The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1881-07-21
miscellaneous.
THE Charge
Of Judge Meyer to the Jury
in the Case
Of Joseph Kline, Charged
With the Crime
Of Poisoning His Father,
and the Verdict
Of Murder in the Second
Degree,
rHs CHARGE.


JOS A. Kline Charge Ofthe Court to the Jury
Gentlemen of the Jury: The defend
ant Joseph A. Kline stands charged be-
fore you with one Of the most atroclouS
crimes known to human laws, the
crime of parrcide, the numbering of
his own father by poison.
The first count in the Indictment
charges him with purposely killing his
father, by means of morphine, deadly
poison, which he administered to him,
with intent to take his life.
The second count charges him with
purposely killing his father by means
of arsenic, a deadly poison, which he
administered to him with intent to
destroy his life.
The third and fourth counts, respec-
lively, charge him with purposely kill
ing his father by means of certain
poison to the grand jurors unknown,
which ne gave to him with like intent
to kill him. The charge in each, and
all of these counts, is that of murder in
the first degree,
To this charge the defendant has
pleaded that he Is not guilty. This
raises the issue submitted to the deter
minatiOn of the Jury, the facts devel-
oped by the proof, and the laws as
given to it by the Court. The trust so
assigned to the Jury is of the gravest
Importance to both the parties, and the
duties it imposes Of a character most
serious and responsible, hence solemn
and arduOus, In the circumscribed
sphere of action in which you are
placed you owe duties, on the one hand,
to the State, on the other duties to the
prisoner, the discharge of which may
be fraught with momentOus cOnse-
quences to either. To the State you
owe the solemn obligation to see that
the majesty of its offended law, if it
has been offended be fully Yindicated;
that the crime, if it has been com
mitted, meet that punishment which
the sanction of the law has denounced
against it,. The strict enforcement of
the law by the constituted authorities
to whom its execution is entrusted, and
particularly by Courts and Juries, it is
evident must be of the highest import
ance to the State and the people; for
obedience to the law is the funda-
mental principle upon which alone
civilized society can safely repOse. De-
prive it of this foundation, or let it
become shaken or decayed, and II too |
will decay and speedily degenerate into
a state of anarchy an barbarism, The
honest observance and faithful and |
fearless enforcement of the law are the |
great safeguards against such degener-
alton and decadence; the strict en-
fOrcement of our criminal laws, is the |
best, if not the only, means to repress |
crime, which has been SO alarmingly |
prevalent in our country, once so noted |
al extolled as the country of law and |
order.
To the prisoner, on the other hand, |
you owe the duty to see that on the
trial, upon this terrible accusation, his |
rights be scrupulOusly respected lest |
he be adjudged guilty without legal |
proof of his guilt, and suffer the awful |
punishment visited upon so grave a
crime, when in fact he is innocent and |
did not commit it,
Hence, trust, that conscious of the
gravity of the situation, and the sol
emn duties devolving upon you, it will
be your endeavOr to discharge these
duties, impartially, faithfully and con-
scientiously, and to the best of your
ability and judgment,
To assist you in doing this properly
and etfectually, it now becomes the
duty of the Court to call your attention
to these principles Of criminal law,
which are to serve yOuas a guidance in
your deliberations, and enable you to
determine with confidence, and to pro-
nounce judlciOusly the guilt or inno-
cence of the accused.
First, you will understand and bear
in mind, that the law presumes the ac-
cused to be innocent until he is proven
guilty. Upon the State it devolyes to
prove his guilt before it can ask his con-
victiom Until this is done the accused
is not called upon to prove his inno-
Cence.
Next, the guilt of the accused must
be proven beyond the existence Of a
reasonable doubt, beforehe can be con-
victed by the jury. And the jury will
understand that every ingredient or
element Of the crime must be proven
with that same degree of certainty of
proof. In further elucidation of this
important principle of criminal law, l
would observe, that in the trial Of GRIM
inal cases absolute or mathematical GER
tainty can never be attained, and,
therefore, cannot be, and is not required.
All that the law can, and does require,
is that the guilt Of the accused be es-
tablished by that degree of certainty
which is called moral certainty, and
which is ordinarily expressed by the le-
gal maxim that the guilt ofthe accused
must be proven beyond the existence of
a reasonable doubt. You will under
stand it must be proven beyond reason
able doubt; not beyond all, or all man
Her of doubt; and certainly not beyond
captious doubts which might he clung
to, perchance, to avoid the discharge of
some unpleasant duty by one imbued
with that morbid sentimeDtalism
which makes a hero Of great criminals