NOPD officer charged in killing of unarmed teen seeks to move trial outside city

NOPD officer charged in killing of unarmed teen seeks to move trial outside city

NEW ORLEANS - The New Orleans police officer charged with manslaughter in the fatal 2012 shooting of Wendell Allen is trying to move his trial outside the city.

The attorney for Joshua Colclough filed a motion today for a change of venue in the upcoming manslaughter trial.

Attorney Claude Kelly said his client is entitled to a fair trial.

"And in Orleans Parish, that's impossible," Kelly said.

Kelly said that pre-trial publicity, as well as the community's overall sentiment about the troubled NOPD, are major factors.

Colclough fatally shot, Allen, who was unarmed and shirtless, while serving a search warrant last March with other officers.

Kelly said that Criminal District Court Judge Keva Landrum-Johnson will take up the motion for a change of venue at a hearing in mid-June.