State v. Borders, 236 N.C. App. 149 (Sept. 2, 2014)

In this rape and murder case, the trial court did not abuse its discretion by denying the defendant’s motion to change venue. All of the jurors either indicated that they had no prior knowledge of the incident or if they had read about it, they could put aside their knowledge about the case. The court distinguished State v. Jerrett, 309 N.C. 239 (1983), on grounds that here, six of the jurors had no knowledge of the case prior to jury selection, neither of the alternate jurors knew about the case prior to that time, individual voir dire was used, none of the jurors seated knew any of the State’s witnesses, and the population of the county where trial occurred was significantly larger than the county at issue in Jerrett.