By John Speer CIP jspeer@tamatoledonews.com Dustin Jerome Jefferson, 40, will go to trial a third time on a charge of 1st degree murder for allegedly aiding and abetting in the death of his wife, Kerry Lea O’Clair Jefferson. This time a change of venue was granted from Tama County District Court in Toledo to the Jasper County Courthouse in Newton. A trial date of Feb. 2, 2016 was set by Judge Mary E. Chicchelly. Kerry Jefferson, 32, was found dead by Tama Police doing a welfare check on the afternoon of Sept. 25, 2013, at a home in Tama. Judge Chicchelly ruled on Nov. 6 news reports about the death, subsequent trial coverage and reporting of pending sexual abuse charges against Dustin Jefferson in an unrelated case “deprives” the defendant of the right to a fair and impartial trial in Tama County. The court order said, in part, there was extensive local media coverage by The Tama Chronicle, Cedar Rapids Gazette and Waterloo Courier. (Either The Toledo Chronicle or The Tama News-Herald are misidentified in the court record – there is no Tama Chronicle.) It also noted television stations in Cedar Rapids and Waterloo also covered the trial “extensively.” The order states the prosecution had indicated the change of venue would not be resisted but, instead, did so at the hearing on Oct. 30. Dustin Jefferson’s mother, Ginger Lea Jefferson, 60, was convicted of 1st degree murder in the death of her daughter-in-law by a Tama County Jury in 2014 and sentenced to life in prison. Just before the jury returned the guilty verdict on May 27, Tama Police charged Dustin Jefferson in the case. His first trial in Tama County District Court in December, 2014, was halted after defense attorney Thomas Gaul raised objections because the jury pool did not contain a representative number of Native Americans. Dustin Jefferson is a member of the Sac and Fox Tribe of the Mississippi in Iowa – Meskwaki. The second trial ended with a hung jury and was declared a mistrial on Oct. 2 by Judge Chicchelly. The defense also said in the motion for a change of venue “the defendant’s attorney reluctantly concludes that no Native Americans will ever make the final jury and it is pointless to hope for that. Therefore, that reason to hold the trial in Tama County is pointless.” In the September trial, two Native Americans were reported in the “final pool of 24” according to the defense motion. Both were struck from consideration then by a prosecution motion and the objection of the defense was overruled. The ruling by Judge Chicchelly on Nov. 6 states the defense has shown there is prejudice in the ruling saying “volume” of publicity alone is not enough grounds alone. Dustin Jefferson continues to be held in the Tama County Jail in Toledo on $1 million bond on the murder charge and $40,000 on five counts of 3rd degree sexual abuse.