Sarah Stern's Accused Killer Asks Court For New Venue, Some Evidence Stricken From Record

FREEHOLD - The man accused of strangling and robbing a Neptune City woman is asking that his trial be moved to another venue, according to app.com.

Charles Moriarty, Liam McAtasney's lawyer filed motions in Superior Court today to move the trial to another venue and to suppress a video recording in which prosecutor's say he described how he killed 19-year-old Sarah Stern.

Moriarty cited negative publicity surrounding the case as the reason for the venue request.

He also wants the video recording suppressed

"My reading of the publicity, the comments on the Internet are pretty strong as to how they feel about the case as a whole," Moriarty told reporters after a status conference for McAtasney Monday. "All we're interested in is a jury that won't put anything aside and just do it on what's presented in court."

McAtasney said in the videotaped secretly recorded by a friend that he watched Stern die as he strangled her in her family's home. He watched her for half an hour until he was sure she was dead, according to a report by nj.com.

"He knew exactly how long it was because he chose to time it," Assistant Monmouth County Prosecutor Meghan Doyle has said.

At one point in the tape, McAtasney says he actually lifted Stern with such force that he lifted her off the ground.

Sarah Stern disappeared in early December of 2016.

Prosecutors say McAtasney, also 19, also of Neptune City, killed Stern, a former classmate at Neptune High School, while robbing her of $10,000. His then-roommate Preston Taylor helped dispose of her body.

McAtasney was indicted on charges of murder, felony murder, robbery, desecrating and conspiring to desecrate human remains, tampering with evidence and hindering apprehension.

Taylor, now 20, pleaded guilty in April to his part in the robbery and cover-up. That included helping to throw her body off the Route 35 bridge in Belmar and trying to make her disappearance look like a suicide.

Sarah's body has never been found.

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Image: Patch file photo.