerald
Brown, ACC Chief Assistant District
Attorney, could not agree on a location.

Lawyers discussed Lawrenceville,
Gainesville and Savannah as possible loca-
tions.

"We have
reached an
agreement to
disagree and let
the court decide
where the
venue should be
c h a n g e d , "
N e s s e t – S a l e
said.

Both lawyers
said media cov-
erage and
whether or not
the jury is
s e q u e s t e r e d
play a role in deciding where to change the
venue.

Brown said a jury could be sequestered
as easily in one place as another, but if the
jury weren’t sequestered, transportation
would be an obstacle.

"If we don’t sequester a jury, then hav-
ing jurors drive or be transported from one
jurisdiction to Athens seems to be an
insurmountable obstacle so that we would
try the case where we select the jury," he
said.

Brown said the prosecution’s proposals
for the change center on practical consid-
erations.

"Our idea is as a matter of practicality
simply to choose a jurisdiction such as
Gainesville in Hall County or
Lawrenceville in Gwinnett County because
they are an easy commute for us if we try
the case somewhere else," he said.

Brown said the prosecution was not
wedded to any particular choice.

Nesset-Sale asked the court to consider
the impact of Atlanta media.

She said Lawrenceville ought to be dis-
carded as an option because it is a "bed-
room community of Atlanta where some of
the alleged victims of Mr. Scieszka reside."

Nesset-Sale suggested changing the
venue to Savannah in Chatham County,
out of the market of the Atlanta media.

She said in Chatham County the likeli-
hood is high that the jury wouldn’t have to
be sequestered.

"There simply is not the compelling
community interest nor has that communi-
ty been touched, I think, in the way the
Atlanta community and its environs have
been touched," she said.

There is no pending motion to sequester
the jury in the trial, which lawyers say will
last about two weeks.

Stephens said he intended to start the
trial Dec. 1 if the calendar of the new
venue allowed.

Nesset-Sale requested the trial be
delayed to give her more time to prepare
the case.

Nesset-Sale is a lawyer with the
University’s Legal Aid and Defender
Clinic, which Stephens appointed to pro-
vide Scieszka’s defense after the attorney
Scieszka initially hired withdrew from the
case.

On Aug. 5, Scieszka pleaded not guilty
to three counts of rape and 14 other felony
counts, some of which police say occurred
in the Five Points area.