The judge in the Laci Peterson murder case has agreed to the defense's request to move Scott Peterson's trial out of Modesto, Calif.

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Judge Al Girolami said Scott Peterson will not be able to get a fair jury in his dead wife's hometown.

The case will be moved out of Stanislaus County, Calif., but Girolami did not say where. He suggested that jurors could be selected in neighboring San Joaquin County, Calif., and transported 30 miles each day from Stockton, Calif.

The trial is scheduled to start Jan. 26, but is now likely to be delayed.

Laci Peterson's husband is charged with murdering her and their unborn son just over a year ago.

Peterson's lawyer, Mark Geragos, said Modesto citizens are prejudiced against his client, making it difficult for him to get a fair trial. Geragos has referred to Laci Peterson as a "posthumous celebrity" and says her husband has been demonized.

Prosecutors said widespread publicity makes a change of venue pointless. They said the jury selection process will eliminate anyone whose mind is already made up. And they blamed much of the publicity on Geragos himself -- and what they described as his "media grandstanding."

Scott Peterson has been charged with two counts of murder in connection with the deaths of Laci Peterson, 27, and the couple's unborn child, whose remains were found on the shore of the San Francisco Bay on April 13, 2002. He pleaded not guilty.

Scott Peterson, 31, was arrested five days later, raising suspicion among some because of his changed appearance (bleached hair and goatee) and location (San Diego). Police also say Scott Peterson was carrying $10,000 in cash and his brother's driver's license.

Laci Peterson was last seen Christmas Eve 2002. Scott Peterson told investigators he returned from a fishing trip in the San Francisco Bay to find her gone and their dog wearing a muddy leash. She was eight months pregnant.

Complicating emotions of Laci Peterson's family, the Rochas, news surfaced in January that Scott Peterson was having an affair with a Fresno, Calif., woman, Amber Frey, a 28-year-old massage therapist. Later, police told the Rocha family that Scott Peterson took out a $250,000 life insurance policy on his wife, and in February, the family learned that Scott Peterson sold his wife's sport utility vehicle to purchase a new truck.

But although defense attorneys acknowledge Scott Peterson was an unfaithful husband, they say there is no evidence to support the prosecution's assertion that he killed his wife and dumped her body in the San Francisco Bay.

Defense attorneys argue that there is no physical or circumstantial evidence to link Scott Peterson to his wife's death and no evidence that she and her son died as the result of a crime.

In a 12-page argument filed with Stanislaus County Superior Court, Geragos asserted that the murder charges against his client are groundless, adding that "police -- from the very beginning -- decided that their job was to put Scott Peterson on death row."

Geragos, a high-profile attorney simultaneously representing pop star Michael Jackson amid child molestation charges, will formally move at a Jan. 14 court hearing to dismiss charges that Scott Peterson killed his wife and their unborn son, Connor.

The defense also points out that no cause of death has been determined, and prosecutors have yet to publicly acknowledge exactly where, why or how they think Laci Peterson was killed.