Attempted murder trial set to start Monday in Floyd County court

By Bob Steenson, bsteenson@charlescitypress.com

A woman charged with attempted murder is scheduled to begin trial on Monday in Floyd County District Court after a judge ruled against moving the proceeding to a different location.

District Court Judge Chris Foy denied the motion for a change of venue in the trial of Jennifer Katherine Bean of Charles City, in a court document filed Thursday.

Bean, age 44, pleaded not guilty to the charge of attempted murder, after allegedly injecting her mother with insulin without her mother’s consent last November.

Court documents allege that the action resulted in the victim having low blood sugar that if left untreated could have resulted in death.

Another charge that was originally filed in the case, for domestic abuse assault causing bodily injury, was recently dismissed by the Floyd County Attorney’s Office.

Bean’s defense lawyers had earlier moved for a change of venue for the trial, but then later withdrew that request. They refiled the motion about two weeks ago, citing “extensive publicity surrounding this case.”

“Due to the extensive media coverage and her reputation in the community, such a degree of prejudice exists in Floyd County that there is a substantial likelihood that a fair and impartial trial cannot be preserved with a jury selected here,” the motion said.

In the hearing held this week, the defense presented copies of about 28 news articles by area and regional newspapers and broadcast media.

The motion specifically mentioned a Charles City Press article published on July 15, which included information about a motion by the prosecution requesting the judge order a psychological examination of Bean, and information regarding the defense earlier filing its intent to rely on a defense of diminished responsibility in the trial.

“This article was highly prejudicial to the Defendant’s case,” the motion said.

In his ruling filed Thursday, Judge Foy wrote, “All of the news reports were factual in tone and straightforward in presenting information about Defendant and her case. The Court found no hint of sensationalism or appeals to emotion in any of these stories. For the most part, each report contained accurate information concerning the circumstances and events leading to the prosecution of Defendant.”

Foy concluded, “To the extent that any of the reports contain information which might be considered unfairly prejudicial to Defendant, the Court is confident that rigorous voir dire by counsel for Defendant will expose any bias or lack of impartiality resulting from such information and protect the right of Defendant to a trial by a fair and impartial jury.”

According to court records, Charles City police went to a residence in the 1600 block of Salzar St. on Nov. 6 after a 911 call from that address hung up.

Police initially charged Bean with domestic abuse assault causing bodily injury and interruption of emergency communications for allegedly preventing her mother from calling for help.

After further investigating the incident, police charged Bean with attempt to commit murder, a Class B felony.

Bean is facing the interruption of emergency communications charge in a separate case. The charge is a simple misdemeanor, and a trial date has not been scheduled.

As noted earlier, the charge for domestic abuse was recently dismissed.