Ronald Kelly, charged with murder and felonious assault in the death of Kent State student Christopher Kernich, filed a motion to change the venue of his trial on Jan. 13.

Gregory Scott Robey, Kelly’s attorney, motioned to move the trial because of the media attention surrounding the death of Kernich and the pretrial in Portage County.

“The vast exposure within the community to this information has unfairly prejudiced the defendant and substantially endangered his rights under both the Constitution of the United States and Ohio to receive a fair and impartial jury of his peers,” Robey wrote in the motion.

Kelly and Adrian Barker, both students at the University of Akron, were charged with murder and felonious assault after Kernich died as a result of injuries he suffered on Nov. 15. Kernich died in the hospital on Nov. 21.