DIFFERENT JURY, DIFFERENT VERDICT? A REHEARING ON CHANGE OF VENUE (FROM POLICE DEVIANCE, THIRD EDITION, P 315- 320, 1994, THOMAS BARKER AND DAVID L CARTER, EDS. -- SEE NCJ-144538)

• NCJ Number: 144556
• Author(s): M Hansen
• Date Published: 1994
• Length: 6 pages
• Sale Source: Anderson Publishing Co
• Publication Type: Legislation/Policy Analysis
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: *This document is currently unavailable from NCJRS.

Annotation

This paper examines the impact of the change-of-venue decision in the Rodney King case in California on subsequent change-of-venue decisions in police-brutality cases.

Abstract

Many legal experts have argued that the jury's decision to acquit the police officers who beat Rodney King was ensured by the judge's decision to move the trial to Simi Valley, a predominantly white suburb 25 miles from Los Angeles. Although a change of venue is appropriate when publicity surrounding the case in the jurisdiction where the alleged offense occurred is likely to produce a biased jury pool, the Rodney King case has made the legal community aware that the demographics of the community to which the trial is moved may also contribute to a biased jury pool. Many legal experts argue that the demographics of Simi Valley made it likely that the jury would be biased in favor of the officers and against the alleged victim. Discussions about change of venue since the Rodney King case have focused on efforts to make the demographics of the community to which the trial is moved as similar as possible to the demographics of the community in which the alleged offense occurred. This would fulfill the intent of the change-of- venue option, which is to provide a jury pool similar to that of the community in which the offense occurred, but without a bias stirred by local pretrial publicity.