PICKENS — A motion to move the murder trial for Jerry Buck Inman, accused killer of former Clemson University student Tiffany Marie Souers, to a site outside the 13th Circuit was denied Thursday by Judge Edward Miller.

As a result, the trial will take place in Pickens County in September as scheduled.

Defense Attorney James Bannister argued during the motions hearing at the Pickens County Courthouse that a change of venue was necessary due to the intense media coverage the case has generated, adding that an outside locale requiring a different jury was the only option.

“We’re already in a position where you can presume prejudice (against Inman),” Bannister said.

Inman was arrested in June 2006 for the murder of Souers, a junior civil engineering student at Clemson University, the previous month. Souers was discovered in her first-floor apartment at The Reserve, located on Sumter Lane off S.C. Highway 93 in Central, on May 26 and authorities said she was apparently strangled with a bikini top.

Inman, 35 at the time of the killing and already a registered sex offender in Tennessee, was charged with kidnapping and criminal sexual conduct in the first degree in addition to murder. In August 2006, 13th Circuit Solicitor Bob Ariail announced that he would seek the death penalty against Inman.

Last fall, Miller denied two major pre-trial motions by the Inman defense team — one that a hearing be closed in which Inman planned to enter a guilty plea and, once that ruling was made, a request by the defendant to enter a guilty plea if he could receive a separate trial for sentencing.

Bannister said the coverage of his client through news accounts involving newspapers, television, the Internet, and a survey performed by the Felker Group was ample grounds for a change of venue.

“People have knowledge of the case, have formed strong opinions of the case and people have a prejudiced opinion to such an extent they would be unable to set aside that opinion even under instruction of the court,” Bannister said. “This is a small community, you have Tiffany Souers over at Clemson University, which is next door, and this case has received a significant amount of media coverage.”

But Assistant 13th Circuit Solicitor Betty Strom called the evidence presented by Bannister “totally inadequate to support a change of venue.”

“I would submit to you that media coverage is no more here than in any other circuit,” Strom said.

Miller, in rejecting the defense attorney’s motion, said he doesn’t rely on surveys “to make the final call.”

“All it is is a survey,” Miller said. “If it’s accurate, and I presume each side has accepted the accuracy of it, there’s still a large number of people who would be acceptable jurors based on this survey.”

Miller also encouraged Inman’s defense attorneys and the 13th Circuit Solicitor’s Office to meet within the next week to review a 15-page questionnaire that will be distributed to prospective jurors. During that meeting, attorneys on both sides will determine survey questions that will be retained or removed prior to its distribution.