vislaw
Verified Forensic Consultant
- Joined
- Oct 10, 2019
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RE: BigAl16 - >I'm guessing they can make a pretty good case for a change of venue though although to be honest I'm not sure which side the venue would be likely to favor, I'm going to guess that getting a jury with people who don't have a pretty solid opinion on the case might be tough. If someone doesn't have an opinion I'd be concerned with whether they are intelligent enough or suitably aware of what's happening around them to be on a jury. MOO< It’s an interesting question. I am not a lawyer. Is it at the sitting judges discretion? How big is this story in Rexburg and surrounding areas? ... My other question is if everyone in Rexburg has already formed an opinion, would that be the same for the rest of Idaho? ...
A motion for change of venue in criminal cases is usually made on the basis that the defendant claims he/she won't get a fair trial (usually due to pretrial publicity). The judge has discretion to grant or deny the motion and does have the option of sending the case to another county or even can have a jury brought in by bus from another jurisdiction. High profile cases are often moved when the public widely sees the defendant in a negative light (i.e, Scott Peterson, Timothy McVeigh and John Gotti to name a few). In this case I would say there the odds of moving the trial are high given the smaller jury pool available in Rexburg along with the emotional nature of the case. Moving the trial to a more urban jurisdiction would permit calling for a much larger pool of jurors with higher odds of impaneling a jury.