CONWAY, SC (WBTW)- Sidney Moorer, the man accused of kidnapping Heather Elvis, is still waiting to see whether or not his retrial will happen in a Conway courtroom.
Just over a month ago, News13 told you Judge Markley Dennis said he was concerned about the fairness of the trial after the community had already seen the evidence in the case.
Criminal defense attorney Stuart Axelrod says in order for Moorer to have a fair trial, the case cannot be tried again by an Horry County jury.
“In this case, the publicity was so strong. I was surprised they even sat a jury in the first place. “The jurors said they could be fair and impartial, they didn’t know anything, but I think every person in the county, I think every squirrel in the county knew what was going on in this case, ” said Axelrod.
Axelrod says most times during a retrial, the judge who heard the trial originally will stay on the case, and he believes that’s what Dennis will do in the upcoming trial.
“Most times, if you change the venue or you pick a jury from somewhere else, you’ll actually pick them, you’ll bring them here, and you’ll house them for the trial. So, everybody that’s involved in the trial doesn’t have to travel as far except for the 12 or 14 jurors,” said Axelrod.
In the latest trial, we heard the state’s expert witness testify in his experience no two vehicles anywhere have the same headlight spread pattern.
Axelrod says hearing that before the retrial gives an advantage to Sidney.
“I think Mr. Truslow realized that he needed to have an expert. My guess would be and I do not know, my opinion would be that he would get an expert to rebut the state’s expert saying that those were Sidney’s headlights because I thought that was questionable,” said Axelrod.
Axelrod says before a retrial happens, a court reporter must first complete a transcript from the last trial.
Both the state and defense would then get 90 days to review it. He says the best case scenario would be to have the retrial before the end of this year.
