Is a defendant required to make a pretrial motion to prevent a motion of objection to the composition of the grand jury that returned the indictment against him being heard before trial or on appeal?

Furthermore, because even when a criminal charge is filed in a county other than a statutorily authorized venue, a defendant may not view the location in which the charge has been filed as unduly burdensome or undesirable, but on the contrary may prefer for strategic reasons to be tried in that venue rather than in a statutorily designated locale, there is a compelling basis for not permitting a defendant who has remained silent and has allowed the proceeding to go forward in the initial location, thereafter to raise a claim of improper venue during trial or on appeal. As the United States Supreme Court pointed out in a somewhat related context, in the event a defendant were not required to raise such a claim in a timely fashion prior to trial, "[s]trong tactical considerations would militate in favor of delaying the raising of the claim in the hopes of an acquittal, with the thought that if those hopes did not materialize, the claim could be used to upset an otherwise valid conviction at a time when reprosecution might well be difficult." (Davis v. United States (1973) 411 U.S. 233, 241, 93 S.Ct.

[108 Cal.Rptr.2d 404]

1577, 36 L.Ed.2d 216 [discussing importance of requiring that any objection to the composition of the grand jury that returned the indictment be made by a timely pretrial motion].)

[108 Cal.Rptr.2d 404]