{ "id": 1734206, "name": "Cockrell v. Dobbs, Judge", "name_abbreviation": "Cockrell v. Dobbs", "decision_date": "1964-09-14", "docket_number": "5-3418", "first_page": "348", "last_page": "351", "citations": [ { "type": "official", "cite": "238 Ark. 348" }, { "type": "parallel", "cite": "381 S.W.2d 756" } ], "court": { "name_abbreviation": "Ark.", "id": 8808, "name": "Arkansas Supreme Court" }, "jurisdiction": { "id": 34, "name_long": "Arkansas", "name": "Ark." }, "cites_to": [ { "cite": "128 S. C. 494", "category": "reporters:state", "reporter": "S.C.", "case_ids": [ 1981998 ], "weight": 2, "opinion_index": 0, "case_paths": [ "/sc/128/0494-01" ] }, { "cite": "99 So. 334", "category": "reporters:state_regional", "reporter": "So.", "opinion_index": 0 }, { "cite": "87 Fla. 155", "category": "reporters:state", "reporter": "Fla.", "case_ids": [ 1646218 ], "opinion_index": 0, "case_paths": [ "/fla/87/0155-01" ] }, { "cite": "31 Ark. 35", "category": "reporters:state", "reporter": "Ark.", "case_ids": [ 1879291 ], "opinion_index": 0, "case_paths": [ "/ark/31/0035-01" ] } ], "analysis": { "cardinality": 299, "char_count": 4162, "ocr_confidence": 0.497, "pagerank": { "raw": 1.6989938767479968e-07, "percentile": 0.7004881365670353 }, "sha256": "7f2204422093bc27842831f915f305504e448237aa083b51faeca42bf3803b28", "simhash": "1:ad848c6e8c44a1a8", "word_count": 715 }, "last_updated": "2023-07-14T18:48:57.788571+00:00", "provenance": { "date_added": "2019-08-29", "source": "Harvard", "batch": "2018" }, "casebody": { "judges": [ "Holt, J., not participating." ], "parties": [ "Cockrell v. Dobbs, Judge." ], "opinions": [ { "text": "George Bose Smith, J.\nThis is a petition by Bruce Cockrell for a writ of mandamus to compel the respondent, as the presiding judge of the Garland circuit court, to grant a hearing upon Cockrell\u2019s motion for a change of venue. The petitioner, charged with murder, asked for a change of venue, asserting that he could not obtain a fair trial in Garland county. In refusing to conduct a hearing upon the motion Judge Dobbs explained that he had concluded that he could not grant any relief even if the motion had merit.\nThis was Judge Dobbs\u2019s reasoning: The Bill of Bights provides that the venue may be changed to another county within the same judicial district. Ark. .Const., Art. 2, \u00a7 10. This provision has been construed to prohibit a change of venue to a county in a different judicial district. State v. Flynn, 31 Ark. 35. Act 49 of 1963, by transferring Montgomery county to another judicial district, left Garland county as the only county in the Eighteenth'Judicial District. Hence Judge Dobbs concluded that he was powerless to grant a change of venue, for there is now no other county within the district to which the case might be removed.\nIn seeking a writ of mandamus the petitioner contends that the Bill of Bights by implication prohibits the legislature from reducing any judicial district to a single county, so that Act 49 is unconstitutional. During our summer recess four members of the court' heard the petition and unanimously granted the writ. This opinion for the full court explains why the writ was issued.\nWe are unwilling to say that Act 49 is invalid. The constitution (Art. 7, \u00a7 13, and Art. 18) empowers the General Assembly to change the judicial districts from time to time. There is no express requirement that a district contain more than one county. Shifts in population might readily qualify a single county to become a complete judicial district. There is no sound basis for.reading into the constitution the implied limitation upon the legislative power now urged by the petitioner \u2014 a restriction that in practice might prove to be demonstrably unwise. We uphold Act 49.\nWe are nevertheless of the opinion that the court below construed the Bill of Bights much too narrowly, permitting its strict letter to defeat its manifest purpose. Changes of venue were recognized at common' law. Without a doubt Section 10 of Article 2, authorizing a transfer to another county within the district, was meant to preserve the accused\u2019s right to a change of venue, not to deny that right. The important declaration in this section of the constitution is its guaranty of a trial by an impartial jury. A change of venue is a means to that end. The subordinate directive that it be to another county in \u2022 the district is also for the protection of the accused, for it prevents the trial from taking place at an unreasonable distance from the county where the offense was committed.\nThe Bill of Bights must be read in context. When the constitution was written Article 18 enumerated the original judicial districts, \u00bf11 containing four or more counties. In that setting the provision for. a transfer to another county within the district was of benefit to the accused. But when a county becomes a district in itself it would defeat the plain purpose of Section 10 to hold that the circuit court is powerless to grant a change of venue, even though it is shown that the defendant cannot hope to obtain a fair trial .in the county. The heart of Section 10 is its guaranty of an impartial jury. Any interpretation that destroys that guaranty is wrong. For these reasons we directed, during the summer recess, that the respondent conduct a hearing upon the petitioner\u2019s motion, to the end that the case might, if necessary, be transferred to an adjoining county. This is the view that has been taken elsewhere when the identical question has arisen. Turner v. State, 87 Fla. 155, 99 So. 334; State v. Harvey, 128 S. C. 494, 122 S. E. 860.\nHolt, J., not participating.", "type": "majority", "author": "George Bose Smith, J." } ], "attorneys": [ "Jack Holt, Sr., for appellant.", "Davicl Whittington, Prosecuting Attorney, for appellee." ], "corrections": "", "head_matter": "Cockrell v. Dobbs, Judge.\n5-3418\n381 S. W. 2d 756\nOpinion delivered September 14, 1964.\nJack Holt, Sr., for appellant.\nDavicl Whittington, Prosecuting Attorney, for appellee." }, "file_name": "0348-01", "first_page_order": 372, "last_page_order": 375 }