Jorg

        The attorney for Cincinnati Police Officer Robert B. Jorg will ask a Hamilton County judge today to move his client's trial outside the county.

        Officer Jorg, 30, has been suspended without pay since January, when he was indicted on a felony involuntary manslaughter charge in the November suffocation death of Roger Owensby Jr.

        His attorney, R. Scott Croswell, contends that moving the trial would help to “avoid the obvious problems created by massive publicity” that followed April's riots.

        The hearing will take place before Common Pleas Judge Thomas C. Nurre.

        The three days of unrest was sparked by the April 7 shooting death of an unarmed African-American man in Over-the-Rhine as he fled a different Cincinnati police officer.

        Mr. Owensby died Nov. 7 while struggling with five police officers in the parking lot of a Roselawn gas station. Police have said Mr. Owensby, 29, of College Hill was wanted because he had assaulted a police officer and escaped arrest several days earlier.

        Mr. Croswell says in his motion for a change of venue that national media reports about the deaths of African-Americans — including Mr. Owensby — during arrests by Cincinnati police would make it difficult to seat a jury that hasn't been “influenced.”

        Prosecutors argue that the only way to determine whether the objectivity of jurors in Hamilton County has been affected is to ask them during jury selection.

        “A change of venue should never be granted until the jury selection process begins,” said Assistant Prosecutors Thomas Longano and Mark Piepmeier in their response brief. “The test is not whether the jurors have seen news media accounts of the case. Instead, the test is whether the jurors will be fair and impartial considering only the facts presented at trial.”

        Officer Jorg's trial is scheduled for Oct. 22.

        A second Cincinnati officer, Patrick Caton, was charged with misdemeanor assault in the death of Mr. Owensby. Mr. Caton's trial is scheduled Oct. 24 before Hamilton County Municipal Judge Guy Guckenberger.

        Judge Nurre could also rule on several other motions, including specific jury instructions and a prosecution request to sequester the jury during the trial, which is expected to last about two weeks.

        Officer Jorg has been with the Cincinnati Police Division since June 1996.

        According to his personnel file, he was described as a good decision-maker who works his beat in a proactive manner. He had no reprimands.

        If convicted of the felony offense, Officer Jorg would lose his job and could spend up to five years in prison.

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