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Publicity not an issue in slain girl case, district attorney says

Alejandro Avila

SANTA ANA, California (CNN) -- The chief prosecutor in the case against accused child killer Alejandro Avila dismissed concerns Tuesday that pre-trial publicity would taint the jury pool in Orange County, California.

Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas has charged Avila with four felony counts in the kidnapping, molestation and killing of 5-year-old Samantha Runnion -- charges that could carry the death penalty.

"I think that we can get a fair jury," Rackauckas said. "I think the jury selection process is going to be a good one. I'm comfortable that we'll get a fair jury in Orange County."

The district attorney said the defense would likely seek a change in venue "and we'll deal with it when it comes."

Rackauckas said a "special circumstance committee" was reviewing the case -- including talking with the families involved and with defense attorneys -- before leaving the final decision on whether to seek the death penalty to him.

Charges against Avila 1. Murder 2. Forcible lewd act upon a child 3. Forcible lewd act upon a child 4. Kidnapping CNN NewsPass VIDEO Alejandro Avila was charged Monday in the kidnapping and death of Samantha Runnion, CNN's David Mattingly reports (July 22) Play video Church services across Orange County remember Samantha Runnion. CNN's Thelma Gutierrez reports. (July 22) Play video   EXTRA INFORMATION • Who is likely to abduct a child  • Missing children facts  • Safety experts offer tips  • Tips for children to avoid abduction    RESOURCES • Read the charges: California v. Avila (FindLaw) (PDF) • TIME.com: How to keep your child safe  • CNN Access: Photographer interviews Avila mom

"We look at all of the different factors that we have in the law in California in deciding whether or not to seek the death penalty," he said. "Those are such things as the circumstances of the offense ... and anything about the background of the person who committed the crime, anything concerning that might have any tendency to mitigate."

Avila, 27, was charged with murder, kidnapping and two counts of forcible lewd acts on a child under the age 14.

In addition, three special circumstances are alleged, each of which could make him eligible for the death penalty. They are that he committed the murder during the commission of the two lewd acts and during the commission of a kidnapping, Rackauckas said.

Avila made his first court appearance Monday through a video hookup from the Orange County jail. He did not enter a plea, and Orange County Superior Court Judge Gary Paer denied bail, citing the "special circumstances" of the crime.

Paer set August 9 for Avila to enter a plea.

Avila was arrested Friday after a four-day investigation that included an artist's sketch based on a description of the suspect provided by Samantha Runnion's 5-year-old playmate who was with Runnion in their Stanton neighborhood when the man forced her into his car last Monday evening.

Less than 24-hours later, a frantic phone call from a man who saw "a dead body" by the side of the road led police to Samantha's nude body more than 50 miles away from her where she was abducted.

Avila, who lives near the Riverside County site where the body was found, was acquitted on child molestation charges in January 2001. Rackauckas said that under certain circumstances those charges could be used in the Runnion case, but added that the acquittal "certainly creates some question about it."

"That's the type of thing that we'll be looking at very carefully and making decisions about as we go along," he said. The Orange County prosecutor would not say that the jury acquittal in the earlier case was a failure of the judicial system.

"What I think is that it was a difficult case," he said. "It was one of those cases where the jury took a hard look at it, and followed the rules of law and they found that there was a reasonable doubt."