The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1899-02-12
JUDGE DALE'S OPINION
On New Jury Bill Introduced This
Session

I among the legal fraternity concerning IN
new jury bill. which is now in the senate
The bill was introduced in the house b
Representative Adams from this districi
and number OF the attorneys OF the cit
have expressed different opinions as 10 Il
merits The following opinion is one al
verse 10 its passage and is given in q let
ter from Judge Dale of the district court
70 Representative ". J. Bab0. The FOL
lowing is a copy OF the .etter:
Wichita, Kan. Jan. 50, 1899.
Hon. ". J. Balbb. Topeka, Kan
Ny Dear Judge-Yours Of the Gsth in
slant, incIosing house bin No. EZ, with {
request for my opinion thereon, az hand
There are two serious objections 70 this
bill. First. the great delay in the trial OF
a case. Second, the very great additional
expense. Under the present law, before
a jury can De drawn. the county clesk no.
titles the two justices Of the peaceFand
the sheriff by giving three days notice OF
the time when the names shall De drawn
from the jury box; SO that any case COM
I ing under the terms of this bill would be
delayed that long before a jury could De
/ selected from the jury box, and another
day before they could be got into court.
/ During this interval the regular jurors
( would be in attendance, with their pay
I going on; witnesses in court awaiting the
( trial OF said case, with their per diem
adding 70 the costs and the assignment
| Of the trial docket so generally disar-
/ ranged that neither court nor htigants
/ could be able 10 determine with any de-
I IF inv a rzy0Ttt1
/ ably be tried This delay could De rene
/ died, however. by a provision doing away
| with the calling OF the justices and the
! sheriff. and allowing the Judge 20 super
wise the drawing Immediately upon the
request being made.
The second objection presents matter
in which the taxpayer is very much in
terested- Under the present system when
a special venire is demanded 70 be Sc
lected by the court IL at once selects the
names and the clerk issues the same to
the sheriff. If the case IS not Of such
great interest to the people as to cause
great deal Of newspaper comment, a jury
at little expense can easily be obtained
from the city. If. on the other hand, It
is a second or third trial of a murder
case, or one Of equal interest to the people
so that the newspapers have given an or
more than the facts in the case and arous-
ed the public TO any extent, then IL be-
comes useless expense TO call people
from the city, and the court selects from
the country. IN the latter case, those
drawn from the jury box. under the pro-
posed bill. living in the city, would be ex-
cused for cause. having too much knowl-
edge of the case 10 make competent jur-
ors. and to obviate this difficulty the
court would be compelled 70 call at least
double the number IT otherwise would, in
order TO obtain enough eligible jurors;
making, as a matter OF course. double the
expense in per diem and mileage Of the
jurors sheriffs fees. etc. This proposed
bin only allows the judge to discard jur-
ors living at a distance and not those
living at the county seat.
During the time 1 have served as judge
I have had several murder trials. The
first, the WiIliamsons and Leonard case
in which Williamson. his former wife
Mrs Leonard. and their son were arrest.
ed for killing Leonard, the second hus-
band of Mrs Leonard, supposed TO be for
the purpose OF obtaining life insurance
10 the amount of five thousand dollars
He was killed at the house Of Mrs Leon
ard in this city, and hzs body dragged up
an alley and left. Leonard was IN the
mercantile business here a. the time. OF
course the papers, both morning and
evening, took hold Of the matter. and
columns were printed about il, including
the testimony taken at the cOroner's in
quest The case came on for trial, the de-
PENDANTS demanding a separate trial.
which is invariably done. Mrs. Leonard
was tried and the jury disagreed. The
papers published the testimony in full,
including a synopsis OF the arguments
and instructions Williamson was put on
trial which necesSftated a special venire
had made inquiries among the farmers
as 10 persons in their ueighbOrhood who
were on the assessment rolls OF me coun-
y and who could leave home VINO were
OF sufficient Intelligence 20 make good
jurors. and when the special veuire was
called for il was ready and The men senr
FOR were in court at a N OF TIE next
day \ jury was at once obtained, salts
factory 10 both sides. al as EJtle expense
as possible n thls case The jury &C
quilted. A. the next term The case
against Mrs Leonard again came on for
trial; the regular panel was soon *
aauSted and adopting the course pursue,I
Heretofore n such cases. the jurors
named n he special venire were 81 court
the Text morning a : o'clock and jury
satisfactory 70 both parties vas soon 90
Jaired and ths trial proceeded with only
an interval Of half day In serving the
special veuire. In this case the Jury con-
vic1ed. Since that tine I have had
murder case with co1r defendants. and X
Is 4 matter web known mat second trssIs
are OF frequent occurrence NOR. in this
county the city OF Wichita having more
than aalt The population of the county.
the names e Tie jury box are more than
haIt fE0Tn the city. and pRdsr The proposed
q ~ any special veaire drawn VOL bring
more than ha1 from she city. 50 mat. n
The cases above cited. i would - n end-
less AID expensive Job 70 get a jury. even
Z the frs objection were doas AVA
WIKI
Again. IN AZ oases In which G city Il
interested damage cases a resident o.
the c5,y Il Incompetent 70 serve o. tha
Jary. drst. h-=calee Z BE Is taxpayer tbs
P-asnti1 excuses ain OF me ground q
having an interest n rhe result CT re
r--aL and. second, because Z rs aane
does dot appear on fhe assessment -eH
Ne IS excused BY he defendant 80 tas--
= t--s case a special ys1ire- drawn uu5e~ .
he proposed osIl = = county Ike rals
would amount 70 Al zosurdity / aavs
-rl--, n three years, many suca cases +
ard 2 each q th=m special veazre has
oee7 issued and z ezea instance re pe--
sc1s DaIned we're ION The country
t-os.zf1- in ~ f-tle exu--S= s-s -. .--- Z