An April trial date has been set in Boise for Jeffrey J. Marsalis, charged in Blaine County with raping a woman in 2005.
The Blaine County Prosecuting Attorney's Office announced that the trial has been set for April 20-24. The date was selected during a scheduling conference last week between Prosecuting Attorney Jim Thomas and defense attorney Douglas Nelson.
The trial was moved to Ada County in December after 5th District Court Judge Robert J. Elgee approved a change of venue because of pretrial publicity in the Wood River and Magic valleys.
Marsalis, 35, is charged in Blaine County with raping a then-21-year-old woman at his Sun Valley condominium on Oct. 9, 2005. A grand jury indictment alleges that the woman was incapacitated at the time, either by alcohol or a so-called "date rape drug."
Marsalis, who remains incarcerated in the Blaine County jail, was extradited to Idaho in August from Pennsylvania, where is serving a 21-year-prison sentence for convictions in Philadelphia in 2007 on two counts of sexual assault and one count of unlawful restraint.
Terry Smith: tsmith@mtexpress.com