Opinion ID: 1688754
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: Eddins v. State, 110 Miss. 780, 70 So. 898 (1916)

Text: Appellant was convicted of murder. Change of venue was denied. This Court reversed. The sheriff and circuit clerk who handled jury selection for the grand jury and trial jury were relatives of the victim. A majority of the names in the venire were persons residing in the supervisor's district in which the homicide occurred. The original venire was quashed, but the sheriff promptly resummoned fifty-five (55) of the same men to try the defendant. The trial judge said that his own investigations led him to believe that the public had not prejudged the defendant's case. This Court stated: The learned judge seemed to be impressed with the idea that a change of venue would, in some way, reflect upon the well-known civic virtue of the citizenry of the good county of Jasper. It is obvious that the judge weighed his own opinion against that of the sworn witnesses.