LOS ANGELES, Jan. 22 – Robert K. Beausoleil, charged with murder in the death of Malibu musician Gary Hinman, asked Los Angeles Superior Court Judge William B. Keene Wednesday to switch his retrial to San Francisco or Sacramento counties.

Keene said he would rule on the motion for a change of venue Friday.

An attorney for Beausoleil, 21 who’s been linked with the hippie cult led by Charles Manson. asked the change because of what he termed “excessive publicity” surrounding a co-defendent, 21-year-old Susan Denise Atkins. Beausoleil’s first trial on the charge ended with the jury deadlocked.