Opinion ID: 1938175
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Trial counsel's failure to actively pursue a change of venue denied Michelle Byrom effective assistance of counsel.

Text: ¶ 7. Byrom alleges her counsel exercised unreasonable judgment in not actively pursuing a change of venue and/or order denying the same. This Court considered the issue of failure to grant the motion for change of venue on direct appeal. We could find no motion for change of venue in the record, and there was no indication that such a motion had been presented to the trial judge or ruled on. However, we still considered this issue on its merits. There is no evidence in the record, nor demonstrated by Byrom in her brief, that the failure to move her trial to another county was prejudicial to her case. A motion for a change of venue is not automatically granted in a capital case. There must be a satisfactory showing that a defendant cannot receive a fair and impartial trial in the county where the offense is charged. Miss. Code Ann. § 99-15-35 (Rev.2000). See also Gray v. State, 728 So.2d 36, 65 (Miss.1998). Moreover, the trial judge took steps, suggested and condoned by Byrom's counsel, to preserve the jury's impartiality. Byrom, 863 So.2d at 851. ¶ 8. Thus, while we find the change-of-venue issue to be procedurally barred, we discuss it further here only from the standpoint of Byrom's claim that her trial counsel's failure to pursue a change of venue resulted in Byrom receiving trial representation which was legally ineffective. ¶ 9. Byrom begins with a discussion of ineffective assistance of counsel decisions from the United State Supreme Court. She then starts a new section entitled Ineffective Assistance of Petitioner's Counsel After Wiggins v. Smith ,  referring to Wiggins v. Smith, 539 U.S. 510, 123 S.Ct. 2527, 156 L.Ed.2d 471 (2003). Byrom provides little discussion on how Wiggins is relevant to her claim based on a change of venue. ¶ 10. Byrom cites numerous decisions from this Court and other jurisdictions on the applicable standards for change of venue in criminal cases involving potentially prejudicial publicity, including Fisher v. State, 481 So.2d 203 (Miss.1985); and, Johnson v. State, 476 So.2d 1195 (Miss. 1985); see also Grayson v. State, 806 So.2d 241 (Miss.2001) (affirming denial of change of venue in capital case). Byrom argues that pervasive and prejudicial publicity existed in her case. She attaches newspaper articles from the local press at the time of her trial. She also points to voir dire, where over forty individuals stated they were aware of the case through the media or other sources. Other members of the venire had already formed opinions about the case, and also some venire members had family members who were potential witnesses. Byrom finally asserts that the court's limited voir dire in open court was insufficient to establish the effect of pre-trial publicity. ¶ 11. The State argued Byrom's jury was selected on November 13, 2000. Included in the articles attached by Byrom were from the Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal dated November 14, 2000, the Daily Corinthian dated November 15, 2000, the Tishomingo County News dated November 16, 2000, the Daily Corinthian dated November 16, 2000, and the Daily Corinthian dated November 17, 2000. The State argues that because these articles were published after the jury was selected and sequestered, they cannot serve as a basis for the argument that the jury was prejudiced by publicity. ¶ 12. The State next discussed two undated articles from the Tishomingo County News. The State claims that the first article must have been published in August 1999, as it dealt with Joey Gillis's preliminary hearing, which took place on August 2, 1999. The State claims the second article was published in June 1999, shortly after Edward Byrom, Sr.'s murder on June 4, 1999. The State argues that these articles do not amount to the kind of publicity which would have warranted a change in venue, even if they had been presented to the trial judge. ¶ 13. The State also addresses Byrom's allegation that [a]t least two individuals who responded that they had pretrial knowledge of the case were actually seated on the jury. The record references cited by Byrom point to Shelia Cooley and Donna Durham as the jurors in question. A review of the record reveals that during voir dire, both Cooley and Durham stated that they did not know what happened in the case; both stated that they would not be influenced by what they had heard; and, both stated they would rely only on the trial evidence in making their decisions. ¶ 14. The State answers Byrom's allegation that Connie Lorella Dexter knew Byrom but did not respond when asked by the court. The State points to voir dire where the trial court specifically calls on Ms. Dexter, and she answers that [o]ur children played baseball in the same base-ball summer league. Her connection to Byrom was just seeing them on the base-ball field. Dexter denied this would cause her any problem serving as a juror in this case. ¶ 15. After a thorough review of the record, we find no justifiable reason necessitating a change of venue in this case. Stated differently, as we found on direct appeal, the trial court certainly committed no error in failing to change venue in this case. Therefore, trial counsel's failure to aggressively seek a change of venue could hardly be deemed to rise to the level of rendering ineffective assistance. Thus, it follows that Byrom's claim of ineffective assistance of counsel for failure to pursue a change of venue is without merit.