Print edition: 
WICHITA — A Sedgwick County District Judge has set a hearing next month to determine whether Scott Roeder's first-degree murder trial will proceed here or elsewhere.
Judge Warren Wilbert has scheduled Dec. 22 to hear arguments on a motion filed this week by Roeder's public defenders asking for a change of venue because of the controversy surrounding the killing of Wichita abortion doctor George Tiller.
"The death of George Tiller represented the confluence of controversial issues deeply ingrained into the mind-set of multiple generations of Wichita residents," the motion says.
It is one of two dates set next month for pretrial hearings. The next hearing is set for Dec. 9.
Tiller was shot May 31 while serving as an usher in the lobby of the Wichita church he attended.
Roeder was arrested later that day near Kansas City, where he lived.
"Individuals who claimed to know the defendant were quoted with inflammatory statements damning the defendant," the motion reads.
There has not been a change of venue granted in Sedgwick County in at least 40 years.
Trial is set to begin Jan. 11.
