Irvin v. State

Citations

• 19 Fla. 872

Syllabus

<p>1. On a motion for a change of venue, it is not sufficient for the party-making such application to swear “that he does not believe that be can obtain a fair and impartial trial ” in the county in which the indictment was obtained. He must fully state the facts upon' which he founds such belief.</p> <p>2. A motion to change the venue is always addressed to the sound discretion of the court, and this court will not interfere unless it can find in the record some good reason for believing that there was not an exercise of such sound discretion on the part of the court below in refusing the motion for such change.</p> <p>3. Counsel for prisoner entered a motion for a change of venue, but failed to call the attention of the court to it. The cause was continued on his motion. The next term when the cause was reached for trial, the counsel for prisoner proceeded to such trial without taking any notice of his motion for change of venue, or calling the attention of the court to such motion : Held, That the motion for change of venue must be considered as having been abandoned, and that there was no error upon fhe part of the court.</p> <p>4. The court is not obliged to instruct the jury upon all principles of law that counsel may think proper to ask, or to go outside of the . case as made, and charge upon questions of law foreign thereto. They may properly refuse to charge upon any such questions as are not applicable to the facts in evidence.</p> <p>5. Affidavits in support of a motion for a new trial charging that a juror, before the empanelling of the jury, had formed and expressed an opinion that the prisoner was guilty, and at the same time had said he Would hang him if he was on the jury, should unequivocally allege that the prisoner and his counsel were ignorant of the fact as stated at the the time of the empanelling of such jury.</p> <p>6. In charging the jury in a trial for murder, the court instructed them that if under certain circumstances detailed, “the acc