Norwood trial moved from Williamson Co.

WILLIAMSON COUNTY, Texas (KXAN) - A man accused of a murder that happened in the 1980s will have his trial moved out of Williamson County after being granted a change of venue early Monday morning.

Mark Norwood appeared in court for a pretrial hearing, and his trial will likely start early next year.

Attorneys for both sides on May 15 talked to the judge about the possibility of moving the case to another venue because of publicity surrounding Norwood's case.

Norwood's image appeared in political ads for the race for Williamson County district attorney, where he was labeled as a serial killer even though he has not been convicted.

The case of concern is the 1986 murder of Christine Morton, whose husband, Michael Morton, spent nearly 25 years in prison wrongly convicted of her murder.

Evidence recently examined showed DNA belonging to Norwood in blood found on a bandanna near the murder scene.

Morton was released from prison in October in a highly publicized case, which was also part of the publicity in the campaign between District Attorney John Bradley and challenger Jana Duty as each sought to win the election for Williamson County district attorney.

Duty ended the 10-year reign of long-serving Bradley with a convincing victory in the Republican primary May 29.