Opinion ID: 2184962
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Failure to Appeal the Trial Court's Denial of the Motion for a Change of Venue

Text: McGehee asserts his appellate counsel was ineffective for failure to argue on direct appeal that the trial court erred when it denied his change-of-venue motion. Venue had already been moved once from Boone County to Baxter County, but McGehee claims he should not have been tried in Baxter County because McFarland had just been tried there four months before. The trial court found that in the Rule 37 hearing, McGehee made no showing of prejudice in the trial in Baxter County. The trial court further found there was no showing that the jury panel had any information about the pending charges against McGehee. McGehee argues prejudice because McFarland was tried in Baxter County just four months before him. McGehee then references two affidavits of community members who opined that McGehee could not receive a fair trial, as well as newspaper articles his counsel presented to the trial court. In short, McGehee offers no evidence of actual prejudice by any juror. This court in Bell v. State, 324 Ark. 258, 920 S.W.2d 821 (1996), found that voir dire of the jury provides adequate safeguards against pretrial publicity. Here there is no evidence voir dire revealed anything other than a jury committed to giving McGehee a fair trial and following the instructions of the court. Thus, there was no showing of an abuse of discretion by the trial court in the denial of the motion, which is required for a reversal. Hill v. State 331 Ark. 312, 323, 962 S.W.2d 762 (1998). There is no merit to a claim of ineffective assistance of counsel on the failure to raise the denial of the change-of-venue motion on the direct appeal.