Morning journal and courier., 1888-01-25
STATE PRISON FOR LIFE,


 Torrance Makes Fair and Impartial
 Charge The Evidence, He Said,
 Would NOt Warrant a Verdict 1n she
 First Degree-COGee Takes Ezis Sen-
 tence With Goodness.
 "Peter Coffee, you have had fair trial and been defended by able counsel and have been found guilty of murder in the second degree. It now emains for the court to in- fict sentence, which is that you be inn prisened during the remainder of your natur- al 1ife."
 Thus spoke Judge Torrance at 3:55 o'clock yesterday afternoon from the bench of the criminal side of the Superior court. The jury in the Coffee case had just returned after delibsratien of two hours and forty five minutes with verdict that the accused was guilty of murder in the second degree. The prisoner at the bar received his sentence with stolid demeanor, scarcely moving @ muscle of his face, as Judge Torrance spoke the terrible words which doomed Coffee to spend the rest of his unhappy existence be- hind iron bars and solid masonry. One would almost imagine that the accused did not comprehend tho meaning of his honor's words, so noticeable was his self control A slight paleness was the only sign of weak ness that he exhibited. The spectators who had crowded the court room and listened with breathless intentness to the verdict looked at each other and then at Coffee and made audible exclamations of surprise.
 It was a few minutes before ten o'clock that Judge Torrance began his charge to the jury. It was regarded by all who heard it as one eminently fair and creditable. The law bearing on the different aspects of the case was lucidly explained. He told the jury directly that there had been no evidence to ot af ur7a in thA Grcf parf of the charge are follows: Before come to speak particularly of the crime here charged let me call your attention to one two matters and dispose of them once for all The first is that the State is bound to prove the guilt of the accused beyond 8 reasonable doubt The law presumes the innocence of the accused until that presumption be over come by proof. And in all your deliberations it is your duty to bear this presumption in mind and give it due weight in favor of the accused. Our law prescribes that no person shall be convicted of any crime punishable by death without the testimony of at least two witnesses or that which is equivalent thereto.''
 The three degrees of murder in this State were next defined.
 "Whethsr Way was dead before the train struck him is therefore an important fact in this case. Here ia to begin with the testi- mony of the engineer and fireman who gay they saw the body lying on the track with every appearance of death, and from this the State claim that no body with conscious life in it could have lain in that position under such awful circumstances without at least some movement voluntary or eonvulsiYe as death approached, also and from an absence of blood on the track they claim to have shown with reasonable certainty that the body was dead before the train struck it. The State also claims that the testimony of Drs. White and Doolittle rendsrs it highly prob able that death was caused by suEocation. From all the teatimony the State claims to have proved beyond reasonable doubt that the death of Way was not the result of acci- dent or suicide or any natural cause, but was the result of 8 crime. On the other hand the accused claims to have proved that the killing was not the result of crime or at least not shown beyond reasonable doubt
 "From all the evidence and what other there may be, the Stats claims to have proven beyond reasonable doubt that Peter Coffee killed Way. The accused claims that all this goes for little, the fact that the watch and keys were not taken disprove the robbery theory, that there is no evidence that killing or choking was done by the cloth found, which is not traced to Coffee by any evidence worthy of credit, that what he said before the coroner is consistent with his innocence and inconsistent with guilt, and the other statements bat drunken braggadecio. The accused also claims that MT. Mason, the con- ducter en this train, a man holding posi- tien of trust and responsibility, says Coffee got on his train at Stony Creek drunk That Nason's story is corroborated by memoranda and other witnesses and that he has 10 motive in the matter to tell other than the truth and make himself guilty of per- jury that could be easily proved against him. From all this the accused claims that net only has the State failed to prove his guilt beyond a reasonable doubt,- but has clearly established his innocence and the impossibil- ity for him to have killed Way.
 Tho evidence connecting the prisoner with the crime is circumstantial, but circumstan- tial evidence may be as convincing as that as question of fact to be determined by you. The conclusion to his guilt should flow naturally from the facts proved and be consistent with them all. The facts and evi- dence should be such to be inconsistent with his innocence. If you did not kill Way and is, Hs he claims, innocent, your verdict will be not guilty. Or if you have any reasonable doubt whether be killed him or not, or any reasonable doubt as to his guilt or innocence, it will be your duty to give him the benefit of the doubt and render verdict of not guilty. If, on the other hand, you find that the accused did kill Way, substantially as claimed by the State, you will be then brought to consider ation of the third element of the crime charged and the question: Did the accused Kill Way of his malice aforethought, as ohargeda To justify you in finding the accused guilty of murder in the first degree you should find that the killing was done Intentionally and deliberately, without provocatien or excuse of any kind, and that the accused at the time and just before had formed, and was capable of form and entertaining such de- iberate intent-and of this you should be satisfied beyond reasonable doubt, and by the testimony of at least two creditable witt nesses, or that which is equivalent thereto. And l feel bound to say to you that in the opinion of the court the evidence on this point is not equivalent and does not war rant 8 verdict of murder in the first degree, and the State, believe, does not claim such a verdict"
 The charge occupied about an hour, and the jury after taking the exhibits retired at about 11:30. Two hours later they were served with dinner in the jury room. At 3:30 the verdict was returned.
 It is thought that e1-Judge Blydenburgh, Cofee's counsel, will appeal the case to the Suurena court