Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1881-08-18
THE WEIR TRIAL.
Charge Of the COurt-The Jury Dis
agree.
lConcluded from Fourth Pace


GENTLEMEN OF THE JURY&You
have been summoned, impaneled and
sworn to truly try and true deliverance
make between the State of Ohio and the
prisoner at the bar George w. Weir
You have patiently listened to the testi
mony and to the very able arguments Of
counsel on the part of the State and OF
1.-THE accused; and after hearing the
charge of the court as to the law thai
will govern you in disposing of the case
you will then have the case before yoU
to pass upon according to the testimony
as given in open court before, and under
the law as the same may be given you
by the court.
have been requested by the accused
lparty to give you in charge certain re
quests, and in consequence of the read
ing by the closing counsel of portions Of
law-one, especially, as to thecharactel
of the deceased-I am requested to give
you in charge a passage from Bishop or
Crimes which do, and that is this
"The conduct of a man of peaceablt
character and harmless department
might pass without exciting reasona
BILE apprehension of impending peril
while on the other hand the same con
duct from man of notoriously opro iite
character and habits might reasonably
produce consciousness of the most i'm
minent peril and conviction of the ne
cessity of prompt and definite action"
am also requested to give you in
charge certain requests prepared by
counsel for the accused:
In hn Of
slaughter the accused intends to kill
and the fact that defendent intended to
kill, does not, of itself. make the crime
of higher grade than manslaughter
In order to raise the crime to that OF
murder in the second degree, the inten.
tional killing must also be malicious
it must have been done intending to kill
and sCith mdiice,-with malice as that
word is known and understood in the
law; that is Ito explain further) it must
have been done with mind cool, sedate
and unruffied by passion; if the mind
was disturbed or clOuded by passion or
other sufficient disturbing cause, then
you cannot find the existence of malice,
and, if you do not find the existence of
malice beyond reasonable doubt, YOU
the second degree.
"By our statute in murder in the first
degree the malice must be deliberately
premeditated; that is, the homicide
must not be merely thought of or threat
ened at some time beforehand, but when
so thought of or threatened beforehand
it must have been done coolly and Sc
dately and at time when there was no
excuse or palliation for the thought or
threat. 1t is not enough that the
thought was previously intended or
threatened; it must have been thought
of and threatened when the mind was
composed and not clouded by passions
or other sufficient disturbing cause.
Further, it is required under murder in
the first degree not only that the malice
must have been deliberately premedi-
tated, but the killing, in the language OF
the sthtute, must be of deliberate and
premeditated malice-that is. the killing
must have been the result of the malice
as deliberately prenfedttated. The kill
ing must have been in pursuance of
such deliberately premeditated malice,
and if there was beyond reasonable
doubt such generalization, & afterwards
some justifying cause, or provocation,
or impulse intervened. and the killing
happened in fact upon such impulse or
from other sufficient cause, the homicide
would not be murder.
ain determining as to the existence of
malice you will consider all the circum-
stances of the case and may consider the
feelings of the parties toward each 9TH
other. and may consider the character of
the deceased, whether he was a vicious,
man or not, and if you find it
is doubtful whether the defendant was
principle of self-preservatiOn than by
malice, then you cannot find him guilty
of murder. If it is doubtful whether
defendant acted from an apprehension
of danger rather than from malice, then
if there was no other justification the
defendant would be guilty of man.
"You will consider all the testimony
for the purpose of determining the con-
dition of the defendants mind at the time
of the homicide, and ascertain whether
he acted with a mind cool and deliberate,
or wheth' he acted from impulse, or
mind clouded and disturbed by passions
or by apprehension of danger.
"There is no presumption of law
against the accused. but on the contrary
until his guilt is proved beyond rea
sonable doubt, and you cannot find him
guilty of an offense until each and every
ingredient of that offense has been
proven beyond reasonable doubt, and
for the purpose of determining whether
it has been so proven you will examine
all the testimony in the case"
The paragraphs quoted above were
prepared by Mr.. Kelly, of counsel for the
accused9 ..--..
The court is responsible, gentler en-,
for the law of the case as, it may be
given you in the charge, but the jury
alone must pass upon the testimony.
AT the spring term of this court for
1881 the accused party. George W. Weir,
was indicted by the grand jury of this
for murder in tie first degree in
killing Sterling Riggs i'll this county, on
the 25th day of Dccel:ber, 1880. The
charge in the Indictment is that on the
25th day of December. $50, in this coun-
ty, the accused party, George w. Weir,
purposely and of deliberate
and premeditated malice, did kill Ster-
ling Riggs, hy three pistol shots, tired
by the accused int" the body of Sterling
Riggs, and that Riggs then and there
lied of such mortal wounds.
AS stated to you, gentlemen. the
charge made in the Indictment is a
charge of murder in the first degree; the
court will say to you that in this case
you may find the accused party guilty as
be stands indicted; or you may find him
not guilty of murder in the first degree,
out guilty of murder in the second de-
gree; or you may find him not guilty of
murder either in the first or second de-
gree. but guilty of manslaughter; or you
nay find him not guilty of either.
The statute of this State provides that
purposely and of deliberate and
malice kills another, he is
yuiltv of murder in the first degree: that |