Kelsey Shannon ( courtesy photo )

BROOMFIELD -- A judge ruled Friday that the trial of Alexander Paul Pacheco -- the teen accused of murdering 13-year-old Kelsey Shannon -- will not be moved out of Broomfield.

Pacheco, 19, of Broomfield, was originally set to stand trial March 1 on charges of first-degree murder, child abuse resulting in death and abuse of a corpse. District Court Judge John Popovich delayed the trial, agreeing with the defense that it did not have adequate access to evidence collected by Broomfield police before Kelsey's body was discovered.

The judge on Friday set May 10 as Pacheco's new trial date.

In weighing the defense's request for a change of venue, Popovich acknowledged the case has received a large amount of publicity but

Alex Pacheco
said the test was whether the publicity was "massive, pervasive and prejudicial" or would have "an actual adverse effect on the jury."

Popovich ruled the media coverage was not biased against Pacheco and the defense had not shown the jury pool would be tainted. He said the defense could again ask to move the trial if, during jury selection, it could show it was impossible to find an unbiased jury in Broomfield.

The postponement of the trial came three days after a hearing at which the defense argued it had not received a large volume of evidence that police collected after Kelsey was reported missing on Oct. 14, 2008.

Diaries, notes and an address book were among the items police collected when they thought Kelsey had run away. Some of that evidence was stored separately from evidence gathered during the murder investigation, which began in January 2009, after Kelsey's body was found in a drainage ditch north of 136th Avenue and Lowell Boulevard, near her home.

On Tuesday, it was thought that about 700 pages of evidence were not turned over to the defense until early February. The defense on Friday acknowledged the evidence it had not received wasn't as voluminous as stated Tuesday and that some evidence, such as hundreds of text messages, was already handed over to the defense.

But the defense still needs time to track down people mentioned in Kelsey's journals and address book, defense attorney Julia Lee said. Popovich agreed.

Prosecutors believe Pacheco strangled and stabbed Kelsey. He is accused of then having sex with her corpse.