The judge in the Nadia Gehl murder case has granted a change of venue request for the three suspects.
Defence lawyer John Rosen says "Her honour decided that there should be a change in venue. The location has yet to be determined. The Senior Regional Justice will ultimately advise us of that."
The reasons for the change of venue are subject to a strict publication ban. The trial could be held in Hamilton, London or Toronto, depending on the resources required.
Lawyer Hal Mattson, who is not affiliated with the case, says a change of venue request is generally requested "when there's going to be a jury…and the main reason is you don't want people that are going to judge your case to have heard things about the case."
Gehl, 28, was shot and killed on February 2, 2009 while walking from her home to an Ottawa Street bus stop in west Kitchener.
Three men have been charged with first degree murder in the case, including Gehl's husband Ronald Cyr. Nashat Qahwash and Zdenek Zvolensky have also been charged.
For the preliminary hearings a judge and Crown attorney were brought in, as Cyr worked as a legal assistant and Gehl's uncle and father are both local lawyers.
It is not uncommon for a trial to be moved, it also happened the Tori Stafford murder case.
There are still a number of steps that must be completed before this case can go to trial.
Rosen says "Given the amount of estimated time required, jury selection and the trial proper will probably be sometime towards the end of the year or the beginning of next year."
