Q: Would a motion for change of venue be granted based on a federal prosecutor stating: 'You will regret not cooperating?'
Florida Federal Criminal Court
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A:
A defendant in a criminal case is not guaranteed the right to any particular venue. However, the defendant can request a move for change of venue citing various reasons such as: pretrial publicity, improper venue, or interests of justice. Interestingly, “interests of justice” is a catch-all doctrine that allows a trial to be relocated due to a variety of factors, such as: travel costs, judicial expenditures, location of witnesses or evidence, choice of applicable law, racial and/or socioeconomic population breakdown of the area which proves unfavorable to the case, previous problems with the judge, authorities and other lawyers, or even the fact that the building is not handicapped accessible.
Change of venue is not your best remedy, since the prosecutor will simply travel to the next place the case is being tried. What you might look at is a motion to disqualify the prosecutor for misconduct, but frankly, I don't think what he/she said is satisfactory grounds.
Talk to your attorney about this in detail and Good Luck.
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