Attorneys for accused Santa Fe High School shooter cite media coverage, Facebook comments as reason

Attorneys for accused Santa Fe High School shooter cite media coverage, Facebook comments as reason for venue change


GALVESTON — Attorneys for Dimitrios Pagourtzis, the student accused of killing 10 and wounding 13 during a shooting rampage at Santa Fe High School last May, cited “pervasive” and “factually baseless” media coverage as contributing to a local prejudice that would hinder Pagourtzis’ chances of receiving a fair trial in Galveston County.

In the defense’s arguments for a trial venue change filed Tuesday, Nick Poehl, one of three attorneys representing Pagourtzis, argued that the pretrial publicity of the May 18 shooting and its aftermath has contributed to “intrusive publicity” that has generated feelings within the local community that go beyond the families, friends, and neighbors of the victims.

Poehl cited comments made by Galveston County Judge Mark Henry in a televised interview on Fox News in which he said he didn’t believe Pagourtzis’ inability to receive the death penalty — he is 18, but was 17 when the shooting occurred — was “fair or just.” Poehl also noted that every law enforcement agency in Galveston County had officers present at the scene of the crime.

A spreadsheet submitted as evidence by Pagourtzis' defense team cites hundreds of news stories since May 18 to underscore his argument that the media attention has stirred biased attention towards the case. One story published by the New York Post, in which Pagourtzis was alleged to have targeted one of the victims because she rejected his romantic advances Poehl said was “false” and generated by the victim’s biological mother “in an apparent attempt to profit via a GoFundMe page connected to the tragedy.”

Read more: https://www.beaumontenterprise.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/Attorneys-for-accused-Santa-Fe-High-School-13553760.php