Opinion ID: 853837
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Venue May be Challenged in a Pretrial Motion

Text: The State contends that “proper venue is a matter of proof at trial.” Indeed, the State must prove venue by a preponderance of the evidence at trial, and circumstantial evidence may be sufficient to establish proper venue. Evans v. State , 571 N.E.2d 1231, 1233 (Ind. 1991); Boze v. State , 514 N.E.2d 275, 278 (Ind. 1987). In its brief to the Court of Appeals, the State requested “that it be allowed to attempt such proof at trial and that Turpin not be allowed to attack the sufficiency of evidence supporting a charge through a motion to dismiss.” The Court of Appeals essentially accepted the State’s invitation. It did not address the merits of Turpin’s venue argument, but instead took a wait-and-see approach: “If there is a failure of proof on venue at the close of the State’s case-in-chief, Turpin is entitled to move for a judgment on the evidence pursuant to Ind. Trial Rule 50.” Wurster , 708 N.E.2d at 599. (footnote: 10) To the extent that this language suggests that venue may not be challenged in a pretrial motion, it is contrary to statute, decisional law, and concerns of fairness and judicial economy, and we do not agree. According to statute, “[w]hen it appears, at any time before verdict or finding, that the prosecution was brought in an improper county, the court shall order that all papers and proceedings be certified and transferred to a court with jurisdiction over the offense in the proper county . . . .” Ind. Code § 35-32-2-5(a) (1998). The statute explicitly permits a challenge to the venue of a prosecution “at any time before verdict . . .” which plainly includes a pretrial motion. Cf. Crowder v. State , 398 N.E.2d 1352, 1356 (Ind. Ct. App. 1980) (observing that the “statute places no burden upon the defendant in a criminal case to move for transfer for improper venue, but rather places the duty upon the court to cause the transfer.”). Indeed, State v. Moles , 166 Ind. App. 632, 337 N.E.2d 543 (1975), on which the State relies for its argument on the merits of this issue, was a case in which venue was transferred from Marion County to Lake County based on a pretrial venue challenge. Although this transfer was found to be improper on appeal because the offenses were committed in Marion County, the Court of Appeals did not there, as it does here, suggest that the challenge to venue was premature or otherwise not properly raised before trial. Moreover, in Kindred v. State , 540 N.E.2d 1161, 1166 (Ind. 1989), this Court observed that a pretrial motion challenging venue is proper. However, the proper motion is a motion to transfer rather than a motion to dismiss. Id. (footnote: 11) Finally, concerns for judicial economy and fairness dictate that defendants should be permitted to challenge venue in a pretrial motion. In many cases there will be only one county of proper venue for all counts. Here, the result may be to multiply litigation because Turpin is charged with other counts that are properly venued in Marion County. The statute, indeed the Constitution, gives him the right to demand a transfer of the improperly venued count. See Ind. Const. art. I, § 13; Ind. Code § 35-32-2-1(a) (1998). If the result is the considerable financial and emotional expense of a second trial, that is his choice. In the vast majority of cases, a challenge to venue at an early stage will serve not only the interests of the parties but also those of judicial economy.