Survey: Most in Barton County already believe Longoria guilty of killing 14-year-old girl

Three out of four people surveyed in Barton County believe Adam Longoria is guilty of killing a 14-year-old girl.

Alicia DeBolt disappeared around 11 p.m. Aug. 21, after telling her mother she was going to a party. Neighbors said they saw the girl get into an SUV similar to one Longoria drove. DeBolt’s charred body was found days later at an asphalt plant south of Great Bend, where Longoria worked.

The survey, conducted through Pittsburg State University, is evidence Longoria cannot get a fair trial here, his defense argued Wednesday morning.

“The only way to ensure a fair trial is to move the case to another county, where they are not as involved and have not made up their minds,” public defender Jeff Wicks argued.

“Just exactly where do you want it to go?” prosecutor Kevin O’Connor argued.

O’Connor noted that residents in other counties were not polled to show whether they held different opinions about the case. O’Connor, working as a special assistant to the Kansas attorney general, also called the survey incomplete because it only selected its random sample from the phone book. Many people now have cellphones that are not listed in the phone book, O’Connor said.

Shirley Drew, a Pittsburg professor of communications, said everyone called knew about the case. She said in such circumstances, people who have already made up their minds aren’t likely to change them.

“The more involved they are in an issue, the more they are in a comfort zone and less likely they are to be persuaded,” Drew said.

That supported defense claims that Longoria would enter a trial with a verdict already a foregone conclusion.

“That’s the problem we have here,” Wicks told the judge.

O’Connor, however, argued that jurors tend to act differently once they take an oath in court than they would answering questions from an anonymous caller.

Kansas case law holds high standards for moving a trial from the county where a crime is charged. Other cases, with higher survey results, have not been moved and convictions upheld on appeal. O’Connor quoted one ruling that said the defense would have to prove a fair trial “impossible” for a judge to have to order the trial moved. The Kansas Supreme Court has a history of not interfering with trial judges’ decisions on where to locate the trial, O’Connor pointed out.

“The evidence does not rise to any more than mere speculation,” O’Connor said.

Barton County District Judge Hannelore Kitts said she would rule on the motion Monday.

The motion was one of dozens being argued Wednesday in Longoria’s case, which is set for trial March 26. Most involved requests by the defense for the judge to issue orders on points of legal procedure during trial. On the majority of them, Kitts either denied the requests or ruled they were unnecessary because they were covered by existing courthouse policies.

This story was originally published February 8, 2012 at 5:00 AM with the headline "Survey: Most in Barton County already believe Longoria guilty of killing 14-year-old girl."