GASTON COUNTY, N.C. — A Gaston County man accused of putting lethal doses of eye drops in his wife’s drinks was in court Monday to ask for a change of venue.
Joshua Hunsucker’s attorney said potential local jurors may have been swayed by media coverage of the case.
The judge is expected to decide by Thursday.
In the meantime, the judge wants to look at the Facebook comments said to be the reason why his defense attorney believes he can’t get a fair trial here.
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Hunsucker’s curfew was extended with flexibility Monday so he can attend his daughter’s games and school events. But his attorney said in court that Facebook comments on stories about the case make it clear that he can’t get a fair trial in Gaston County.
“The only thing I will pay for is a bottle of Visine to give him to put in his water to give slow death, just like he did his wife,” defense attorney David Teddy read from a social media comment.
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Teddy read others in court. He read some of them out loud for the judge.
“I say we form a mob, go to his mom’s house, drag him out and beat him to death,” one post read.
“These people in this community want to take this make out and electric him and beat him,” another post read.
The prosecutor argued those were comments made by people in the community and not inflammatory reporting.
“That is not the same as media coverage,” prosecutor Jordan Green said. “That cannot and should not stand in for actual evidence.”
The judge asked for more information on those comments including how many comments, how many were negative and how many were positive.
The defense attorney was also upset that the insurance commissioner’s office is prosecuting this case and the commissioner was on a national news special talking about it.
He asked the judge to bar anyone from the insurance commissioner’s office from speaking on the cases nationally.
The judge said “No.”
(Watch the video below: Paramedic accused of using eye drops to kill wife, attempts to collect insurance money)
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