Torrey Green trial moved to Box Elder County

Former Utah State University football player Torrey Green will have his trial moved from Cache County to Box Elder County, Judge Brian Cannell ruled Thursday morning.

Cannell also ruled in favor of the consolidation of six cases brought against Green — which include charges of six counts of rape and one count of aggravated kidnapping — into one case with one jury trial.

Utah State Courts database

Judge Cannell clarified in court Thursday that defendant Torrey Green knew his right to separate trials in all seven cases would be waived as a result of the motion to consolidate six of the cases.

Both decisions came at the request of Green’s defense attorney, Skye Lazaro.

Cache County prosecutor Spencer Walsh said the state was in agreement with the decision to consolidate the cases after speaking with the alleged victims.

“We believe that by only having to testify at one trial it will benefit them from not having to go through the emotional and difficult process of testifying six different times,” Walsh said.

Lazaro argued “reasonable doubt” of Green’s ability to receive a fair trial in Cache County was enough to justify a change of venue.

She argued a move out of Cache County could allow the court to pull from a larger pool of jurors less likely to be fans of USU football or to have a “vested interest” in the outcome of Green’s case.

Eli Lucero / The Herald Journal

Defense attorney Skye Lazaro, left, speaks to prosecuting attorney Spencer Walsh during oral arguments in Torrey Green’s sexual assault cases Thursday in Logan. Green will have his seven cases consolidated into two trials, which will be moved to Box Elder County.

Lazaro also argued media coverage of the case, including a series of Pulitzer Prize-winning articles in The Salt Lake Tribune, had increased Green’s standing in the community to the point that a fair trial could not be had in Cache County.

Cache County prosecutor Spencer Walsh argued Lazaro failed to provide enough evidence on Green’s behalf that a fair trial was unlikely.

Walsh said the court could take “great care” to select from a large pool of jurors and to screen those jurors for potential bias as a result of exposure to media, connections to USU or prejudice against those of African American descent.

Additionally, media coverage of the case had been statewide and wasn’t restricted to Cache County, Walsh said.

“Frankly, the Salt Lake Tribune have run more stories in this case than even the local media,” Walsh said, “so I don’t know that moving the case resolves anything.”

Eli Lucero / The Herald Journal

Torrey Green appears in 1st District Court on Thursday in Logan. Green will have his seven sexual assault cases consolidated into two trials, which will be moved to Box Elder County.

Though Walsh maintained he did not think Lazaro had presented enough evidence that an unbiased jury could not be found in Cache County, he stipulated he thought Green could also be tried fairly in Box Elder County.

Lazaro agreed that she thought a trial in Box Elder County would be fair.

In his ruling for the venue change, Cannell cited a “#MeToo movement in Cache Valley,” which included sexual assault and harassment allegations against USU students in recent years and in the university’s music department as “significant events that have occurred both allegedly as well as specifically.”

The nature and extent of publicity regarding those events was “statewide but also narrow and specific to Cache Valley,” Cannell said, which led him to conclude there was a “reasonable likelihood that a fair trial cannot be had if these matters were to stay within Cache County.”

Despite the venue change, Cannell said he would submit his order with the stipulation that he was willing to remain the judge on the case. Lazaro stated for the record that this would be her preference, as well.

Walsh said the state respected Cannell’s decision to move the trial.

“This doesn’t change any of the evidence of these cases and the state looks forward to presenting its evidence at trial,” Walsh said.

Lazaro declined to comment in response to the rulings.

Utah State Courts database

Court documents indicate a review hearing in Green’s case is set for May 1.

— ac.roberts95@gmail.com

@alyssarbrts