The Impact on Sentencing of Change of Venues Granted and Denied in Capital Punishment Trials

• In Event: Unequal Justice: Capital Sentencing, Venue, and the Limits of Redress

Abstract

There is a significant volume of research on predictors of death sentencing in the capital punishment literature. One factor that has not been studied to any meaningful extent is whether the jury, because of the defense being granted a change of venue, is not from the county where the crime occurred. Using data from 1,445 North Carolina capital trials held in 1977-2023, we explore this topic by analyzing the predictive quality of changes of venue – trials moved to another county or a jury brought in from another county – and death sentences. As well, we analyze changes of venue that were denied in pre-trial motions on subsequent death sentences. In our data, 145 sentences were issued by a change of venue jury (CoV) and 94 sentences by juries where a request for change of venue was denied (CoVD). Both CoV and CoVD sentences had a statistically significant (p < .05) bivariate correlation with death sentencing. However, as a variable in a complex logistic regression model, CoV is found to not be a statistically significant predictor of death sentencing. In a separate model, CoVD is statistically significant as a predictor. Speculation is provided as to what might influence these outcomes.

Authors

• M. Dwayne Smith, University of South Florida

• Amanda M. Murdock, University of South Florida

• Beth Bjerregaard, University of North Carolina at Charlotte

• Sondra J. Fogel, University of South Florida