The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1894-04-05
Misdemeanor Appeals Are
Easily Lost.
MUCH LEGAL MACHINERY.
No One Person Responsible for
Anything.
WHAT JUDGE WALLACE SAYS
The Law Seems to Be Made to Fa.
vOr Thieves Instead of to
Further Justice.

Its the fault of the law" said Judge
Wallace yesterday, discussing the dis
| cOvery he had made of a number of mis-
| demeanor appeal cases.having been pigeon
| holed in his court. "The law is in such a
| fragmentary condition that no man is
| made responsible for anything Appeal
| eases are FLED with the clerk, sent to the
| Presiding Judge, who assigns them to the
different departments. sends them back to
| the clerk. who gives them to his deputies
| in the various departments and the deputy
puts them on the calendar. | go by the
calendar of my court, which. as you see,
is not made out by me. In fact everybody
is independent of everybody else. If
mistake is made it is hard to fix the blame
for it may be any one of half a dozen peO-
pie. Mr.. Reed spoke to me about the hang
ing of cases that were sent up, and when
| asked the clerk | found quite number
had not been put on the calendar and /
simply sent them do wn. 1t didn't sur
prise me at all. 1t only surprises me that
more things Of this kind do not occur.
Why the law seems to be framed for the
benefit of the thieves of the city. An of
fe nder with any brains need never be con-
vIcted. There are loophOles of escape
everywhere. But am begin ming to think
the people want it so. There seems to be
nc public spirit"
AS a matter of fact, the failure in the
law to fit this kind of case seems to be in
not fixing time for the Police Judge 10
make his record of case. When an ap-
peal is taken it is often long period of
time before the bill of exceptions is sent
up. Without the papers in the case, it is
impossible to go ahead with the case in
the Superior Court The clerk of the
the calendar, holding them for the other
papers to arrive. When they are put on
the calendar short work is done. Out of
tbirty-six cases of misdemeanor appeals in
Judge Wallace's court March 9 twenty
seven were affirmed as soon as they were
brought up There was no delay about
these cases. The delay in getting them on
the calendar is the play the police court
practitioners make. and in this they ar"
too often successful. as the big bate
Judge Wallace affirmed on Monday plainly
shows.
District Attorney Barnes disclaims all
responsibility for his Office in the matter.
I'VE 20 by the calendar just as the Judge
does" said he yesterday. when the pre-
siding Judge assign these cases, it
through this Office, and we know just how
the cases are assigned. In felony cases
We follow them up very closely, and it
would be impossible to pigeonhOle felony
case in that way, but the misdemeanor
cases are often delayed Tor the reason that
the exceptions are often held back. The
fault lies in the Police Court, and nowhere
else, and as the law is at present constituted
there seem no help for 1t. The papers in
these cases have been called for from time
to time, but were not forthcoming. 1t is
not the fault of this Office. AS to the case
OF Kehoe. who pleaded guilty TO a charge of
receiving stolen goods, l do not know
anything about it, but should judge that
in an appeal in such case it would have
been considered an inadvertence; that the
plea was really the other way. There is
no ground for appeal as plea of guilty.
and it might have been considered that a
plea of not guilty was meant"
Judge Wallace is determined that no
more appeals will be pigeonholed in his
court, and has directed the clerk to put all
miscellaneous cases on appeal on the calen-
dar whether the exceptions come up or not
at the same time. This will have the
effect of impressing on the Assistant Dis
trict Attorneys mind that such cases are
there and they will be called for with per-
slstence.
Prosecuting Attorney Reed of the Police
courts claims that there are at least 100
cases Of appeals which will never be
brought to finale. The sureties in these
cases are worthless and the principals,
taking advantage Of the delay, have dis
appeared ia most cases. Detectives Cody
and Hanlev are engaged in collecting aud
cellading these cases. and an endeavor VIII
be made to arrest those defendants aud
bopdsmen who have been resting serenely
In the apathy of justice.