Every person, whether an inhabitant of the State of Alabama or of any other state or country, is liable to punishment by the laws of Alabama for an offense committed in the state, except when it is by law exclusively cognizable in the United States courts.

Unless otherwise provided by law, the venue of all public offenses is in the county in which the offense was committed.

(a) Any person charged with an indictable offense may have his trial removed to another county, on making application to the court, setting forth specifically the reasons why he cannot have a fair and impartial trial in the county in which the indictment is found. The application must be sworn to by him and must be made as early as practicable before the trial, or it may be made after conviction upon a new trial being granted.

(b) The refusal of such application may, after final judgment, be reviewed and revised on appeal, and the Supreme Court or Court of Criminal Appeals shall reverse and remand or enter such judgment on the application as it may deem right without any presumption in favor of the judgment or ruling of the lower court on such application.

(c) If the defendant is in confinement, the application may be heard and determined without the personal presence of the defendant in court.

On his own motion, a trial judge may, with the consent of the defendant, direct and order a change of venue as is authorized in Section 15-2-20 whenever, in his judgment, there is danger of mob violence, and it is advisable to have a military guard to protect the defendant from mob violence.

When an application for a change of venue is presented to the court, the judge shall have authority to, and may, direct the issue of subpoenas for such number of witnesses for either the defendant or the state as he may deem just and proper to appear before the court on the hearing of such application to testify as to the facts concerning the issues made by such application. The number and names of such witnesses shall be subject to the control and discretion of the court, and the costs are to be taxed as provided in Section 12-19-233. This section shall not prevent the presentation of facts by affidavit.

When the defendant is charged with a misdemeanor, upon granting a change of venue, the court may provide that witnesses for the prosecution may be examined on interrogatories on such terms as the court may prescribe.

When a change of venue is authorized, the trial must be removed to the nearest county free from exception, and it can be removed but once.

When an order for the removal of a trial is made, the clerk of court must make out a transcript of all the entries, orders and proceedings in the case, including the organization of the grand jury, the indictment, the endorsements thereon, all the entries relating thereto, the undertakings or recognizances of the defendant, all the orders and judgments thereon and the order for the removal of the trial. He must attach his certificate thereto and forward the package under seal by a special messenger, by express, by registered or certified mail or deliver it in person to the clerk of the court to which the trial is ordered to be removed. He must also enclose in the package and forward or deliver in the same manner the original subpoenas in the case.

The defendant must be tried in the court to which the case is removed on the copy of the indictment certified pursuant to Section 15-2-25; and such court may, if necessary and on a proper showing, order the clerk of the court in which the indictment was found to correct any mistake in the transcript or to certify any portion of the record which he may have omitted.

At any time before the delivery of the transcript to the clerk of the court to which the trial is removed, subpoenas for witnesses must be issued, on the application of either the defendant or the district attorney, by the clerk of the court in which the indictment was found, commanding such witnesses to appear at the court to which the trial is removed, which subpoenas must be executed by the sheriff and returned to the clerk of the latter court; and the clerk of the court to which the trial is removed must, after the delivery of the transcript to him, issue the subpoenas for witnesses.

When the commission of an offense commenced in the State of Alabama is consummated without the boundaries of the state, the offender is liable to punishment therefor in Alabama; and venue in such case is in the county in which the offense was commenced, unless otherwise provided by law.

When the commission of an offense commenced elsewhere is consummated within the boundaries of the State of Alabama, the offender is liable to punishment in Alabama, although he was out of the state at the commission of the offense charged, if he consummated it in this state through the intervention of an innocent or guilty agent or by any other means proceeding directly from himself; and venue in such case is in the county in which the offense was consummated, unless otherwise provided by law.

When property is stolen elsewhere and brought into the State of Alabama, venue is in any county into which the property is brought.

When an offense is committed partly in one county and partly in another or the acts or effects thereof constituting or requisite to the consummation of the offense occur in two or more counties, venue is in either county.

When an offense is committed on the boundary of two or more counties or within a quarter of a mile thereof or when it is committed so near the boundary of two counties as to render it doubtful in which the offense was committed, venue is in either county.

For the offenses specified in Sections 13-1-20, 13-1-21, 13-1-22 or 13-1-23, venue is in the county in which the offense was committed or in any other county into or through which the person upon whom it was committed may have been carried in the commission of the offense.

When property is stolen in one county and carried into another, venue is in either county.