Rule 18 of Federal Criminal Procedure only says the same State.
DC ain’t a State, so up to Congress where the trial has to be held.
“The Trial of all Crimes, except in Cases of Impeachment, shall be by Jury; and such Trial shall be held in the State where the said Crimes shall have been committed; but when not committed within any State, the Trial shall be at such Place or Places as the Congress may by Law have directed”
Would assume his attorneys tried to move it if they could. If it was actually considered to be in Virginia, it would certainly make sense to move to a rural area. But it was probably DC and therefore DC only where he could be tried.
My comment is in opposition to this rule and regardless of current procedure points out that the political composition of the District of Columbia is very much at issue. Even if it means moving to another Federal District court for trial, that should be available - I’m positive that a federal jury in Miami or Tallahassee would be quite different from what he faced in DC.
And such rule does exist within Rule 18:
“28 U.S.C. former §114 (now §§1393, 1441) provides:
All prosecutions for crimes or offenses shall be had within the division of such districts where the same were committed, unless the court, or the judge thereof, upon the application of the defendant, shall order the cause to be transferred for prosecution to another division of the district”
May have been a tactical plan by the attorneys. Let Berman Jackson screw up the case so it could be overturned on appeal.
I wasn’t referencing Rule 18, but rather Article 3 Sec. 2 of the Constitution, but rule 18 is just quoting the Constitution. “Crimes not committed within any state...” would apply to things like piracy, etc but would also apply to the District and no doubt very long ago Congress has set the place for where crimes committed in the District will be tried, i.e. the District.
If a famous Republican is accused of a crime in DC, the betting would be that he’ll be found guilty. The opposite result if it’s a dem.