Blogs Cited as Reason for Attorney's Change-of-Venue Request

Blogs Cited as Reason for Attorney's Change-of-Venue Request is an interesting December 4, 2007 National Law Journal article by Peter Page which is about a change of venue motion in a criminal case based in part upon what had been said in blogs. As the article states:

A Tennessee defense attorney is arguing for a change of venue in a racially charged double murder by citing postings on Internet blogs along with newspaper and television reporting -- a move that legal observers say may become more common.

Attorney Philip Lomonaco of Knoxville, Tenn., called the Internet "the largest unregulated source for information" in the community, and said it had been used to "outrage and taint any jury pool" that could be seated to hear the case against Eric Dewayne Boyd.

Boyd, 34, faces federal charges of hiding the alleged ringleader of four suspects in a carjacking that resulted in the abduction, rape, torture and murder of a young couple on a date. The victims were both white, while all the suspects are black.

The case is U.S. v Boyd.

Internet postings insisted the victims were each sexually mutilated, a false allegation that authorities did not refute for five months, Lomonaco alleged in his motion.

While this motion is certainly different, I doubt very much whether a blog will be treated any different than a newspaper article from a national paper. Blogs can be read by people all over the world, just like the New York Times.

Mitchell H. Rubinstein