The victim is flying from India to testify at the trial next week of Jesse Matthew. Police have charged the 33-year-old Charlottesville man with attempted capital murder and sexual assault in the 2005 Fairfax County case, in addition to separate charges of abducting and killing Graham. Authorities say DNA evidence links the cases.
Today's hearing is to determine whether the victim can reliably identify Matthew as her attacker. Matthew's lawyers are skeptical that she can and say that her recollection of the decade-old attack might be corrupted by pretrial publicity that has frequently shown Matthew's photo.
She argued that publicising details of a suppression hearing defeats the purpose of such a hearing, because the jury pool could be exposed to the very testimony the defence wants to keep out of trial.
A lawyer for a consortium of news outlets, including The Associated Press, says the judge can neutralise the effects of pretrial publicity during jury selection.
Last week, the judge warned that today's hearing could be delayed to Friday depending on the victim's travel schedule, she was scheduled to arrive at the airport just hours before the start of the hearing.
Matthew faces up to life in prison if convicted in the Fairfax case. Prosecutors in Albemarle County are seeking the death penalty for Graham's abduction and death, which prompted a frenzied, weekslong search for the teen that drew national headlines. A judge is scheduled to select a trial date in that case later this month.