In U.S. v. Campa, No. 01-17176 (Aug. 9, 2005), the Court (Birch, Kravitch, Oakes, b.d.) held that the district court abused its discretion in denying a motion for a change of venue when the defendants, charged with being Cuban spies, were tried in Miami.
The Court stated: "Despite the district court’s numerous efforts to ensure an impartial jury in this case, we find that empaneling such a jury in this community was a unreasonable probability because of pervasive community prejudice. The entire community is sensitive to and permeated by concerns for Cuban exile population in Miami. Waves of public passion . . . flooded Miami both before and during this trial." The Court noted that the Elian Gonzalez case which overlapped with some of this case raised the community’s awareness of the concerns of the Cuban exile community. The Court pointed to news stories during the trial about the "paramilitary exile groups," and noted the "palpable" perception that these groups could harm jurors who rendered a verdict unfavorable to their views. The Court noted that one witness’ allusion to a defense’s counsel allegiance with Castro "only served to add fuel to the inflamed community passions."
The Court also noted the improper prosecutorial comments during closing arguments, and held: "Here, a new trial was mandated by the perfect storm created when the surge of community sentiment, and extensive publicity both before and during the trial, merged with the improper prosecutorial references." [The prosecution had stated, inter alia, that the jurors would be abandoning their community unless they convicted the Cuban spies sent to "destroy the United States."].
The Court noted in closing that the Cuban-American community is a bastion of the traditional values that make America great, and said that its decision was consistent with these values.
