Judge turns down Slade's change of venue request

Looks like Priscilla Slade's trial may be held in Houston after all: On Monday, state District Judge Brock Thomas denied her lawyers' request for a change of venue, though he could still change his mind after screening the jury pool.

Slade's attorneys asked Thomas to move the trial to Travis County last month, claiming that heavy media coverage of the former Texas Southern University president's alleged spending spree with $2 million in public funds meant Slade wouldn't be able to get a fair trial here. During the change-of-venue hearing Monday, Slade's lawyer, Mike DeGuerin, called two witnesses — attorney Richard "Racehorse" Haynes and ex-state District Judge Andrew Jefferson — to testify that Slade wouldn't be able to get a fair trial in Harris County. DeGuerin brought up the dozens of stories on Slade's spending that appeared on local TV stations and in the Chronicle. But prosecutors pointed out that Slade herself was responsible for some of the publicity: She gave media interviews, wrote an open letter that appeared in the Chronicle and was the star of a carefully orchestrated call-in show on KCOH during which only people who were on Slade's side were allowed on the air.

Jury selection in Slade's trial is expected to begin Aug. 20, and the trial could last more than three months. DeGuerin said Thomas told him at the bench that the idea of moving the trial isn't dead yet: "If my concern about the publicity is reflected on the 20th, he'll reconsider the situation," DeGuerin told the Chron.

Speaking of media coverage, KHOU has another story about Slade's finances: Records show that she was a big spender, but the numbers didn't always add up. Channel 11 has copies of some of Slade's statements from Neiman Marcus (check them out here) which show that the ex-president did, indeed, have expensive taste — Stuart Weitzman shoes, St. John suits — and that she spent more than $40,000 in one spree at Neiman's. That's really nothing new; there was little doubt that Slade knew how to spend money. What's interesting is that KHOU showed some of Slade's financial documents to an accountant, Bob Martin, who found what seem to be discrepancies in a mortgage application Slade filled out. "Her W-2 (tax form) for 2003 was $220,000. On a loan application in early 2004 she was showing an annual income of $392,000," Martin said. "It appears she has income from other than the university or she misrepresented her income on these loan documents." Further, Slade wrote on the application that she owed Neiman's $1,400 at the time, when in reality her bill was more than $7,000. "It's inconsistent, and it would be lying on a mortgage application," Martin said.