The Wall Street Journal has an interesting article ($ reg. required) (and WSJ Law Blog commentary) about Department of Justice’ patterns of bringing cybercrime cases in, sometimes, distant to the defendants forums.

Cybercrimes give the feds enormous leeway to pick jurisdictions where they brings cases, reports today’s WSJ. The Sixth Amendment holds that federal criminal cases should be tried in the state and district in which an offense was committed, but some critics say that the government is “forum shopping” when it comes to prosecuting alleged Internet offenses such as online child pornography or gambling.

The government denies it is seeking a home-court advantage. Prosecutors may pick venues based on the locale of the FBI office that initiates a case, says an FBI spokesman.

The article points to a recent case where DOJ brought a suit against a Connecticut defendant in Alexandria, VA on the ground that the SEC’ Edgar system, which is located in Alexandria, VA, allows the case to be brought in Alexandria. The federal district court in Alexandria, known as the “rocket docket” for its speedy case management, granted defendants’ request to transfer the case because of inconvenience.

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