A change of venue hearing was held in the Forrest County Circuit Court on Tuesday morning in reference to the case of Bricen Rivers, who was indicted on charges of capital murder, grand theft auto and tampering with physical evidence in February of 2025. Rivers is alleged to have murdered his ex-girlfriend and student living in Forrest County, Lauren Johansen, in July of 2024.
River’s defense team filed for a change of venue and alleged that the media has vilified their client in such a way that he would not get the fair trial by jury in Forrest County that he is entitled to. The team submitted stacks of evidence including comments on the social media pages and posts of local media outlets along with videos produced by those media outlets.
The prosecution presented three witnesses, Forrest County Sheriff Charlie Sims, Petal Mayor Tony Ducker and Forrest County Tax Collector Zac Howell. Each of the three witnesses, elected officials who interact with hundreds of people in their public-facing roles on a daily basis, attested that while they did recall seeing local media coverage of the court proceedings, that none of them had heard any discussions or were approached with questions or comments regarding the case.
Upon cross examination, the defense pointed to the comment sections of local media outlets’ social media pages. The defense claimed that there were hundreds of comments on social media regarding the case and that many of those comments indicated members of the public wishing their client harm.
Upon the admission of evidence submitted by the defense, Judge T. Michael Reed, concluded the hearing and notified the counsel that he would review all the evidence before making his decision and entering an order on Friday, January 23. More information about this case will be released as it comes available.
