Introduction

Venue and Place of Trial

Introduction

Rule 18 of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure answers two separate questions about where a federal prosecution takes place, and it does so in two sentences. The first sentence tells the government which judicial district it must choose: the one where the offense was committed, unless a statute or another rule of procedure provides otherwise.¹ The second sentence addresses a different problem that arises only after the district is fixed. It directs the court to set the place of trial within that district, giving due regard to the convenience of the defendant, any victim, and the witnesses, and to the prompt administration of justice.² Because the two commands operate at different levels, they are applied in order, and the answer to the first fixes the territory within which the second operates.

Venue is the name for the physical location or judicial district in which a prosecution will take place, and its rules come from statutes, court rules, and the constitutions of the United States and many states.⁵ Two purposes explain why those rules exist. The first is fairness to the accused, who should not have to submit to trial in a remote location. The second is accurate fact-finding, which is best served when the trial is held where the witnesses and circumstances relevant to the issues are available.⁶ The two-sentence structure of Rule 18 follows from those purposes. The district-level command limits where the government may haul a defendant to trial, while the courthouse-level command lets a judge fit the trial to a federal district that is often large and may contain more than one place of holding court.⁷

This chapter teaches the two commands in that same order. It begins with what venue is and why the Constitution cares where a trial is held. It then turns to how a court identifies the district where an offense was committed and how that inquiry changes when conduct or its effects span several districts. After covering the exceptions the rule itself recognizes, it ends with how a judge selects a courthouse within the chosen district. The first step is definitional, because venue sits close to two other ideas, jurisdiction and vicinage, that are easily run together with it. The next section fixes what venue means and separates it from each of them.