Hillsborough Circuit Judge William Fuente has made the call to change venue in the Dontae Morris trial. He had already deep-sixed the jury pool in Hillsborough County. Yet to be determined: Whether the Orlando jury will come here or stay in Orlando.
Just move it. There are more Morris trials looming. And the accompanying publicity and emotion will only ratchet up more.
Venue-change options, which are rarely exercised, are designed for notably infamous cases where impartiality is beyond challenging. The Timothy McVeigh trial was moved to another state. The trial of the New York Police Department officers in the Amadou Diallo case was moved upstate from New York City to Albany. It happens rarely. But it happens for good reason. The Morris case fits that notorious niche.