KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) -- A U.S. district magistrate disagreed with a defense attorney who said his client needed a change of venue for his trial because of heavy attention by the news media and Internet bloggers.

U.S. Magistrate Bruce Guyton yesterday denied the request by an attorney for Eric Dewayne Boyd to move Boyd's trial outside of East Tennessee.

The 34-year-old Boyd is charged as an accessory after the fact in the fatal carjacking of Channon Christian, a 21-year-old University of Tennessee student, and her 23-year-old boyfriend Christopher Newsom in January.

Boyd's trial is scheduled for February. He could get 15 years in prison if convicted.

Four others are charged in state court with the murders.

Defense attorney Philip Lomonaco worried that television reports falsely included his client among the alleged killers.

He also worried that Internet bloggers trying to bring national attention to the case inflamed racial tensions -- the victims were white, the suspects are black.

(Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)