Change of venue requested for Brian Golsby for Reagan Tokes murder trial
His attorney hopes to move the trial to a different county
Last Wednesday the lawyer representing Brian Golsby requested a change of venue for his upcoming trial. Golsby has been accused of the kidnapping, robbery, rape, and murder of Reagan Tokes.
Along with the change of venue request, 38 other motions were filed with the Franklin County Court according to abc6. Included in those motions were requests to throw out the capital component of the case, permit Golsby to appear unrestrained in plain clothes during all proceedings, and exclude evidence related to his other crimes.
The change of venue request was submitted due to the large amount of media attention garnered by Tokes’ death. Golsby’s lawyer is concerned that if the trial were to take place in Franklin County bias will affect his conviction.
Since Golsby’s arrest, Reagan’s family has pushed to introduce a new law to fix a flaw in the system that could have prevented Reagan’s murder. The proposed bill would ensure that inmates receive more supervision once released from prison, require additional parole officers to monitor them, and provide more real-time GPS information from ankle monitors. The bill hasn’t been formally introduced at this time.
The GPS monitor Golsby wore after his release didn’t have labeled exclusionary zones, meaning there were no areas he was restricted from traveling to. His whereabouts were recorded, but not monitored, making the information on his location useless until after a crime was committed. The information from his monitor played a vital role in his arrest. Prior to the Reagan Tokes case, Golsby was rejected from halfway houses for his violent behavior and has a criminal history that began at 13 years old.
The trial is set to begin in February of 2018. Currently Golsby is eligible for the death penalty if convicted. He entered a not-guilty plea.