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The attorneys of the five suspects arrested for the murder of Shawn Buckner are scheduled to find out Wednesday whether they will get a change of venue for their trial. Police said Shawn Buckner of Portland was robbed, stabbed and beaten to death in September 2008. Buckner's body was found in a shallow grave at a farm outside of Dunkirk. The five suspects, Michael Heffern, Thomas Smith, Addison Pineapples, Roderick Berry and Tina Whiting have all been in jail since their arrest. They are all being charged with murder and robbery resulting in bodily injury. Tomorrow, Jay County Judge Brian Hutchison is scheduled to hear arguments on the change of venue motion filed by all five suspects. The defense attorneys believe the suspects can not get a fair trial in Jay County because of the great amount of publicity the case received. "Something of this profile is going to generate a tremendous amount of media," said Smith's Defense Attorney Jacob Dunnuck. "A lot of the perspective jurors are citizens of Jay County, obviously they read the paper. We would like a venue of jurors out of county that have not been exposed to so much of the facts of the case. Ultimately, my fear would be tainting of a jury pool." Dunnuck said he thinks they will be successful in the change of venue. "There is no question of the magnitude of this case," Dunnuck said. "Nothing like this has been seen in Jay County for a long time, and of course anything that ever gets filed generates a news article. So, I think the judge is going to be receptive to this." Newslink Indiana tried to contact the Jay County prosecutor for comment, but he was not available.
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