The Nevada journal., 1857-10-30


Tuesday morning contains the decision
Of the Supreme Court in the case of the
People VS.. Wallace Gehr. convicted of
robbery in this county and sentenced to
the State Prison for the term of ten
years. We senfess the decision strikes
us with astonishment. The prisoner is
sent back for new trial on the ground
that R. r. Craig, one of the jurors in
the panel had formed OF expressed an
opinion in the case, that this opinion was
formed from rumor ard could be remov-
ed by testimony. The lower court held
that the juror was competent to serve
because he believed himself able to sit
without bias, and declared himself dis
posed to be governed by the evidence.
The court on examination became sat
isfed of the competency of the juror and
so declared.
To the ruling of the court an excep-
ton was taken, and the Supreme Court
sustain the exception.
Without making pretense to legal
knowledge, we may presume to examine
the decision of the august court by the
lights of common sense and the little
law the court itself has thrown in our
way. And if we are not wholly mista-
ken we will be able to prove Il at in the
late decision the court is destroying pre-
cedent set by the court itself In the
case of the People VS.. McCauley, the
Supreme Court held exactly different
views from those enunciated in the case
of Gehr. We quote from the syllabus
of the former case, as we find it in Cal.
Reports, Vol. l. page 379.
"a person is not disqualified from sit.
ting as juror on the trial of criminal
cause, on account of his having formed
and expressed an opinion from reports,
when he declares, and the court is salts
fed from his examination, that he can
sit on the jury without bias, that evil
dence can change his opinion, and that
he will be governed by the evidence
To exclude juror on the ground of i'm
piled bias, under the criminal code of
this State, he must have formed or ex-
pressed an unqualified opinion, or belief
that the prisoner is guilty of the offense
charged, and upon this question, it is for
the court to determine both the law and
the fact"
We quote from the opinion of the
court. in the case, page 3S4.
Another objection raised respects
the qualification of some of the persons
who sat on the trial jury, Many per-
sons. called as urors, were peremptorily
challenged by the defendant, many
were rejected by the court after exami-
nation as to their qualifications, and 9TH
ers were permitted to be sworn and to
sit son the jury. after objection by the
defendant, founded upon the fact that
they had formed and expressed an opin-
ion. The jurors belonging to this latter
class stated, on their examination, that
they had formed and expressed al opin-
ion from reports, but thought they could
sit on the jury without bias, that evil
dence would change their opinion, and
that they would be governed by the ev-
idence adduced. The court properly
held such persons to be competent to sit
on the jury"
McCauley was convicted of the high
est crime known to our laws, that of
murder. The Supreme Court held that
a juror legally sat in the case before a
lower court and refused to reverse the
Judgment of the lower court, because
the opinion the juror had formed and
expressed was a qualified one to be
changed by evidence. Wallace Gehr,
convicted of a minor offense, has all these
principles overturned in his favor.
The Supreme Court allude to author
tiles in support of their Judgment in the
case of Gehr. What new light may
have dawned on the court since the case
of the People VS.. McCauley was di pos
ed of by that tribunal we are unable to
say, but it seems to us strange light
which would induce tho Supreme Court
to grant new trial to culprit on the
ground that juror returned in the renire
had been declared competent by the
court to sit in the case, but, who was not
one of the trial jurors being peremptori-
ly challenged by the defendant and ex-
cluded from the jury box. r. r. Craig,
was not one of the jury that brought in
a verdict of guilty in the case of Gehr.
and the opinion he might have formed
and expressed could have no influence
with the actual jurors in the case. The
Judgment of the Court of Sessions whe-
Their right or wrong in this case, certain
ly had ample support in the decision of
the Supreme Court in McCauley's case,