The Virginian-Pilot
© January 22, 2007 | Last updated 3:46 PM Jan. 22

VIRGINIA BEACH –- A judge today refused to move the triple-murder trial of Marcus V. Garrett out of town.

Garrett is accused of shooting five people – three of them fatally – in an Oceanfront condominium on Memorial Day weekend 2005. One of those killed was Garrett’s former girlfriend.

If Garrett is convicted, prosecutors will seek the death penalty.

Today in Circuit Court, Garrett’s defense attorney, Andrew Sacks, asked that the trial be moved out of Virginia Beach. Sacks said pre-trial publicity so far has been fair, accurate and not excessive, but he said he was concerned that the publicity would grow and it might become hard to find and maintain an unbiased jury.

Judge A. Bonwill Shockley ruled that the trial will remain in Virginia Beach unless it becomes impossible to find jurors here.

At a preliminary hearing in 2005, police testified that Garrett admitted using a car key to rip open a window screen at the rear of the condominium where his girlfriend, Rachel E. Scher, was socializing with several friends and associates.

Garrett told the detective that he was in a haze of distress and alcohol at the time and he was acting “like a puppet” when the shootings occurred.

Next month, Sacks will ask the judge to suppress that statement to police.

I never really talked about this because I was in so much shock when this incident occured almost two years ago. I went to High School with these people, and I cannot still believe that this happened. Marcus was on the Track team with me and I always thought he was a really sweet guy. Rachel as well. I met her when they were dating and we actually ended up working together at Avis a few years ago. The last time I saw them, Rachel was working at JC Penney and she told me about her daughter. I saw Marcus a few months prior that Memorial Day weekend when Meghann and I decided to hang out at the block (Oceanfront) like old times and I ran into them and we were talking...everything seemed fine.

I know we weren't best friends, but whenever we saw each other we got along so well, and I'm still sad that Rachel's gone. And now with this trial Marcus is going to go through, it could be possible that he would be put to death. It just makes things so tough and I just didn't know how to react to it...