Opinion ID: 1090851
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 19

Heading: Failure to Move for a Change of Venue at the 1990 Trial

Text: ¶ 133. Russell alleges that defense counsel was ineffective for failure to move to have venue for his first trial changed. Russell argues that any Sunflower County jury would be overwhelmingly prejudiced against Russell because a large number of the Parchman employees are residents of Sunflower County; these Parchman employees would have formed opinions about Russell; and that Parchman has a substantial economic impact on Sunflower County. All this, along with unfavorable publicity, combined to make the 1990 jury an unfair one. ¶ 134. Russell also cites our cases on change of venue, and states that if such a motion had been made in 1990 it would have been granted. We recognize that motions for change of venue are often made and granted in capital cases. ¶ 135. Even if one assumes that failure to request a change of venue in 1990 amounted to deficient conduct on behalf of defense counsel, there is still the matter of prejudice. Russell did request and receive a change of venue in 1993, and was still sentenced to death in his second sentencing hearing. Russell, under the facts of his case, would have had a difficult task in any county. There are strategic reasons why counsel might have wanted to keep the trial in Sunflower County, including the difficulties inherent in trying a case a long distance from home and fear that the county to which the case might have been moved might be more conservative than Sunflower County. Large employers with economic clout who also house dangerous criminals in close proximity to county residents can engender resentment as well as devotion from those residents. We cannot say that defense counsel was ineffective for failure to request a change of venue in 1990.