Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1884-01-30
THE MUTT TRIAL
THE JUDGES CHARGE.
The Law Points as Laid Down
By His Honor, Judge Stowe.


The Law Points as Laid Down
By His Honor, Judge Stowe.
GENTLEMEN OF THE JURY: After
seven days Of patient and apparently
careful attention by the jury to the evil
dence and arguments in this case, we
approach the end, and have nearly
come to that point where the response
bility will rest solely upon you. The
peculiar manner in which you have
been examined in regard to your COM
petence and placed upon the jury, and
the care with which you have been
separated, not only from the world, but
even from your own families and
friends, indicate the great Importance
and solemnity of the duty which the
law devolves upon you. Before you
were allowed to take your seats as
Jurors, each one of you was compelled
to state under the solemn sanction of an
oath, that you had formed no opinion
in regard to the guilt or innocence of
the prisoner at the bar which would in
terfere with your rendering verdict
according to the evidence adduced be-
fore you in court This was itself a
warning that you must not allow any
opinion touching the merits of this
cause which you may have previously
had to now have any influence upon
your verdict, and | again most earnest
lv caution you to be governed in the
decision of this case solely by the law
and the evidence. Look neither to the
right nor the left-foiiow straight out
to conscientious and honest conclusion
the way in which the light Of the evil
dence leads you. unswayed by pity for
the youth and misery of the prisoner,
and regardless of the consequences for
good or evil the verdict may impose
upon him. You have nothing to do
with the result of your verdict. If it
should bring disastrous results, it is the
Paw that produces them. If it should
bring Joy and rejoicing to sorrowing
hearts, it is the law that brings them
about. The prisoner is charged with
an offense against the law; you are
simply to inquire whether or not he is
guilty of that offense, and there your
duty and responsibility end. What
may come thereafter is matter in the
hands of others, and with which, as
jurors, yon have nothing to do.
The prisoner is charged with the un-
lawful killing of Nicholas Lyman
Dukes. Is he guilty or not guilty ?
If guilty, is he guilty of voluntary
manslaughter or murder of the second
degree or murder of the first degree ?
If not guilty, is he 90 because be was
insane, or by reason of his mental con-
dition irresponsible in law for his act,
as claimed by the defense
These are the questions involved in
the trial and which you alone have the
right and the power to determine. But
it is nevertheless my duty to declare to
you, SO far as l may be able, clearly
and emphatically the principles of law
applicable to this case, and which you
should recognize as correct unless you
can, upon your conscience under your
oaths. be satisfied that they are not in
accord with the law as it actually
exists.
Murder is where one of sound men,
ory and discretion unlawfully kills a
reasonable being in the peace of the
Commonwealth with malice afore-
thought, expressed or implied. Its
distinguishing feature is malice afore-
thought. Not malice in its ordinary
sense alone, such as ill-will, spite or
grudge, but malice in its legal sense,
meaning much more 1t comprehends
not only particular ill-will, but every
case where there is wickedness of dis.
position, hardness of heart, cruelty,
recklessness of consequences and q
mind regardless of social duty and
wilfully bent on mischief. The crime
of murder. you will thus perceive, en-
braces cases where there was no actual
intent to take life, but where the state
of mind the law holds malicious existed
at the time the act was done which re-
suited in death.
In this State, the Legislature, seeing
thdG tbCkO W 90 o hduiiCSI uluCIcuCt
the degree of guilt where deliberate
intention to kill exists and where none
appears, passed an act in A. D., 1894,
by which murder was distinguished
into two grades-murder of the first
and murder of the second degree-and
provided that the jury before whom
any person indicted for murder shall be
tried shall, if they find him guilty there
of, ascertain and declare in their verdict
whether it be murder of the first or
murder of the second degree By the
revisal of our criminal code by the
Legislature in 1860 the act aboye allud-
ed to was re-enacted in terms, and is
as follows:
"All murder which shall be perpe-
trated by means of poison, or by lying
in wait, or by any other kind of wilful,
deliberate and premeditated killing, or
which shall be committed in the perpe-
tration of, or attempt to perpetrate any
arson, rape, robbery or burglary, shall
be deemed murder of the first degree,
and all other kinds of murder shall be
deemed murder OF the second degree. y
Murder of the first degree compre-
hends only that kind of murder charac-
terized as "wilful, deliberate and pre-
meditated." 1t has always been held
that the intention TO Kill is the essence
of the crime If an intention to kill
exists, it is wilful if this intention be
accompanied by such circumstances as
evince mind fully conscious of it's
own purpose and design, it is deliber-
ate, and if sufficient time be afforded to
enable the mind fully to frame the
design to kill. and to select the instru-
ment, or to frame the plan to carry the
design into execution, it is premeditat-
ed. The law fixes no length of time as
nece ssary to for the intention to kill,
but leaves the existence of fully form
ed intent as fact to be determined by
the Jury from all the facts and circum-