§705-524 Venue in criminal conspiracy prosecutions. For purposes of determining venue in a prosecution for criminal conspiracy, a criminal conspiracy is committed in any circuit in which the defendant enters into the conspiracy and in any circuit in which the defendant or person with whom the defendant conspires does an overt act. [L 1972, c 9, pt of §1; gen ch 1993]
COMMENTARY ON §705-524
Section 705-524 is aimed at affording the defendant constitutional venue protection. The Sixth Amendment to the Federal Constitution provides that in "all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed." However, the use of a conspiracy charge under current, loose definitions of conspiracy dilute this protection. The unilateral approach of the Code, its limited definition and scope of conspiracy, and section 705-524 combine to establish proper venue. As the Model Penal Code commentary points out:
It is contemplated that the stricter tests of a conspiracy's scope advanced in the Draft will considerably limit the present dilution of the constitutional protection. [Section 705-524] explicitly provides that proper venue for a conspiracy charge will be tested by the defendant's agreement or overt act or an overt act of a person with whom he conspired. It assures that in complex cases involving a number of separate conspiracies, venue as to each conspiracy with which each defendant is charged will not be laid on the basis of an overt act done pursuant to a different conspiracy or by a person with whom he did not conspire.1
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§705-524 Commentary:
1. M.P.C., Tentative Draft No. 10, comments at 138-39 (1960).