For the first time in almost two decades, a judge has moved a trial out of Jacksonville because of too much publicity.
Joshua Phillips will be tried May 17 in the Polk County town of Bartow for the slaying of his 8-year-old neighbor, Maddie Clifton.
And that has court officials attempting to figure out the logistics of moving dozens of witnesses and court personnel halfway across the state for two weeks.
''I'm going to have to familiarize myself with the procedure as far as payment of witnesses and travel expenses,'' said Court Administrator Britt Beasley, who has never dealt with a change of venue and couldn't estimate a cost.
Chief Assistant Public Defender Bill White said the last case he can recall being moved out of Jacksonville was the murder trial of Edward Dean Kennedy, a prison escapee who murdered a Florida Highway Patrol trooper and a Baldwin man in 1981. His trial was moved to Deland.
Next month, when the Phillips trial travels south to Bartow, so will the presiding judge, prosecutors, defense lawyer, witnesses, supporters of the victim and defendant and local media covering the case.
''We're certainly making plans for it,'' Beasley said. ''We've contacted the [Polk County] Court Administrator's Office . . . and asked them to summon jurors.''
Beasley also has asked the Polk County Clerk's Office to supply a trial clerk. The court reporting firm the Duval County Courthouse uses for local trials has agreed to provide a court reporter for this trial at no additional cost, Beasley said.
The Polk County Courthouse will supply bailiffs in the trial that Beasley said isn't expected to last more than two weeks.
Jacksonville would pay for travel, lodging and meals for the presiding judge and prosecutors. Phillips has a private defense attorney.
''To the extent that local witnesses have to travel, that would be an additional cost,'' Beasley said. ''They [attorneys] would call who they feel like they need as witnesses and any costs associated with that would be paid.''
Prosecutors listed 198 people as witnesses for depositions. It is unknown how many of them will be called to testify at trial.
Karen Rinehart, a friend of the Cliftons, said more than two dozen people will accompany the family to Bartow for support.
While the Justice Coalition usually has court watchers who attend local trials to support victim's families, John McCulloch, spokesman for the coalition, said the organization won't be able to send anyone to Bartow.
''It's going to be difficult for any major show of support for them because of the great distance and the financial position we're in,'' he said. ''Running a staff as lean as we do, I doubt that we'll be able to sufficiently provide that support.''
The move also inconveniences local news organizations, but most are still planning extensive coverage of the trial.
''It'll be a little more inconvenient, but we plan to give the trial thorough and complete coverage,'' said Times-Union Editor Patrick Yack.
Skip Valet, news director of WJXT TV-4, said that in his 17 years in Jacksonville, the Phillips' case is definitely one of the Top 5 stories.
''The move will have no effect on us in terms of how we cover the story,'' Valet said. ''We were actually expecting it, so we had this built in as a contingency in our budget.''
Bart Swenson, news director of WTLV TV-12, said obviously this is a huge story.
''And the fact that it is happening during sweeps just increases the impact,'' Swenson said. ''We're planning pretty solid coverage from beginning to the end.''
Jim LaBranche, news director at WAWS TV-30, agreed that moving the trial will make it less convenient and more expensive to cover. But it isn't going to change the station's approach, he said.
''It's a very big story,'' he said. ''We're still going to do the same coverage we would have done here.''
Jim Church, news director at WJXX TV-25, said his station will ''just move operations there.'' TV-25 had a crew in Bartow yesterday.
One news organization that will be affected in the way it covers the trial will be WOKV (690 AM), Jacksonville's highest rated news/talk radio station.
''It is our intention to send one of our reporters down for the opening and closing stages of the trial,'' said Mike Dorwart, WOKV's program director. ''For the middle stages of the trial, we have arranged to use a stringer. If it had been in town, we would have staffed it, but with five full-time people, you're talking about 20 percent of our staff.''
But Dorwart said there is no question the story demands WOKV's attention.
''This is a very big story,'' he said, ''not so much because it is a murder trial but because the tragic death of Maddie Clifton certainly captured the attention and the compassion of the people of Jacksonville.''
The Justice Coalition isn't pleased the trial's being moved.
''It's a Jacksonville crime, it's about Jacksonville and the entire city embraced the family and the entire city needs some closure on this horrible crime,'' McCulloch said. ''The only closure that we'll get is what we'll see on television in 30-second sound bites and what we read in The Florida Times-Union.''
Times-Union staff writer Charlie Patton contributed to this report.
