Judge OKs moving trial of Michael Morva

CHRISTIANSBURG -- A Montgomery County judge has ruled that Michael Morva's upcoming trial will be moved out of the New River Valley.

In a rare move, Circuit Judge Ray Grubbs on Friday granted a change-of-venue motion without first attempting to seat a jury in Montgomery County.

"After much, much consideration," Grubbs said in Montgomery County Circuit Court, "I think it is impossible to sever this case from that of William Morva."

William Morva has been sentenced to death for the August 2006 murders of Montgomery Regional Hospital security guard Derrick McFarland and Cpl. Eric Sutphin with the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office.

William Morva was at the hospital for treatment when he beat the deputy escorting him and took the deputy's gun, then used it to kill McFarland and Sutphin.

His older brother, Michael Morva, is charged with conspiring to help him escape custody. He is accused of conspiring with his brother sometime between January 2006, when they were in jail together, and the August 2006 escape.

Michael Morva has denied helping his brother. Their mother, Elizabeth Morva, said she believes he is innocent. She said Friday that she was glad the trial will be moved outside Montgomery County.

"The justice system worked today," she said.

A date and place for the trial have not yet been determined.

Michael Morva's defense attorney, Jeffrey Oppleman, said he would like to see the trial moved outside the coverage areas of local media.

He argued that even if dozens of people from Montgomery County were called in for jury selection, "not one, unless they've been in a cave somewhere, is not going to know the name Morva."

William Morva's capital-murder trial was moved out of Montgomery County after Grubbs found that too many people in the jury pool had ties to the case or the people involved. It was held last year in Washington County Circuit Court in Abingdon, so Michael Morva's trial will likely be held elsewhere.

In Oppleman's motion for a change of venue, he wrote that "considering the Virginia Tech massacre, which has worldwide coverage, the beheading of a Virginia Tech student, which also had worldwide coverage, the people in the Blacksburg/Christiansburg/Roanoke/Salem area have been inundated with tragedy and the desire for punitive revenge and prejudice."

Montgomery Commonwealth's Attorney Brad Finch responded in court, saying he didn't think Oppleman had given the community credit for its strength, resiliency and fair-mindedness.