Jun 11, 2008 7:00 pm US/Central
Bus Crash Trial Moved From Marshall To Willmar
MARSHALL, Minn. (AP) ―
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Lyon County District Judge David Peterson granted the change of venue Wednesday. He also scheduled the trial of Olga Marina Franco del Cid of Minneota to begin July 28 at the Kandiyohi County courthouse. (File)
Lyon County
The trial of a woman charged in a fatal school bus crash has been moved from Marshall to Willmar.
Lyon County District Judge David Peterson granted the change of venue Wednesday. He also scheduled the trial of Olga Marina Franco del Cid of Minneota to begin July 28 at the Kandiyohi County courthouse.
Four children from Lakeview School in Cottonwood died when a van ran a stop sign and hit their bus Feb. 19. Prosecutors say Franco, 24, was driving the van, but she claims it was her boyfriend. He hasn't been found.
In his order Wednesday, the judge wrote that many Lyon County residents were family or friends of those injured or killed in the crash, or of the emergency personnel who responded to the crash.
Peterson also said, "In the end it is simply too much to ask a community to grieve for its children and then a few months later sit with dispassionate judgment on the very case giving rise to that grief."
Franco has been in the Lyon County Jail since her arrest Feb. 20. She's charged with four counts of criminal vehicular homicide.
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Cottonwood is located west of the Twin Cities.
(© 2009 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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