By Alabama Public Radio
Huntsville, AL – A two-day hearing starts Tuesday to determine where Eric Rudolph will stand trial for a 1998 Birmingham abortion clinic bombing. The trial is currently set for August second in Birmingham, but defense attorneys have asked a judge to move the case. Rudolph's lawyers claim it's impossible to pick an impartial jury in the Birmingham area because of the years of publicity about the bombing and the subsequent search for Rudolph. Prosecutors disagree, saying the bombing did not receive enough media coverage to taint potential jurors. They also say it will be easy to find an impartial jury because it was five years between the time of the bombing and Rudolph's capture. The bombing killed a Birmingham police officer and injured a nurse. The hearing will begin tomorrow before U-S District Judge Lynwood Smith in Huntsville, where Smith normally presides. Previous proceedings have been held in Birmingham.