Court Opinion

ID: 9565372
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 19:19:38.757036+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:19:35.314160
License: Public Domain

SINGLETON, Judge,
concurring and dissenting.
I agree with the court’s disposition of all of the issues except Chase’s motion for change of venue. While I agree that Judge Ripley was not obligated to change venue in this case prior to conducting the voir dire examination, I am satisfied from reading the transcript of the voir dire that venue should have been changed at that time. I am left with the firm conviction that the overwhelming majority of those included within the jury panel had seen Chase tried and convicted in the newspapers. While their memories of the news reports and the specific details contained therein may have been sketchy, there is no doubt that these potential jurors were aware of the tremendous community hostility towards Chase and the general belief that he was guilty. Under these circumstances, I believe it was an abuse of discretion not to transfer this case to some other district so that if Chase were convicted we could be confident that his conviction rested on the evidence presented in court and not on the impressions jurors brought into court with them.