AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) - The trial for a 18-year-old man charged in a deadly brawl in Maine will be moved because of the publicity the case has received.
Justice Michaela Murphy ruled on a motion by the defense seeking to move the trial of Emmanuel Nkurunziza from Lewiston to Portland or Augusta, the Sun Journal reported Tuesday.
Nkurunziza, through his attorneys, argued in a motion filed last year that media coverage of his case had lessened the likelihood of finding an impartial jury in the area.
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His defense attorney cited at least a dozen articles published in the Sun Journal since his arrest last year.
The Biddeford resident was charged as a juvenile in April for the June 2018 brawl where 38-year-old Donald Giusti was apparently struck by a rock and knocked to the pavement. He died three days later from blunt-force trauma to his head and torso, according to a medical examiner.
Witnesses remember a group of largely Somali youth clashing with more than a dozen white men that night at Kennedy Park.
Nkurunziza admitted to having thrown a rock but hadn’t seen where it landed, police said.
A judge ordered in October that Nkurunziza be tried as an adult on the Class A felony charge, which carries a maximum penalty of 30 years in prison.
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