Carlos Fierro will go to trial in Santa Fe in September, a judge ruled Monday, rejecting a defense request to move the trial to Rio Arriba County.

Meanwhile, he will be allowed greater freedom while under house arrest with an electronic ankle bracelet at his new apartment in Albuquerque.

Fierro, a 36-year-old lawyer, is accused of fatally hitting a Guadalupe Street pedestrian while driving drunk and then leaving the scene last November.

Defense lawyer Jason Bowles argued that newspaper articles, plus online comments and Internet blogs, have poisoned the potential jury pool against their politically connected client, who has worked for both U.S. Sen. Tom Udall, D-N.M., when Udall was a representative, and U.S. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz.

Bowles said some comments have even suggested that Gov. Bill Richardson was riding in the car with Fierro and his passenger, former state police Sgt. Alfred Lovato.

Lovato, who has since resigned from the state police, was an off-duty member of the governor's security detail at the time the car struck William Tenorio, 46, of San Felipe Pueblo.

"The problem with these types of stories is their import is (to tell potential jurors) 'You've got to convict these guys or it's a travesty of justice,' " Bowles said.

In response to questions from Judge Michael Vigil about moving the trial to Los Alamos County, Bowles said Rio Arriba County's Hispanic and Native American majority would provide a "fairer cross section" for Fierro, who is Hispanic.

Deputy District Attorney Juan Valencia countered that Santa Fe and Rio Arriba counties have access to the same media sources. He said the coverage of the case so far has been "fair and impartial," none of the allegations in the blogs have been carried by the mainstream media and many of the commentaries on newspaper Web sites are from people outside of Santa Fe.

If the trial were moved to Tierra Amarilla, Valencia said, the case would become bigger news in Española's weekly, the Rio Grande Sun. He said there might be a "possibility" of a tainted jury pool in Santa Fe, but not a "probability," and if publicity alone requires changing the venue, every murder or death-penalty case would have to be moved, creating a "recipe for disaster."

The judge found no reason to change the venue because of the publicity. "In my 15 years on the bench," Vigil said, "I've always been amazed at the number of people who don't read the newspapers."

However, Vigil agreed to a defense motion to allow Fierro greater flexibility during his house arrest, due to his responsibilities in taking care of his 8-year-old daughter, looking for work and meeting with his lawyers.

While he must continue to wear an electronic ankle bracelet that monitors his whereabouts, Fierro will be allowed to leave his Albuquerque apartment from 7 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. Monday through Friday, and 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Previously, he was allowed to leave for only two hours a day.

Vigil agreed to the greater flexibility even though District Attorney Angela "Spence" Pacheco told him that the dead man's sister, Charlotte Little, did not even know Fierro had moved from Santa Fe to Albuquerque. Little and other relatives of Tenorio also are troubled that any time Fierro spends under house arrest would count as time served in any sentence levied on him, Pacheco said.

The judge also agreed to a defense motion to postpone jury selection in the trial from late next month to early September. Jury selection was set for Sept. 8, 9 and possibly 10, with opening arguments Sept. 14 or later — the week following the annual Fiesta de Santa Fe.

Vigil said he wanted the attorneys to work up questionnaires that can be filled out by potential jurors to speed up the voir-dire process of questioning them individually.

Outside the courtroom, Fierro, Little, Pacheco and Valencia declined comment. But Bowles, who is working with Robert Gorence on the defense, said he had no plans to appeal Vigil's ruling.

"I believe this judge is very experienced," Bowles said. "We're going to work with questionnaires and do our best to pick a fair jury, and that's what we wanted to get out of today's proceeding, and that's what we hope to get in this trial."

Contact Tom Sharpe at 986-3080 or tsharpe@sfnewmexican.com.