Court Orders Joey Meek Trial Moved to Charleston

CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCIV) — Joey Meek will stand trial in Charleston despite his attorney filing a motion to have it heard in Columbia where he lives and was arrested for allegedly lying to investigators about Dylann Roof’s plans to kill people at a black church in Charleston. Judge Richard Gergel ordered on Monday that while the location of the trial will not suit everyone involved in it, the court has the ultimate responsibility to accommodate the victims. Meek’s attorney Deborah Barbier said in a filing last week that moving the trial would put undue stress on her as she prepares a defense for Meek. But Gergel said the distance between Charleston and Columbia is short and easily traveled by interstate in less than two hours, a similar trip that can be made for attorneys in Charleston or Hilton Head trying cases in those cities. Gergel said the attorney’s inconvenience is not an important factor in the case, but “the convenience of numerous family member victims of the nine who perished at Emanuel AME Church in Charleston on June 17,2015, is an important consideration and outweighs the convenience of the Defendant and his family members.” Gergel said the issue of bias by having the trial held in the city where the shootings happened would not be an issue because prosecutors have already said they plan to craft the jury pool from a statewide panel. The statewide questionnaire was something Gergel advocated for and applauded in a recent court hearing after U.S. Attorneys brought up the idea. Attorneys have already agreed that Meek’s trial should be held in the March-April term of the federal court calendar. Gergel will preside over Meek’s case, and Roof’s case set to happen several months later in July.