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Fort Dodge man seeks change of venue in his murder trial

A Fort Dodge man facing a first-degree murder charge is asking for his trial to be moved out of Webster County, arguing that he would not be able to receive a fair trial due to pretrial publicity and being “known for his notorious background in the community.”

Attorneys for Lakendrick Mosley, 31, filed the motion for a change of venue on Tuesday morning. The motion cites headlines from The Messenger, as well as reports on local news stations and social media sites, as grounds for the move.

“These publications clearly link the defendant to a possible murder charge,” attorney Laury Kleinschmidt wrote in the motion.

Kleinschmidt also noted that Mosley “is known for his violent background as a Fort Dodge native,” “has significant family and extended-family ties to the area that will cause potential jurors to have heard details in the community that would improperly influence the trial” and “there is a significant risk that jurors will already know information that should be excluded from trial.”

A hearing on the motion is scheduled for June 5.

Mosley is accused of shooting and killing 46-year-old Montreail Dungy last Christmas in Fort Dodge and has been charged with first-degree murder. A co-defendant, Mosley’s younger half-brother Darwin Green, 27, is also charged with first-degree murder.

Investigators say that in the early morning hours of Dec. 25, 2022, Mosley approached Dungy, who was sitting in his vehicle in the 1000 block of 10th Avenue Southwest, and shot him multiple times in the head and chest “at near point-blank range.” Mosley then allegedly fled the scene with Green driving the getaway vehicle.

Mosley and Green were eventually identified as the suspects in the crime and were arrested in late March following a manhunt that spanned to southern Minnesota.

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