Opinion ID: 609824
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Change of venue and sequestration of the jury

Text: 219 Chandler claims that the widespread publicity before the trial prejudiced the jurors in his case. There were 64 articles in five different newspapers during the five months prior to trial. Some of the coverage suggested that Chandler was responsible for the deaths of McFry and Burrows. During voir dire, seven venirepersons stated that they had some knowledge of the case. Of the seven, six said that they would still afford Chandler a fair trial and the seventh did not remember what he had heard about the case. None of the seven were empaneled. 220 The district court's denial of the motion for change of venue and for sequestration of the jury is reviewed for an abuse of discretion. United States v. Lehder-Rivas, 955 F.2d 1510, 1524 (11th Cir.), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 113 S.Ct. 347, 121 L.Ed.2d 262 (1992). Chandler alleges no facts, outside the press coverage mentioned above, showing that any of the jurors had been prejudiced by the pretrial publicity. Regarding the sequestration motion, the district court found that the publicity at that point was limited, but reserved the right to reconsider the motion if publicity increased later in the trial. We find that Chandler has not demonstrated that the publicity surrounding the trial was such that the district court abused its discretion in denying Chandler's motions for change of venue and for sequestration of the jury. 221