Based on the reporting of a local paper, Judge Staley rarely gets overturned on appeal.
I see both sides of this, and I wonder how Judge Staley will rule. If the change of venue is granted, there is nothing in Georgia that mirrors the metro Atlanta area. While some other counties may have similar demographics, none of them remotely resemble the urban lifestyle of Atlanta. Cobb County, aside from the fact that is the location of the crime, will probably be one of the least sympathetic counties in Georgia.
On the other hand, JRH is entitled to a jury that is free from prejudice. After hearing the responses from the current jury pool, I can certainly understand why the DT is concerned. They have a legitimate case.
I would rather the qualification for the jury pool be tightened and have the trial remain in Cobb. They are finding impartial jurors, but it is slow-going. I don't believe that twelve impartial jurors don't exist in Cobb, but how much effort is required to find them?
How perfect of a match does it need to be? I wonder what the most important factor they would look for. Is it racial demographics? Median income? % of college-graduates? Population? Population density? The closest I could find was Columbia County.
Cobb County:
Population: 707k
Urban: 100%
Cost of Living: 95.2
White Non-Hispanic Alone (56.3%)
Black Non-Hispanic Alone (24.4%)
Hispanic or Latino (12.3%)
Asian alone (4.4%)
Two or more races (1.9%)
Median Household Income: $63k
People 25 years of age or older with a bachelor's degree or higher: 39.8%
Columbia County:
Population: 132k
Urban: 84%
Cost of Living: 92.7
White Non-Hispanic Alone (73.8%)
Black Non-Hispanic Alone (14.6%)
Hispanic or Latino (5.0%)
Asian alone (3.8%)
Two or more races (2.3%)
Median Household Income: $72k
People 25 years of age or older with a bachelor's degree or higher: 32.0%
(Columbia County grew by 40% between 2000-2010).
The two counties look very similiar, except the racial demographics are not an exact match, and Cobb has a much higher total population. But Columbia is growing at a rapid rate which means there must be plenty of jobs and it is becoming more urban, it has a higher median household income, has almost the same % of college graduate residents, etc. I would argue that Columbia is very similiar to Atlanta metro counties. I looked at every county in Georgia with a population over 100k and Columbia is the only one I can find that is similiar.
Source: city-data.com
