severance is charged with killing nancy dunning, ron kirby, and ruthanne ladonna in a string of shootings. his past writings included phrases like "thou shall not kill is a lie." new development in a controversy, a screening of "american sniper" was postponed at the university of maryland after complaints the film was islamic phobic. the council of islamic relations is speaking out in a famous alum is threatening to stop donating. tom roussey has the latest. >> they've been advised against speaking with the media. tom: a muslim student group was a no-show for scheduled press conference. a council on american islamic relations representative would not say who pressure the group not to speak. she did say why the group was concerned about the movie coming to campus. some believe parts of it inspire hatred. >> the concern is to counteract people who may be backlash inspired against the film. tom: one of maryland's most famous grads, former nfl quarterback boomer esiason, said he was never donating another dime to the university. and a former marine is upset as well. students are upset they wi

and -- lodato, ron kirby and nancy dunning. the victims' accused murderer charles severance deemed competent to stand trial interrupted several times. when his own attorney began speaking, he said loudly irrevocable power of attorney is not constitutional. he is not my lawyer! later when his team argued for his shackles to be removed, he said when you put shackles on this weak ankle, it's cruel and unusual punishment. the defense attorneys want the 10-year-old nancy dunning murder case severed from the two recent killings arguing there's no evidence connecting severance to that crime or to the others. prosecutors say they're connected by motive, that severance was motivated to kill after losing custody of his child. they quoted severance's own words when he wrote, "violence wins," and," assassination is in the best interest of the child." a friend says it was taken out of context. >> charles is into fantasy gaming amongst other things and most of his writings are associated with that and not to be taken literally or have any co

prosecution clearly stating its belief that charles severance was motivated to kill nancy dunning, ron kirby and ruthanne lodato because of a prior custody dispute in alexandria in which he claimed he turned his anger to people in the system who he calls yew tonian elites. the commonwealth attorney arguing that the three murders should be tried together because they happened in close proximity to one another in similar fashion and each crime committed with a similar revolver and ammunition. he then red from severance's past writings as evidence of a desire to kill. silence wins. thou shall not kill is a lie. it fascinates me because it's in the best interest of the child. >> i think that they looked through his writing and extracted what they wanted to be sensational. reporter: earlier in the day, they argued a change of venue for the trial saying alexandria residents had big false facts about the case and were highly prejudicial. severance himself blurted out that a move would violate his constitutional rights saying i should be able to enjoy that right and i don't want the change of venue.

the death-of-ruthanne lodato in 2013, the death of ron kirby and the death of nancy dunning in 2003. we expect his defense to ask to move the trial out of this city because they say it's going to be difficult to find an impartial jury because when these crimes initially happened, it set fear off in the city of alexandria. it would be difficult for -- to find a jury that is not impartial or at least aware of what happened here allegedly with charles severance. his hearing is set to begin at 10:00. i'm nikki burdine. back you to in the studio. >> reporter: i'm delia goncalves live in the satellite center with more on the unrest in baltimore city following the death of freddie gray in police custody. five out of the six arresting police officers have now released statements to investigators and for the first time we are hearing there was a second man inside that police van. take at this video first. after several days of peaceful demonstrations, protesters got a little ugly yesterday for a moment spitting on officers, hurling bottles at them after a woman was arrested for standing on th

they say nancy dunning, ron kirby and ruthanne lodato were all killed by the same unusual type of ammunition which was found in the house of severance's parents. >>> have you seen the giant electronic billboards that are outside the verizon center? now there are plans to put them in other parts of the districts, too. as jackie benson reports new tonight, that was one group calling for an all-out ban. >> one of the things most often said about the area around the verizon center is it doesn't even look like d.c. exactly the point says meg maguire. she represents the group called the committee of 100. >> we've been around 99 years and we comment on land use issues and historic preservations, zoning so we're really concerned about the future development of the district of columbia. >> maguire's group is worried about proposed new laws to loosen up the city's tight regulations on billboards and electronic signs. if the law is passed it could allow verizon like streets that are designated as resident entertainment areas. one if you like the verizon center and gallery place with a big television sc

but in the intense fear experienced in the community after transportation planner ron kirby and music teacher ruth ann were gunned down in their front doors within months of each other and another ten years before, prosecutors turned to a different example in boston saying if a jury could be seated there in a terror trial of the marathon bombing suspect, then surely an alex and earea jury could be found. but the judge said the fear factor was too high to take a chance, moving the case to fairfax county. this longtime severence frnd thinks this is the right move. >> i definitely think that it would be hard to get an impartial jury in the locality where it occurred. >> reporter: john kelly, a family friend of the la dot toes has attended all of the hearing hearings. the victim's families are glad to see progress. >> they understand what the process is long and tedious and painstaking. but in the end they just want a fair and just outcome. >> reporter: and a change of venue very unusual in axe andrea. i checked with folks and none remember any at least in the past four deck aids. coming

he claims severance could never get a fair trial in alexandria for the murders of nancy dunning, ron kirby and ruthanne saying residents here have embraced the characterization of severance as an erratic, dangerous, scary person. we need a fair cross section and we can't get it here. the defense also citing the d.c. sniper trial as a reason to move the case. not comparing its scope but rather, the level of fear it created among people living in alexandria. the prosecution then referenced a boston marathon bombing trial arguing if an impartial jury could be found in that city one could certainly be found here. ultimately, the judge sided with the defense ruling to move the trial to fairfax. >> the judge seems determined to have a process that's fair. that's what the families have wanted in the end all along. jeff: the defense had argued to move this trial to a different region of virginia all together but the judge picked fairfax. from this point forward, anything related to this case filings, hearings anything that comes forward in the way of motions will all happen in fairfax county leadi

they say the same type of bullets were used to kill nancy dunning, ron kirby and ruth ann. >>> you mightant to check your freezer. we have another ice cream recall to tell you about this morning. jenny's splendid ice cream is recalling all of the products a fr a sample test -- after a sample tested positive for listeria. stores like target sell the ice cream. the company said to return it to the store for a full refund. >>> earlier this week blue bell ice cream recalled of it products as well. it's now closing three creameries for cleaning. this is in response to the listeria illnesses linked to the ice cream. the factories will be closed next week. it's linked to ten listeria illens in four states that includes three deaths. >>> he wanted some help from the president. news4 spoke to the latest man to spark a security scare at the white house when he jumped the fence there last weekend. jerome hunt hopped on a bus, came all the way from california to pull off that move. hunt explained what happened when he decided to go through with it. >> so i started walking out and opening -- out of t