The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1896-04-30
STANLEY 10 HELP
He WILL ASSIST JOHN DAVIS II
THE MURDER TRIAL
County Commissioners Have Employed
Him for That Purpose and Their Ac-
tion is Appaeyed-An Entirely New
Theory Will be Advanced by the De-
fense-Tendency to Throw the Crime on
an Unknoun Party VIII be Inclined To
Boy VIII Not be Tried at An-Great
Interest viii be Manifested.

/ The case Of the State against Mrs.
and the county commissioners have en-
| ployed w. E. Stanley 10 assist County
Attorney John Davis in the prosecution
Their action is approved by everybody
and greet many think thaIsthey ought
| TO have taken similar action when the
! case OF the State against Williamson
was up for trial The probability is that
| they would have done so il Mr.. Davis
had requested il but John is one OF those
peculiar public officers who are willing
TO do five mems work TO save the tax
payers expense.
The duties of a prosecuting attorney
| in a case Of this kind are very arder-
Gus. The public generally have no con-
ception Of the amount OF work 70 be
done. In the first place the only thing
| that the states attorney is bound to do
is TO see that exact justice is done be-
tween the state and the prisoner. He
is not here 10 convict unless the pris-
oner is guilty. To the contrary the de-
PENDANTS attorney is expected 20 secure
an acquittal whether the prisoner is in
nocent or guilty. This gives the de-
over. especially when the balance OF
proof rests with the state. In the
case Of the guilt OF their client all they
have TO do is 70 prevent the states at
torney from proving il; they do not nee
eSsarily have TO prove their client inno-
cent.
The County attorney has 10 first draw
the Indictment. He then has 10 find
the proof. Following that he has 10
find the motive for a crime in the case
Of circumsJantial evidence He then
has 10 watch the witness and 10 select
jury. This is a very important mat
ter for one sneak in the grass or disaon-
est or prejudiced man can block the
justice the county attorney is trying 10
enforce. At the trial he must introduce
his evidence in such a manner as 10
present a consistent chain Of facts or
probabilities TO the jury. When the de-
Tense comes in with its witnesses he
must watch them closely, find out whe-
Their they are testifying falsely or evas-
lively, be prepared 10 meet any new
features in the evidence introduced and
finally he must make his argument.
In the meantime he must read the law
and the opinions and decisions of other
courts on the law. At the end Of all
he meets with the great proposition
that the defendant IS presumed TO be
innocent until he is found guilty and
that where an reasonable doubt exists
it must be given to the defendant.
All this could easily be done if there
was a credible eye witness OF the crime
to testify TO il but in the case Of Mrs.
Leonard conviction must be relied on
altogether on circumstantial evidence:
This kind of evidence works all well
enough in countries where human life
is held cheaply and where the admins
traitors of justice care but very little
whether a poor man or woman is hung,
but in America and especially in Kan
sas it is no easy matter to send a person
TO the gallows on circumstautial evil
dence. But there is no hanging in
Kansas, some one suggests. That is
very true, but the law says there is and
the jury must go on that presumption
The court will not even allow the coun-
~ attorney to make such suggestion
the jury.
The trial of Mrs. Leonard viii be one
of great interest. 1t will last several
days and she will come into court with
the prestige Of being tried before and
not found guilty. Her attorneys have
been working diligently in her inter
est and they viii fight a hard battle