....now, doesn't the defendent get to have a jury of his "peers" and wouldn't that require a possible trial moving to an area of more whites?
I remember OJ getting a trial of his racial "peers" even though he lived and murdered in lily white territory.....
The defense should not have a problem getting a change of venue away from the city of Durham, but as I understand it in North Carolina a change of venue typically only goes to another county in the same prosecutorial district or to a neighboring district. So it would probably get moved to a county within the adjoining districts that is considered to be in a different media market (probably not Raleigh, but perhaps Roxboro?) but probably not to, say, somewhere like Asheville. On the other hand, the publicity in the entire part of the state is so intense that perhaps an exception will be agreed to here. The defendants do not have a legal right to a jury of whites, and on the contrary, I understand that in North Carolina the judge may take into account the racial breakdown of the proposed new venue before agreeing to a change.