After sheriff's deputies escorted Richard A. Poplawski yesterday on a circuitous lap around the courthouse hallways, past a throng of cameras, the Stanton Heights man accused of killing three city police officers appeared before the judge who must decide whether his case has gotten too much negative publicity for him to get a fair trial.

The defense attorneys in the case both filed motions yesterday requesting that the trial either be relocated to a different part of the state or that jurors from another judicial district be brought to Allegheny County due to excessive coverage that was "inflammatory and slanted toward the guilt of the defendant."

The 23-year-old defendant is facing the death penalty in the April 4 slayings of Officers Paul J. Sciullo II, Stephen J. Mayhle and Eric G. Kelly.

Because of a 2007 order by Allegheny criminal court judges, news cameras are restricted to a thin strip of hallway from which reporters are unable to view defendants entering and exiting most courtrooms. The news media hadn't had access to Mr. Poplawski since his arraignment, which was behind closed doors at Municipal Court.

Common Pleas Judge Jeffrey A. Manning, who later explained he had done his "best to accommodate everyone within the confines of the rules," authorized the deputies to lead the shackled, shaggy-bearded defendant out of the bullpen in the opposite direction of his courtroom, along three courthouse halls past the waiting reporters.

After the lawyers requested a different jury pool, Judge Manning announced that all parties from the discovery hearing would proceed to the jury room, where the judge questioned 81 potential jurors about how much they knew about the case.

This is a standard procedure, although it appeared that Mr. Poplawski wasn't prepared with clothing ahead of time for the discovery matter, and one of his lawyers hustled up an outfit on the fly.

Mr. Poplawski stood before the room of citizens in an oversized black jacket, mismatched black fabric pants, a white button-down shirt and slip-on jail sneakers while the judge read the litany of charges against him.

Eight jurors raised their hands to indicate they had never heard about the case. Thirty-eight said they could not put aside what they knew of the case. And 45 said they already had a "fixed and unalterable opinion" about what the outcome should be.

Back in the courtroom, Judge Manning called the poll "enlightening," and defense attorney Lisa G. Middleman, who will handle the guilt phase, said that when questioned one-on-one without others listening in, she expected that more jurors would express that they'd already formed an opinion about Mr. Poplawski's guilt.

The change of venue request noted that the police chief had given interviews to the local media, Mr. Poplawski's confession was published and local officers signed a petition from a Facebook group called "Capital Murder for Richard Poplawski."

Judge Manning noted that no trial has been moved to another venue since 1973, when the United Mine Workers boss W.A. "Tony" Boyle went on trial for the murder-for-hire killings of Joseph "Jock" Yablonski, a contender for the UMW presidency, and his wife and daughter. Several more recent cases, including the trial of the officers charged with killing Jonny Gammage during a traffic stop, have selected a jury from another region and housed them in Allegheny County during the trial.

In other matters, Judge Manning set Jan. 19 as a deadline for the defense lawyers to notify the court whether they plan to file a notice of alibi, present an insanity defense or argue that their client was guilty but mentally ill.

He told attorney J. Richard Narvin, who will handle the penalty phase, that he would consider approving more money to cover psychiatric evaluations for the indigent defendant within that time frame.

Ms. Middleman also filed a motion requesting more discovery materials from the prosecution, including several recorded 911 calls, cell phone recordings and photographs of the standoff, taped interviews with witnesses and any reports analyzing the victims' gunshot wounds and how they were inflicted.

The judge issued a gag order on any "extrajudicial statements" on April 8.

Ms. Middleman's omnibus pretrial motion asked the judge to bar anyone who violated that gag order from testifying at trial, including eyewitnesses, members of the victims' families or communities who might testify about the impact of their deaths at the penalty phase.

She called for the judge to halt what she termed "prosecutorial misconduct," including statements she said were prejudicial from Gov. Ed Rendell, District Attorney Stephen A. Zappala Jr., the DA's spokesman, the Pittsburgh police chief and Pittsburgh police officers.

She noted Mr. Rendell's remark that "the amount of firepower the deranged person in Pittsburgh had was stunning. If the AK-47 hadn't jammed, we might have had a lot more dead than just the three officers."

"The governor also said publicly that he would sign a death warrant for Richard Poplawski without a minute's thought," the motion states.

Ms. Middleman said statements by these officials deprived the defendant of due process "by engaging the emotions and sympathy of potential jurors."

The motion also asked that the judge block jurors from hearing Mr. Poplawski's confession to police because it was obtained from him after he invoked his constitutional right to a lawyer, but before one was made available. She said the detective interviewed him at the hospital before he was allowed to be given the pain medication he had requested.

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