Hamilton County Criminal Court Judge Don Poole will not yet decide whether to grant a request to move the trial of Janet Hinds, the motorist accused of hitting and killing Chattanooga police officer Nicholas Galinger.
Galinger, 38, was struck by a car on Feb. 23, 2019, while inspecting a manhole cover that had water flowing from it in the 2900 block of Hamill Road just after 11 p.m. The driver fled the scene.
Hinds’ attorneys – Ben McGowan and Marya Schalk – argue that because of “undue excitement against [Hinds],” allegedly caused by “extensive pretrial publicity,” she could not have a fair trial in Hamilton County.
They claim news outlets have unfairly given the case more coverage than other cases in which a pedestrian was killed, and that the coverage “has not been objective nor fair, but instead has been quick to criticize, criminalize and convict the defendant.”
Prosecutors, however, believe it’s too early to consider the request to move the trial, and they downplayed the defense’s argument that news coverage has been abnormally heavy or biased. District Attorney General Neal Pinkston stressed that the media’s coverage of the case has appeared to be unbiased so far, as it has followed the initial incident and each development throughout the court process.