Cache couple will be tried in S.L. on neglect charges

A judge on Monday moved the trial for a Trenton couple accused of starving and neglecting a 6-year-old adopted child to Salt Lake City.

First District Judge Gordon Low granted a defense request for a change of venue because of publicity in the emotion-charged case in rural Cache Valley."It would be impossible to find anyone here who has not formed an opinion on this case," said defense attorney Shannon Demler.

The ruling came during the arraignment of Chris and Becky Tucker, who pleaded not guilty to second-degree felony child abuse.

A state caseworker, responding from a tip from a neighbor, found the malnourished 6-year-old girl locked in a basement room of the family's home on Nov. 4.

She and her younger half-sister were taken into state protective custody.

During a preliminary hearing last week, a state child abuse investigator testified the adopted girl had been bathing in a trough of brown, rusty water and sleeping on bare bedsprings in the couple's basement.

Cache County Attorney Scott Wyatt did not object to the change of venue but told the judge, "I want to expedite this case because it's important for the victim to get it resolved."

Demler, who represents Becky Tucker, told reporters after the hearing that he would not be able to fit the trial into his schedule until March

The girls are living with a foster family and receiving medical care. Her grandparents in Lansing, Mich., said they are also seeking custody of the children.

Demler declined to discuss his strategy in defending Tucker other than to say the Tuckers are an "everyday family."

"They are very upset about the situation, their family has been torn apart and our job is to show what caused this child to be found in this condition," Demler said.

Meantime, officials in Michigan are taking a second look at the death of the 4-year-old half-sister of the girl, who died while under the Tuckers' care in Coldwater, Mich., two years ago.

Michigan prosecutors have criticized the state's family independence agency for a slipshod in-vestigation that determined the death of Danielle Tucker was accidental.