Accused killer, rapist seeks split trials

RENO, Nev., Jan. 29 (UPI) -- A man charged with the rape-murder of a California coed and the rape of two others plans to seek trials in each case, his lawyer says.

An effort also was expected to move the trial of James Biela out of Reno, Nev., where the body of Brianna Denison, a 19-year-old Reno native and sophomore at a Santa Barbara, Calif., college, was found, the Reno Gazette Journal reported.

A trial is scheduled for Feb. 22, 2010. The prosecution says it will seek the death penalty.

The defense says intense publicity surrounding the death of Denison necessitates a change of venue.

Denison disappeared from the couch of a friend's home near the University of Nevada, Reno campus on Jan. 20, 2008. Her body was found Feb. 15 in a field in south Reno. She had been raped and strangled.

An anonymous tip led police to Biela, who later was also charged with kidnapping and sexual assault of a Nevada-Reno student and rape of another woman in a parking garage.

"Each charge has a separate set of issues and set of facts," Richard Davies, Biela's lawyer, said of seeking separate trials. "When they are all together, it tends to blur the whole story. It's easier for the jury to look at each count separately."