Upon the hearing of the motion, it shall not be necessary to examine all persons in the county liable to serve on juries, but the judge shall hear evidence by affidavit or oral testimony in support of or against the motion. If, from the evidence submitted, the judge is satisfied that an impartial jury cannot be obtained to try the case, the judge shall grant a change in venue. The judge shall transfer the case to any county that may be agreed upon by the requesting prosecuting attorney and the defendant or the defense counsel and the case shall be tried in the county agreed upon. The judge has the discretion to reject any county agreed upon; if a county is not thus agreed upon, or if the judge, in the exercise of discretion, rejects a county agreed upon, the judge shall select such county as in the judge’s judgment will afford a fair and impartial jury to try the case and have it transferred accordingly.
In the event of disagreement between the trial judge and the chief judge of the transfer circuit, the district administrative judge for the proposed transfer of venue shall have final responsibility for resolving the dispute.
History. Ga. L. 1895, p. 70, § 2; Penal Code 1895, § 939; Penal Code 1910, § 964; Ga. L. 1911, p. 74, § 1; Code 1933, § 27-1201; Code 1933, §§ 27-1201, 27-1202, enacted by Ga. L. 1972, p. 536, § 1; Ga. L. 1995, p. 1292, § 12; Ga. L. 2021, p. 132, § 2/HB 562.
The 2021 amendment, effective May 3, 2021, designated the existing provisions of paragraph (a)(1) as subparagraph (a)(1)(A); substituted “venue. The” for “venue; the” in the middle of the third sentence in subparagraph (a)(1)(A); added subparagraph (a)(1)(B); and added the ending undesignated text in paragraph (a)(1).
Editor’s notes.
Ga. L. 1995, p. 1292, § 14, not codified by the General Assembly, provides that the amendment to this Code section is applicable to all criminal cases in which the county of transfer has not been designated by court order.
Cross references.
Change of venue in criminal grand jury investigation, § 15-12-82 .
Payment of costs and expenses when venue changed, § 17-11-5 .
Procedure for transfer of person in custody of sheriff upon change of venue, § 42-4-11 .
Law reviews.
For article, “Criminal Venue and Related Problems,” see 2 Ga. St. B.J. 331 (1966).
For case note, “Coleman v. Kemp: The Problem of Pretrial Publicity and its Effect on the Alday Murder Cases,” see 38 Mercer L. Rev. 1477 (1987).
For article, “Rule of Law Doesn’t Just Happen,” see 16 (No. 2) Ga. St. B.J. 24 (2010).