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Last updated on Wednesday, July 8, 2015
(BROWN CO.) - The murder trial of Daniel Messel has been postponed. He will now face a jury of his peers on February 24, with jury selection to begin at 8 a.m.
The trial was originally set for 8 a.m. July 22.
Messel is charged with the murder of Indiana University student Hannah Wilson.
The 22-year-old's body was discovered April 24 in a vacant lot at State Road 45 and Plum Creek Road in Brown County.
According to police, 49-year-old Messel of Bloomington was arrested after police found his cell phone near Wilson's body.
On April 24, Brown County Deputies found Wilson's body near Plum Creek Road and State Road 45 after a woman driving on Plum Creek Road saw the woman's body face-down in a vacant lot. An autopsy determined Wilson died from blunt force injuries to the back of her head.
On May 22, Messel's attorney, Dorie Maryan, filed a motion requesting a change of venue.
She cited her client cannot receive a fair trial from impartial jurors in Brown County because of public outrage over the offense, public hostility against the defendant, and news stories that reprimand Messel and disclose "otherwise inadmissible evidence."
Brown Circuit Judge Judith Stewart took the change of venue request under advisement and will issue a ruling later saying "public hostility" and "outrage" could not be determined until potential jurors were questioned by the court.
Messel's final pre-trial conference is set for 1 p.m. February 2.
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