SCOFIELD v. ASBERRY

SCOFIELD v. ASBERRY
1926 OK 463
246 P. 456
117 Okla. 266
Case Number: 16640
Decided: 05/11/1926
Supreme Court of Oklahoma

SCOFIELD
v.
ASBERRY.

Syllabus

¶0 1. Venue--Misdemeanors--Right to Change of Venue from County Court to Justice Court
A defendant, who is informed against in the county court for the commission of a misdemeanor, of which a justice court has concurrent jurisdiction, is not entitled to a change of venue from the county court to the nearest justice court, on an affidavit charging that he cannot have a fair trial in the county court, on account of bias and prejudice of the county judge
2. Same--Mandamus--Writ Requiring County Judge to Grant Change of Venue Improper
Record examined; held, to be insufficient to support judgment against plaintiff in error.

Commissioners' Opinion, Division No. 4.

Error from District Court, Adair County; J. T. Parks, Judge.

Application for writ of mandamus by Clyde Asberry against Hon. W. A. Scofield, as County Judge of Adair County, to compel the latter to grant a change of venue to a justice court. Judgment for petitioner, and respondent appeals. Reversed.

W. A. Corley, Co. Atty., for plaintiff in error.
Williams & Martin, for defendant in error.

STEPHENSON, C.

¶1 The county attorney of Adair county filed an information in the county court charging Clyde Asberry with the crime of carrying a concealed weapon. The defendant filed an affidavit in the cause, in which he charged that he could not have a fair trial on account of the bias and prejudice of the county judge. The defendant, for that reason, asked that the cause be transferred from the county court to the nearest justice court for trial. The county court denied the application for a change of venue.

¶2 The defendant made application to the district court of Adair county for a writ of mandamus, to compel Hon. W. A. Scofield, county judge of Adair county, to transfer the criminal case to the nearest justice of the peace for trial. The trial of the cause resulted in the granting of the writ. The respondent has appealed the cause here for review. The defendant in error relies on section 2966, C. O. S. 1921, for his right to a change of venue from the county court to the nearest justice of the peace.