Alyssa Bustamante's murder trial will be held in the new federal courthouse in Jefferson City, Cole County Circuit Judge Patricia Joyce announced Thursday afternoon. And the media will not be allowed to transmit video or other electronic reporting from the courtroom.
After several previous delays, the trial now is set to begin with opening arguments at 8:30 a.m. Jan. 30. It's being moved to the federal facility to allow for tighter security than would be feasible in the usual venue of the county courthouse, and also so that a lengthy trial will not disrupt the schedule of other cases.
Court publicizes procedures for attending trial
[]Jurors will be chosen in Greene County the previous week, then brought to Jefferson City for the trial.
Bustamante was 151â„2 when she was accused of murdering Elizabeth Olten, 9, a neighbor who visited Bustamante's home and played with the teen's younger sister.
Bustamante will turn 18 shortly before the trial begins.
Olten was killed Oct. 21, 2009, and her body was found on Oct. 23, concealed in the woods behind a line of homes on the west side of LoMo Drive, which also is state Route D, south of the U.S. 50/Route D interchange in St. Martin's.
The two girls' families lived at opposite ends of that small neighborhood.
Hundreds of Mid-Missourians had helped search for Olten in almost constantly rainy conditions, from the Wednesday night when she was reported missing until her body was found Friday afternoon.
Bustamante was certified to stand trial as an adult on Nov. 18, 2009 - and indicted by the Cole County grand jury hours later.
Joyce's four-page order says 34 seats - 14 in the main courtroom and 20 in an overflow courtroom being provided with a special closed-circuit video and audio feed - will be available to the general public for attending the trial.
Those seats will be issued to the public based on applications that must be submitted to the court by 4 p.m. Jan. 20. The 34 seats will be distributed by a lottery for each day if more than 34 people apply for them.
The federal court's rules prohibit all "cellphones, smart phones, computers, laptops, tablets, or any other electronic devices capable of recording, photographing or video-recording" from being carried into the building.
As with any other visitor to the federal courthouse at 80 Lafayette St., just west of the old Missouri State Penitentiary, all people attending the Bustamante trial will be subject to search, and any person violating the federal court's rules "will be removed from the courtroom and not allowed re-entry for the duration of the trial," according to the order.
Joyce's order also notes that media will be required to follow the same rules.
"Even had this case been tried in a state courtroom, requests for cameras or other media recording devices would have been denied in light of issues raised by the parties" in the case, Joyce said.
The complete order is posted online at www.newstribune.com/bustamante.