ALEXANDRIA, S.D. (AP) - A South Dakota judge has moved the trial of a 17-year-old girl accused of helping kidnap and kill a 16-year-old Mitchell girl 2 ½ years ago.
Maricela Diaz of Fort Wayne, Ind., will be tried in Minnehaha County rather than Hanson County in September. Her attorneys asked for the change of venue, saying it would be difficult to find impartial jurors in the county where the crime allegedly occurred.
Diaz pleaded not guilty in adult court last August in the November 2009 killing of Jasmine Guevara. Authorities say Guevara was lured to a rural area and stabbed, and her body left in a burning vehicle. Alexander Salgado, of Fort Wayne, Ind., pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in August 2010 and is serving a life sentence.
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