Mexico weekly ledger., 1896-01-16

Mckinley were arrested, bound ovel
to the Grand Jury and afterward in
| dicted.
mckinney turned States evidence
and testified that Donnelly struck the
deceased, then sprang upon him while
down and, he supposed, robbed him
of his money. Mckinney testified that
the attack was unexpected and was a
surprise to him, but the facts and cir
cnmstances of the case very clearly
show that McKinney's testimony in
this respect was untrue.
"Donnelly is an ignorant boy, only
about 20 years of age. Mckinney is
in all respects Donnelly's superior.
He is well qualified to exercise inhu-
ence and dominion over him. l have
no doubt that Donnelly was in a large
measure subject to McKinney's con-
troll. Up to this occurrence the pris-
oner had borne a good character. He
had never been in any trouble before,
while his companion had the nam of
being a Maynard youth and had once
served a term in the county Jail. 1t is
quite clear to me that whether Nc
Kinney or Donnelly struck the de-
ceased there was no intention to take
his life.
HsThe case was tried, however, on the
theory that the assault was made for
the purpose of committing robbery.
Under the statute, where death en-
sues from an assault committed in an
attempt to rob, it is murder in b
first degree, whether there was de-
sign to kill or not. Under the in
structions of the court, if the jury be-
lieved from the evidence that Turner
was struck by either Donnelly or Nc
Kinney with a view of committing
robbery, and that they were aiding
and abetting each other, they were
obliged to find the defendant guilty as
charged. They were obliged to find
him guilty of murder in the first de-
gree, or aequit. Under the testimony
and the instructions of the court, the
verdict was equity" aud could not
well have been otherwise.
''The application for communication is
supported by the petition of some
1880 citizens of Audrain county.
Nearly all the prominent men of that
county have been urgent and persist
ent in expressing a desire for a modi-
fcation OF the sentence. The Judge
of the court urges like action. The
Jurors state that they would not have
found the defendant guilty of murder
in the first degree if they had been
authorized under the law to have i'm
posed Il pe%nltentjary punishment.
The Jury found the verdict they did
because they could not do otherwise,
but with the intention and purpose of
asking the executive to commute it.
A former jury, at a former trial, o
fused to find the defendant guilty at
all. The citizens who asked conlmu-
tation, the Judge and the jury, concur
in the opinion that Donnelly was the
least guilty of the two men; he was
little more than a dupe.
"Public sentiment in Audrain coun-
ty seems to be unanimous, strong and
emphatic against the infiction of the
death penalty in this case. A calm,
settled, matured public opinion in a
community like this is entitled to the
most respectful consideration, al
though / could not set aside the SEN
tence of a court solely because it was
not supported by public opinion. But
in view of the fact that one jury re-
fused to find the man guilty, and that
the members of the second jury as
sure me that they would not have
found him guilty of murder in the first
degree, if they could have found him
guilty of a less ofense, and that they
finally consented to return the YER
dict with the understanding that they
would ask the Governor to modify the
sentence to imprisonment, l feel that
the end of public justice will be best
promoted by following the advice of
the Judge and jury and in complying
with the urgent request of nearly
1900 intelligent and law-abiding citi-
zens.
accordingly, the sentence of the
said Joseph Donnelly, aforesaid, is
hereby committed from death to i'm
prisonment in the penitentiary for the
term of so years. Please to issue ac-
cordingly. Respectfully,
WILLIAM j. STONE, Governor"