[6/2/03]A murder trial that was to begin Monday has been postponed and will instead be set for trial outside Warren County.

Donald Wilson, 64, 1074 Riley Road, charged in the Aug. 19, 2001, death of Joseph Hartzog, was to be tried in Warren County Circuit Court.

A motion for change of venue was granted during jury selection preliminaries and the trial was postponed, Judge Frank Vollor said Monday.

Wilson’s attorney, Pat McNamara, was to prepare an order in the case and submit it to Vollor, said his court administrator, Lisa Counts. That order could arrive in Vollor’s office this week, she added.

Neither District Attorney Gil Martin nor Assistant District Attorney John Bullard, who is handling the case for Martin’s office, would comment on Monday’s development.

Vollor declined to discuss the case beyond saying that it had been “postponed, change of venue. That’s happened.”

A new location in which to try the case was apparently to be decided later. Under state law, criminal trials are to take place where a crime occurred, but can be moved if a judge finds a community too hostile or prejudiced against a defendant. Vollor did not disclose the basis of his ruling.

In addition to murder in the death of Hartzog, who was 52, Wilson is charged with aggravated assault in the wounding of his ex-wife, Patricia Wilson, who was then 52, and third-degree arson, for allegedly setting fire to Hartzog’s pickup.

Wilson was arrested by Warren County deputies at the scene of the shootings, 385 Culkin Road, where he and Patricia Wilson had lived for about 10 years.

According to reports at the time, Wilson was enraged after seeing Hartzog at his ex-wife’s residence.

Wilson remains in the Warren County Jail.