Weyrich v. People

Citations

• 89 Ill. 90

Syllabus

<p>1. Change of Venue—out of circuit in criminal case. The sending of a criminal case to an adjoining county, but out of the judicial circuit, upon an application by the defendant for a change of venue on the ground of prejudice of the inhabitants of the county in which the indictment is found, is not in violation of the constitutional provision which secures to the accused a speedy public trial by an impartial jury of the county or district in which the offense is alleged to have been committed.</p> <p>2. Same—right to trial in district waived. The constitutional right to a trial in the county or district in which an offense is alleged to have been committed, is one that a defendant may waive, and which is waived by a petition for a change of -venue.</p> <p>3. Constitution—right to trial.in county or district. The plain object of the clause of the .constitution giving the'accused the right to a speedy public trial by an impartial jury of the county or district, etc., is to secure the common law right of trial by a jury of the visne or neighborhood where the offense is alleged to have been committed, and to protect him against a prosecution elsewhere. The grand jury indicting, and the traverse jury trying, must be of the visne. The creation of judicial circuits has no reference to the enforcement of this clause of the -constitution-, but the word .“ district,” is convertible with that of “ county,” and is descriptive of the territory which in legal contemplation comprises the visne.</p> <p>1. Although there may be many counties or districts in the same circuit, the court in each is entirely separate and disconnected from that in all the others, and its jurisdiction, within the meaning of the constitutional clause, is limited by its territorial boundaries.</p> <p>5. Criminal law—right to a speedy trial. The right to a speedy trial guaranteed by the constitution to one accused of crime, is only against arbitrary and oppressive delays, and is in nowise violated by such