Chap. 328.—An ACT to amend and re-enact Section 4895 of the Code of Virginia,
as amended, relating to venire facias in felony cases and trial of persons jointly
indicted for a felony. | [H 308)

Approved March 29, 1944

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia :

1. That section forty-eight hundred ninety-five of the Code of Vir-
ginia, as amended, be amended and re-enacted, as follows:

Section 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.—The 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 issting
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, including civil
cases as well as felonies and misdemeanors, and the court or judge may
direct that as many of the jurors as deemed necessary, whose names ap-
pear on the writ of venire facias, shall attend court any day during the
term and serve as jurors in the trial of cases hereinabove referred to.

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 draw-
ing 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 con-
nected with the accused or the prosecution, or, in a case of homicide, with
the deceased, who shall be called upon for that purpose by the clerk con-
ducting the drawing. If the presence of the commissioner cannot be ob-
tained, 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 the list shall at once be made and
signed by the clerk and the persons attending the drawing, which copy
shall be filed in the clerk’s office. However, nothing in this paragraph
shall be construed to relate to the qualifications of jurors, or to confer
upon any accused any right to exact compliance with its provisions.

No irregularity in any writ of venire facias or in the drawing, sum-
moning, returning, or impanelling of jurors, or in making out or copying
or signing or failing to sign the list or in drawing more persons than four
in excess of the number to be summoned, shall be cause for summoning a
new panel or for setting aside a verdict or granting a new trial, unless ob-
jection 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 probably cause injustice to the Common-
wealth 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.

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