The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1894-12-07
Case IN The JURY'S Hands
Twelve Men Are Now Deciding Franz
Bezeks Fate.
WHAT WILL BE THE VERDICT :?
Closing Day of the Notable Murder Trial.
Pleas Of the Attorneys-Judge Ed.
wards Clear, Unbiased Charge
to the Jury Last Night.
WHAT WILL BE THE VERDICT

wards Clear, Unbiased Charge
to the Jury Last Night.
Murderer Franz Bezek's fate rests
now in the hands of the twelve jury
men. Constable Philip Williams, of
Olyphant, who took Beck from Justice
of the Peace Cummings office after the
hearing to the county Jail, was recalled
to the witness stand when court opened
yesterday morning to testify regarding
the wounds on Bezeks chin and he
swore that he did not see anything like
a bullet wound but small scratch was
there. This closed the case and Attor-
ney Colborn presented twenty-one law
points to court and argued their ad-
INSTABILITY. The commonwealth never
presents any law points, but District
Attorney Kelly argued strongly on the
points of the defense. Judge Edwards
took the papers and passed upon them
in his charge to the jury.
The entire day was consumed with
the arguments of the attorneys. At
4S0 District Attorney Kelly closed his
address to the jury and court adjourned
till 730.
An abstract of the law points, which
take up ten pages of solid typewriter
paper, is here given. The first one
maintains that 1t must be proven be-
yond a reasonable doubt that the kill
ing was wlllful deliberate and pre-
meditated. In the absence of any Of
these ingredients a verdict of murder
in the first degree can not be justified
The second states that If the Jury be-
lieves that the killing was done while
the agent was In an unbalanced state
OF mind brought about by the persist
ent refusal of the girl to marry him. he
could not form "a premeditated inten-
tion and cannot be convicted of first
degree The third point suggests that
the law has fixed the grade of murder
at second degree where the act. is proven
not to have been done in the heat of
passion, aroused by the womans re-
fusal to become his wife. or If there is
reasonable doubt that the murder
was premeditated and wilful
Question of Passion.
The fourth says that the jury must
be convinced that the defendant did not
commit the murder through the result
of a sudden passion before murder in
the first degree can be justified. If the
jury finds that the killing was the re-
suit of sudden passion, caused by a
provocation, however slight, acting
upon mind unbalanced the verdict
must be for the lighter grade of second
degree. According to the fifth sudden
ness Is opposed to premeditation, but
yet from the swiftness of human
thought there Is no time too short for
wicked man to form design to kill,
still the jury must be convinced from
the evidence that there was sufficient
time to plan and premeditate. Sixth,
1t rests upon the commonwealth to
prove that homicide, though it may be
a murder, is of the first degree A
malicious, willful, deliberate and pre-
meditated manner must be proven
which would indicate deliberate in
tention to kill
Seventh, Before the jury can find a
verdict of murder of first degree it must
be convinced beyond reasonable
doubt that the defendant meditated
upon the thought and then proceeded
upon deliberately formed determina-
ton to commit the act Upon the
eighth point the jury must be satisfied
beyond a reasonable doubt from the
evidence in the case that the mind of
the defendant was not so affected, thus
1o1in
incapable of deliberate generalization
as is necessary to constitute murder in
the first degree. The ninth AYERS that
TO constitute proof beyond a reasonable
doubt such as will justify first degree
verdict that the evidence must produce
In the minds of the jury an abiding con-
viction backed up by moral certainty
that the defendants mind was suffi-
ciently clear and not at the time cloud
ed by temporary insanity. The tenth
says that the degree is reduced from
first to second by the law in homicide
cases, If the jury believes that the de-
fendants mind was so clouded as to
render 1t impossible for him to complete
a design in his mind of deliberate MUIR
der.
Eleventh says that the intent to take
life with full and conscious knowledge
OF the purpose to do so Is the distin-
gushing criterion of murder in the first
degree. By the twelfth point is quoted
the statute which constitutes a first de.
gree homicide only when the act Is and
must be voluntary.
The Other Points.
the thirteenth Is a strong state
ment and says that the jury must re-
concile the circumstances under which
the killing took place with, the prison
er's innocence of a deliberate and nre-
meditated intent to kill, and they must
do so before they will be warranted I'm
finding a verdict In the first, degree
The fourteenth point was not pre-
sented. Fifteenth, the jury cannot find
first degree verdict If they believe
from all the evidence that the prisoner
was so much under the influence of
frenzy as to be unable to form q pre.
meditated attempt. The sixteenth
deals with the subject of partial nsan-
ity and states that If the defendant
| No9 NuPopiN Va NiStiilEl DeIWeen
right and wrong and yet laboring un.
| der the partial insanity hallucination
or delusion which drove him to the
commission of the deed he is not re.
| sponslble for the commission of the act
as these coupled with the power OF
discrimination between the right and
wrong is an excuse for crime. That
point is an extract from an opinion OF
Chief Justice Gibson, commonwealth
! vs. Moster.
The seventeenth says that the pre-.
sumption Of law where death results
| from the use Of deadly weapon the
grade rises no higher than second de.
gree and that to make it first degree
the commonwealth must show by testi
mony so clear and conclusive beyond
reasonable doubt that all the essential.
of murder in the first degree had al
existence in the mind of the defendant
when the act was committed
Eighteenth, That no positive evi