Globe Newspaper Co. v. Superior Court for the County of Norfolk

Judge Richard Matsch, presiding over the federal trial of Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols in the Oklahoma City bombing, decided on a change of venue--that is, to move the site of the trial from Oklahoma City to Denver. He believed that the defendants could not receive a fair trial from an impartial jury in Oklahoma City, site of the 19 April 1995 bombing, which killed 168.

From the standpoint of the defense, Matsch's decision was laudable. It was important to create an opportunity for a fair trial, and their defense believed it would have been difficult to find 12 people in Oklahoma City without an opinion about the bombing.

A number of observers, including Jo Thomas of the Minneapolis Star Tribune, criticized Matsch's decision. He cited the cost to the federal government of transporting and housing families of victims. Attorney Robert Precht, who represented Mohammed Salameh in the World Trade Center bombing trial, called the change of venue a "mistake." In his view, the people of Oklahoma City "wanted to show that they could be fair in a case like this."