The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1885-04-21
SUSTAINED.
Judge Zane Right and the
Open Venire Correct
IN THE RUDGER CLAWsoN CASE
The Decision Rendered by the
Supreme Court of the United
States Monday.
The Rudger Clawson Decision

WASHINGTON, April 20.-A decision
was also rendered by the Supreme
Court to-day, in the polygamy case of
Rudger Clawson against the United
States, brought here by writ of error
from the Supreme Court of Utah.
Clawson, the plaintiff in error, was in
dicted for polygamy, at the April term
of 1884,. OF the District Court of
Utah, and, after trial, was
found guilty and sentenced to fine of
$500 and four years imprisonment. He
appealed to the Supreme Court of the
Territory, ard that tribunal having af-
firmed the judgment of the district
court, brought his case here tor review,
upon the ground that the grand and
petit jurors, by which he was indicted
and tried, were Illegally constituted;
the alleged illegality in the impannel-
ling OF the grand jury consisted
in the exclusion, upon challenge, of
persons who believed that a man had a
right TO have more than oneundivorced
wife living at the same time, and in the
case of the petit jury in the drawing of
the Jurors from an "open Yenire." after
the whole annual jury list of two hun
dred had been exhausted through the
exclusion of polygamists. This Court,
in the carefully prepared opinion of
Justice Blatchford. decides against the
plaintiff in error, upon both points
raised. firsr@a
Section of the Edmunds actprovides
THAT in any prosecution for bigamy
polygamy or unlawful cohabitation, un-
der the statute of the United States, it
shall be sufficient cause of challenge to
any persons drawn, or summon
ed as juryman or talesman, that he be-
ieves it right for man 10 have more
than one living and undivorced wife
at the same time. This
Court holds that the proceedings
to impanel the grand jury, which finds
indictments for one of the offenses
named under the statutes of the United
States against a person not before
held to answer, are part of the
prosecution, and that the indict-
ment is good, although the persons
drawn and summoned as grand jurors
were excluded by the Court from serv-
ing on the grand jury, and being chal-
lenged by the United States for the
cause mentioned insthe act The chal-
lenges having been found true with
respect to the alleged illegality in the
case of the petit jury, the Court holds
that where, under section 4, of the
act of June "a, 1874, relating to courts
and judicial officers in the I territory of
Utah, the names in the jury box of 200
jurors, provided for by that section are
exhausted, the jury being only partly
empanelled, the district court may
issue a venire to the United States mar
shall for the Territory to summon
jurors from the body of the
Judicial district, and the jury may be
completed from persons thus sum-
moned. tits held that the error shows
errors and the judgment of the court
below is accordingly affirmed,
A decision was also rendered by the
Court in the murder case of Frederick
Hopt, plaintiff in error, against the peo-
ple9of the Territory of Utah. The prin-
cipai interest which this case has 1t de-
rives from the fact that De
cember, 1880, the plaintiff in
error had been three times tried
for the same murder, three times found
guilty and three times sentenced to
death. 1t now goes back for the fourth
trial, upon an informality in the charge
of the judge to the jury, which last
found the prisoner guilty.