Judge Walther Moves Keene trial to Eldorado because of Pretrial Publicity

SAN ANGELO, TX -- 51st District Judge Barbara Walther granted a defense motion for a change of venue for Michael Gary Keene Friday morning.  

The 22-year-old Keene was originally charged with accident involving death in the June 2015 hit and run death of 23-year-old Gisele Jarmon.  On June 1, 2017 he was indicted on a charge of manslaughter.

Jarmon was a special needs adult living with her parents.  In court, attorneys said she left her house for some reason and was struck by a vehicle on the Loop 306 access road at Southwest Boulevard near the Olive Garden restaurant.

Defense attorneys John Carroll and J.W. Johnson filed the change of venue motion in April and prosecutors didn’t file a response at all.  District Attorney John Best asked Judge Walther for one more week to file an affidavit in response to the change of venue motion filed six months ago.

The circumstances of the case were widely discussed on social media by individuals involved.   

Judge Walther took a ten minute recess Friday morning.  When She returned to the courtroom, she granted the defense motion to change the venue from Tom Green County to Schleicher County.  Schleicher County is still in the 51st District and Judge Walther will preside over the jury trial.  

Walther said they would schedule additional pretrial hearings and tentatively scheduled the jury trial for the last week in February 2018.