Defense: No fair trial in Orange

Due to “extensive and relentless” pretrial media coverage by this newspaper and the “hostile atmosphere” and “pervasive gossip” in small-town Orange, murder suspect Brenda Canosa “cannot and will not receive a fair trial in Orange County.”

The defense will make that argument at a motion for change-of-venue hearing Friday at 1:30 p.m. in Orange County Circuit Court.

A Madison County resident, Brenda Canosa, 50, faces charges of first-degree murder and use of a firearm in the commission of a felony in the shooting death of her husband, Bob Canosa, Dec. 11 at his residence in Unionville.

Bob Canosa, an Orange County Sheriff’s Office investigator at the time of the shooting, died nine days later from his wounds.
Brenda Canosa has been held in jail in Orange since Dec. 11.

In presenting their case for a change of venue in the trial — which is expected to last three weeks, according to court records — defense attorneys Dana Slater and Christopher Leibig filed a seven-page motion, more than a dozen clips of media coverage by the Star-Exponent and sworn written affidavits from 56 Orange County residents.

In their motion, the defense attorneys describe the Culpeper Star-Exponent as “Orange County’s premier newspaper.”

In the affidavits gathered by the defense, a cross-section of Orange residents state they think the Canosa trial should be moved out of the county due to the extensive media coverage and gossip about the case around town. At least five residents interviewed also mentioned “the good-old boy network” in effect in Orange as another reason why Mrs. Canosa would not a get a fair trial there.

Among their grounds for arguing that the case be heard in “a nearby county,” the defense listed: 1) “the fact that the victim’s colleagues in the Sheriff’s Department will be responsible for courtroom security and jury management at the trial” and 2) “the fact that the jurors will be aware that the victim’s colleagues patrol the streets and protect the peace in Orange County.”

In addition, the defense said in its motion that Bob Canosa “was well known, liked and respected by the general community and particularly the law enforcement community.”

Further, “The press has elevated the meaning of remarks by the preliminary hearing judge in a way that suggests the homicide has been proven to be premeditated murder,” according to court records, and, “The prosecutor has been selectively quoted … in ways that would tend to inflame public sentiment against the defendant.”

Although several media outlets have covered pretrial hearings in the Canosa case, the defense singled out the Star-Exponent coverage as a primary reason why Mrs. Canosa would not get a fair trial in Orange.

The attorneys even included a StarExponent.com Reader Reaction comment in making its case, and claimed this newspaper has disseminated possibly “inadmissible material” regarding allegations that Bob Canosa was having an affair, as stated by Orange County Commonwealth’s Attorney Diana Wheeler at an earlier hearing.