The murder trial for ex-police officer Mark Dial will take place in Philly, not another county, as his lawyers had requested

A Philadelphia judge has denied a request to hold the murder trial for former police officer Mark Dial in another county, saying there’s not sufficient evidence that Dial would be unable to receive a fair trial in the city due to the amount of attention the case has received.

Dial’s attorneys had filed that request in the spring, saying that his prosecution had not only received an “avalanche” of inflammatory media coverage, but also that elected officials had made public comments on the case, and that protesters had taken to the streets after some of the court hearings. Dial faces murder charges for fatally shooting Eddie Irizarry during a traffic stop in Kensington last year.

But Common Pleas Court Judge Barbara A. McDermott said in her ruling, issued earlier this week, that although the case has attracted significant public and media attention, “the coverage has been largely factual, and there has been a substantial cooling off period since the latest reports.”

McDermott also wrote that she staged a mock jury selection in June to determine the level of potential bias among future panelists. Half of the 100 would-be jurors had heard of the case, the judge wrote, but only 16 had read or seen anything about it in the last six months — and only two said they had fixed opinions that they wouldn’t be able to put aside if selected.

Dial’s trial is now scheduled to take place in September before Common Pleas Court Judge Glenn Bronson, court records show.

The decision marks the latest development in Dial’s case, which has taken a circuitous route through the courts over the past year.

Last August, Dial, then 27, a five-year veteran of the force, shot and killed Irizarry, 27, as he sat in his car in Kensington. Police said Irizarry had been driving erratically, including by swerving into a bike lane and driving the wrong way down a one-way street. And authorities initially said Irizarry had lunged at Dial with a knife, leading the officer to shoot him.

But video — including from Dial’s bodycam — showed that wasn’t true: Irizarry was in his car, with the windows rolled up and a knife in his hand, when Dial opened fire within seconds of getting out of his police cruiser.

Ten days after the shooting, then-Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw moved to fire Dial for what she said was a refusal to cooperate with an internal investigation.

About two weeks after that, District Attorney Larry Krasner’s office charged Dial with crimes including first- and third-degree murder, voluntary manslaughter, and aggravated assault.

But last September, Municipal Court Judge Wendy L. Pew dismissed all charges against Dial after a preliminary hearing, ruling that prosecutors had not presented enough evidence to show that the shooting was a crime. Dial’s attorneys had argued during the hearing that the officer thought his partner yelled “gun,” and that Dial shot Irizarry in self-defense.

Pew’s decision led to public outrage, including protests and, later that night, some looting and property destruction. Police said at the time that those acts were undertaken by “opportunists,” not anyone associated with Irizarry’s relatives or friends.

Prosecutors appealed Pew’s decision, and the case was revived a month later by Common Pleas Court Judge Lillian Ransom, who reinstated all charges against Dial, including first-degree murder. Dial has remained jailed without bail ever since.

His attorneys declined to comment Thursday on McDermott’s decision.

Dustin Slaughter, a spokesperson for the District Attorney’s Office — which had opposed Dial’s request to move the trial — said: “We are always in support of evenhanded justice. That is what this ruling is. Mr. Dial’s case will be decided by a Philadelphia jury, as it should.”

Dial is due back in court next month for a pretrial conference.