Chap. 23.—An ACT to amend section 4895 of the Code of Virginia. [H B 19]
Approved February 10, 1920.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That section
forty-eight hundred and ninety-five of the Code of Virginia be
amended and re-enacted so as to read as follows:

Sec. 4895. Venire facias in case of felony; what to command;
number of persons to be summoned, and how selected ; irregularities ;
venire, when persons jointly indicted for a felony elect to be tried
separately —T he writ of venire facias in case of felony shall command
the officer to whom it is directed to summon twenty persons of his
county or corporation, to be taken from a list furnished him by the
clerk issuing the writ, who are qualified in all respects to serve as
jurors, to attend the court wherein the accused is to be tried on the
first day of the next term thereof, or at such other time as the court
or judge may direct. At one term of the court only one jury shall be
summoned, unless the court or judge thereof otherwise direct ; and the
jury so summoned may be used for the trial of all the cases which may
be tried at that term, both felonies and misdemeanors.

The list mentioned in this section shall contain the names of twenty-
four persons drawn for that purpose by the clerk of the court or his
deputy from the names and box provided for by sections fifty-nine
hundred and eighty-eight and fifty-nine hundred and ninety of this
Code. Such drawing shall be in the presence of the judge of the
court, or in his absence of one of the commissioners in chancery
provided for by section fifty-nine hundred and ninety-two of this
Code, and a reputable citizen not connected with the accused or the
prosecutor, or, in a case of homicide, with the deceased, who shall
be called upon for that purpose by the clerk conducting the drawing.
If the presence of the commissioner cannot be obtained, the drawing
shall be in the presence of two reputable citizens not connected as
aforesaid and called upon by the clerk. The clerk shall notify the
commissioner of the time his attendance is desired, and it shall be
his duty to attend at such time at the clerk’s office. The drawing,
except as herein otherwise provided, shall conform as near as may
be to the mode prescribed for drawing juries in civil cases.

For good cause shown in any felony case the judge of the court, in
term time or vacation, may direct more than twenty-four names to be
drawn and placed on the list, and more than twenty persons to be sum-
moned. He shall in such cases specify the number of names to be
drawn and the number of persons to be summoned ; the number drawn
shall not be more than four in excess of the number to be summoned.

If there is drawn from the box the name of a person who has died,
removed from the county or city or is related to the accused or to the
prosecutor, or, in case of homicide, to the deceased, or who is known to
the clerk or other persons attending the drawing, if the case be in
a circuit court of a county, to live within two miles of the place where
the crime is charged to have been committed, such name shall not be
placed on the list as they are drawn, and when twenty-four names
have been so placed the drawing shall cease, and a copy of said list
shall at once be made and signed by the clerk and the persons attend-
ing the drawing, which copy shall be filed in the clerk’s office. _

No irregularity in any writ of venire facias or in the drawing
summoning, returning, or impanelling of jurors, or in making out o1
copying or signing or failing to sign the list or in drawing more per-
sons than four in excess of the number to be summoned, shall be
cause for summoning a new panel or for setting aside a verdict o1
granting a new trial, unless objection thereto specifically pointed out,
was made before the jury was sworn, and unless it appears that such
irregularity, or error, or failure, was intentional or such as to prob-
ably cause injustice to the Commonwealth or to the accused; and no
judgment shall be arrested or reversed for the failure of the record
to‘show that there was a venire facias, unless made a ground of
exception in the trial court, before the swearing of the jury.

If a person, indicted jointly with others for a felony, elect to be
tried separately, the venire summoned for their trial may be used
for him who is first tried, and the court shall award a venire facias
for the trial of the others, jointly or separately, as they may elect.

2. An emergency existing, this act shall be in force from its
passage.