| Murder trials are moved
to Mason County
By David Hedges Publisher
Times Record-Roane County Reporter
Two murder trials were moved from Roane to Mason County last week after the judge found it would be difficult to find an impartial jury here in either case.
In separate hearings Friday in Roane Circuit Court, Judge David Nibert granted requests for a change of venue in the cases against Dreu Ferguson Jr., 28, of Spencer and Roger Eric Jones, 31, of Chloe.
Although their cases are not related, each man is charged with two separate murders, which attorneys on both sides said made things more complicated in finding an unbiased jury.
 Ferguson had been scheduled to go on trial last week in connection with the death of his 5-week-old son two years ago.
After a day of jury selection, that case was called off after Nibert ruled that improper discussions had taken place in the presence of jurors. Those discussions apparently took place in the hallway outside the courtroom and involved at least one person already excused from the jury panel.
Ferguson's case has now been set for Sept. 20 at the Mason County Courthouse in Pt. Pleasant.
Ferguson is also facing a murder charge for shooting his neighbor, William Freas III, while the victim sat on his front porch in downtown Spencer in June of last year.
That trial may also end up being moved, although that case was not a topic in Friday's hearing. Ferguson has a another court-appointed attorney in that case.
 Jones is charged with the slaying of two elderly Roane County men.
He is represented by public defender Teresa Monk in a case which alleges he killed his former neighbor, Oral "Sam" Jett.
Monk said pre-trial publicity, including a May 6th newspaper article which she called erroneous, had made it impossible for her client to get a fair trial in Roane or Calhoun counties.
The article said the DNA of both slain men had been found on the same flashlight which police said was used in the crimes.
Nibert granted Monk's motion for a change of venue and moved the trial to Mason County, but kept the trial date of July 12.
The body of the 83-year-old Jett was found alongside his car on a rural road in southern Roane County in early January of last year.
Jones is also charged in the death of John Morehead, 68, whose body was found inside his burned mobile home east of Spencer in late December 2002, about a week before Jett's death.
Police said both men had been bludgeoned to death after they were robbed.
Both Ferguson and Jones are being held in jail while awaiting trial.
Latest Roane County news click Times Record-Roane County Reporter
| 
