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New trial site sought in slaying of southeast Iowa teen

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February 2nd, 2018 by Ric Hanson

KEOKUK, Iowa (AP) — A defense attorney wants to move the trial of a second man accused of fatally shooting a gender-fluid teenager in southeast Iowa. The Hawk Eye reports that Jason Purham’s attorney, Allen Cook III, filed the motion Thursday in Des Moines County District Court. Cook cited in part the extensive media coverage of the case. He didn’t say where he wants the trial held.

The judge set a Monday hearing on the request. The trial is scheduled to begin Feb. 20. Purham, who is from St. Louis, is the second of two men charged with first-degree murder for the slaying of 16-year-old Kedarie Johnson, whose body was dumped in a Burlington alley on March 2, 2016. Purham’s cousin Jorge “Lumni” Sanders-Galvez was convicted in November and sentenced to life in prison.