2024 California Rules of Court
Rule 4.153. Order on change of venue
After receiving the list of courts from the Administrative Director, the presiding judge, or his or her designee, must:
(1) Determine the court in which the case is to be tried. In making that determination, the court must consider, under Penal Code section 1036.7, whether to move the jury rather than to move the pending action. In so doing, the court should give particular consideration to the convenience of the jurors.
(2) Transmit to the receiving court a certified copy of the order of transfer and any pleadings, documents, or other papers or exhibits necessary for trying the case.
(3) Enter the order for change of venue in the minutes of the transferring court. The order must include the determinations in (1).
Rule 4.153 amended effective January 1, 2016; adopted as rule 843 effective March 4, 1972; previously amended and renumbered as rule 4.153 effective January 1, 2001; previously amended effective January 1, 2006.
Advisory Committee Comment
Rules 4.152 and 4.153 recognize that, although the determination of whether to grant a motion for change of venue is judicial in nature, the selection of the receiving court and the decision whether the case should be tried by a judge of the transferring court are more administrative in nature. Thus, the rules provide that the presiding judge of the transferring court is to make the latter decisions. He or she may delegate those decisions to the trial judge, the supervising judge of the criminal division, or any other judge the presiding judge deems appropriate. If, under the particular facts of the case, the latter decisions are both judicial and administrative, those decisions may be more properly made by the judge who heard the motion for change of venue.