In People v. McKay (1951) 37 Cal. 2d 792, two defendants were charged with having murdered two highly regarded police officers in a rural community. Prior to trial, the only judge in town, who was very popular with the voters, had been successfully challenged by counsel for defendants. The judge then wrote a letter to the board of supervisors detailing the efforts that led to his disqualification. He attacked the motives of defense counsel and further stated that defense counsel believed the defendants were guilty. The letter was reprinted in the local newspaper and was again reprinted during jury selection. After all available challenges had been exhausted, there were still empanelled jurors who had read the letter. The Supreme Court analogized the disqualified judge to be the same as the trial judge. Then, using the Sanguinetti rule [Sanguinetti v. Moore Dry Dock Co. (1951)] as a basis, in part, the court reversed the convictions and granted a change of venue.