Looks like murder trial venue won't be changed

There is little reason to start packing your travel bags if you have a role in the Marni Yang murder case.

Although lawyers for the 41-year-old Chicago woman accused of killing Rhoni Reuter and her unborn daughter in their Deerfield home in 2007 said last week they wanted to move the trial out of Lake County, odds are it will be staying put.

The lawyers are claiming that there has been too much publicity about the case, in which prosecutors say Yang killed Reuter because she was jealous of Reuter's relationship with former Chicago Bears safety Shaun Gayle.

But there has been a lot of publicity about other murder cases and defendants; notably Juan Rivera, Peter Hommerson, Billy Rouse and so on, and the trials always take place in Lake County.

The closest anyone has come to a change of venue in recent years was the 1987 trial of serial killer Alton Coleman.

Coleman, who was the subject of a nationwide manhunt as he killed, raped and robbed his way across five states, faced his first trial in the spree here for the murder of 9-year-old Vernita Wheat.

His lawyers also wanted the trial moved, but the best they could do was get an out-of-the-county jury to hear the case.

In January 1987, the judge and the lawyers in the Coleman case trekked to Rock Island and spent six days picking a jury which was then transported to Lake County to stay in a hotel as the three-week trial unfolded.

Ironically, one of the prosecutors of the Coleman case was Victoria Rossetti, now the judge assigned to the Yang case.

$1.28 million verdict:

The father and son legal team of Patrick Salvi and Patrick Salvi II won a $1.28 million verdict July 31 for a Lake Villa woman injured in a 2005 car crash.

Megan Venturi was 16 when a vehicle crossed the centerline on Grand Avenue in Lindenhurst and crashed into her car.

Megan suffered a seriously broken leg in the crash and now has a pre-arthritic condition in her knee that limits her ability to do many things and causes her pain.

The Salvis brought the suit against the driver of the car, Jake Dorman, and his employer, Midland Realty.

It was the second jury verdict for the team, the first being a $33 million victory in a trial in March.

Judicial candidate

Lake Forest attorney Christopher Kennedy has announced he will be a candidate for circuit judge in the Democratic primary on Feb. 2.

Kennedy, a former assistant state's attorney who has been a lawyer for 15 years, is a partner in Kennedy, Pierson and Strachen LLP.

In addition to being an attorney, Kennedy is an advocate for children and adults with autism and other developmental disabilities.