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Trial in Fort Dodge woman’s death moved again, rescheduled

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March 1st, 2019 by Ric Hanson

FORT DODGE, Iowa (AP) — The trial of an Indiana man accused of killing a Fort Dodge woman has been relocated again and rescheduled. The Messenger reports that 26-year-old Phillip Williams, of Lafayette, Indiana, was scheduled to start trial Monday in Mason City, where the trial had been moved because of pretrial publicity in Fort Dodge. He and Mackenzie Knigge are accused of killing 26-year-old Jessica Gomez in August 2017.

Williams’ attorney, Katherine Flickinger, objected to the lack of black people in the Mason City jury pool, saying that just one person out of 130 potential jurors was self-identified as black. Flickinger told the judge that Williams “has a legitimate interest in the representation of African-Americans on the jury panel,” and she asked that the trial be moved to a county with a higher black population.

On Wednesday the judge moved the trial to Cedar Rapids in Linn County and scheduled it to start March 25. Knigge also has pleaded not guilty. She’s scheduled to begin trial June 10.