Dan Herbert, the attorney for Jason Van Dyke, the Chicago police officer set to go on trial for the shooting death of Laquan McDonald, has announced that he is considering asking to have the venue for the trial moved to a new location citing comments made by Mayor Rahm Emanuel about his client.
Van Dyke is slated to appear in court on Friday to hear the charges against him, though a formal arraignment will likely be held later, reported the Hickory Record. He was indicted on Tuesday on six counts of first-degree murder and one count of official misconduct following the prosecution filing an original murder charge against him three weeks beforehand.
Herbert says that he may ask for a change of venue due to the amount of pre-trial publicity that the case has garnered, much of which he blames Emanuel for.
"It's very difficult for my client to get a fair trial in Cook County, especially when the mayor essentially has come out and indicted him on several different occasions," Herbert said, according to CBS Chicago "If I do challenge the change of venue, I would imagine the mayor's comments would most likely be Exhibit A to my motion."
One such comment was made during a Nov. 24 news conference when Emanuel mentioned Van Dyke by name and said that it was clear his actions were wrong, according to the Associated Press.
"We hold our police officers to a high standard and obviously in this case, Jason Van Dyke violated both the standards of professionalism that come with being a police officer but also basic moral standards that bind our community together," Emanuel said.
