GRAND FORKS (AP) - Radio talk show host and city council member Mike McNamara was surprised to find out his show was a reason for moving the murder trial of former Barnes County jailer Moe Gibbs to Bismarck.

Comments from the show, involving a discussion of vigilante justice, were relayed to Judge John Paulson, who gave it as one reason, along with court security, to move the Gibbs trial from Grand Forks.

"Needless to say, I'm a little surprised," McNamara said Friday of the trial move.

"What surprised me the most is that no one contacted me and asked for a tape or transcript of the show," McNamara said.

He said he never directed comments toward Gibbs but was talking about other murder cases in the U.S, on his radio show. He got a call from a listener, who brought up Gibbs' trial, scheduled for Oct. 22 in Grand Forks, and accused McNamara of polluting the jury pool.

"I told him I hadn't even mentioned Gibbs' name," McNamara said. "To be honest, I didn't follow the Gibbs trial too closely."

He said he would not have made comments about the Gibbs trial because he did not think it was a "cut-and-dried case."

Gibbs is charged in the death of former Valley City State University student Mindy Morgenstern, who was found dead in her off-campus apartment last fall. Authorities said she was strangled and stabbed. Gibbs' first murder trial, last month in Minot, ended in a 6-6 jury deadlock.

The radio show caller, Gary Hangsleben, worried the talk show comments would pollute the jury pool for a trial in Grand Forks.

Hangsleben told one of Gibbs' attorneys, Dennis Fisher, about the radio show.

"It was like a vigilante meeting on the radio," Hangsleben said. "It was very irresponsible for a city council member."

Hangsleben wants McNamara to resign from the city council and get off the radio.

Questions have been raised about McNamara serving as a city council member while having a radio talk show.

"I think they're two separate things," council member Eliot Glassheim said Friday. "If he weren't on the council, there would still be an issue if he said something about an upcoming trial."

Glassheim said McNamara has served his ward well and has been fair to both the city council and his job as a radio talk show host.

"I think he is very popular and speaks for the people in his ward. He has kept private council matters off of the air. But if we have talked about it in meetings, it is public information and can be mentioned," Glassheim said.

"I think some people think they're talking to a city council member when they're talking to a talk show host," council member Curt Kreun said. "He wears both hats and he knows which one he's wearing, but the listeners don't and there is confusion."

Judge Paulson said security officials also suggested moving the trial from Grand Forks for safety reasons. The trial now is scheduled for the federal courthouse in Bismarck and is expected to last through Nov. 9.