MODESTO, Calif. (AP) - Double murder charges will stand against Scott Peterson in the killings of his pregnant wife and unborn son, a judge ruled Wednesday, rejecting a defense motion to dismiss the charges.

Stanislaus County Superior Court Judge Marie Silveira denied the motion to toss out the charges on defense claims that prosecutors did not present enough evidence of a crime during a preliminary hearing last year.

Defense lawyer Mark Geragos said evidence from the 11 days of testimony showed that Laci Peterson was abducted and that her husband could not have killed her. Prosecutors said that claim was ridiculous.

Peterson, 31, is charged with two counts of murder that could bring the death penalty. Laci Peterson was eight months pregnant when she vanished from her Modesto home on Christmas Eve 2002. The remains of her body and the fetus she was carrying washed ashore along San Francisco Bay in April two miles from where Scott Peterson said he was fishing when she disappeared.

During the hearing, the judge also ordered a university professor who oversaw a student survey of potential jurors to appear in court Tuesday at a hearing to decide where the trial is moved.

The survey by sociology professor Stephen Schoenthaler at California State University, Stanislaus has since come under fire after several students told The Modesto Bee they fabricated results.

In ruling to move the trial out of Modesto because of extensive news coverage, Judge Al Girolami cited the survey that found jurors were less biased in the San Francisco area and Southern California.

Prosecutors who argued unsuccessfully to keep the case in Modesto subpoenaed Schoenthaler on Wednesday and they could ask Girolami to reconsider his decision to move the trial.

Silveira was chosen to hear the defense motion to dismiss the charges because Girolami, who is overseeing the case, ruled in November that there was enough evidence to go to trial.

The trial is scheduled for Jan. 26, but it could be postponed if it's moved.

Alameda, San Mateo, Santa Clara and Orange counties have said they have available courtrooms and staff to hold the trial. Girolami said he wants to keep the case in Northern California.