The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1902-02-20
GIANT UGEA WORK BY ILLEGAL HDCSS NEAR WHKAR COURT JOBS CCH MD
PORTO R1CANs' HOMES BROKEN
INTO.
Three Men Convicted Of Burglary
Whom the Court Does Not Want to
Sentence.

Because the evidence against them
had been secured by an alleged unlaw-
full entrance into their homes Judge
Gear this morning refused to pro-
nCunCed sentence upon three Porto Ri
cans who had been found guilty Of
burglary in the first degree. The court
gave a talk from the bench, I'm which
the witnesses for the prosecution, the
manager of Waialua plantation and
others, were severely censured, and
sentence was finally postponed the
court intimatlng a disposition to let
the men go.
The three defendants are Hypolito
FeliCianO, Augustine Barga and Angel
MarcilO. 1t appeared from the evil
dence that they had broken into
store at Waialua. The evidence against
them was partly goods recovered from
their homes, and the jury was not
long in finding all three guilty of burg
larry in the first degree, though the de-
PENDANTS were recommended to the
mercy of the court.
Judge Gear stated that the manager
of Waialua had secured help and
broken into the defendants homes at
dead of night, without any authority,
and this was what made the judge
reluctant to pass sentence. A Supreme
Court decision was quoted to the effect
that it was the duty of courts to pro-
tect defendants against Illegal prac-
tices of the prosecution, and Gear said
that this seemed to be a case calling
for the exercise Of such powers. The
witnesses for the prosecution in this
case, without any police officer or any
warrant, broke into the homes of the
defendants when the later were
| asleep" said Judge Gear. "They woke
the three men and put hands in their
pockets to search for evidence, even
] g., rA-fv, Nr,
I be better searched. The whole evi-
dence of the prosecution comes from
/ this act. In several cases my colleague
( Judge Humphreys has ruled that evil
dence obtained by such acts as these
/ is not to be received.
The proper way to have proceeded
was to obtain an officer and a search
warrant. The manager Of Waialua
seems to hive acted as If he had the
same powers as under the defunct Re
/ public, when we had slavery here and
men could treat their employees like
| slaves. No man, not even an officer,
nor even the President Of the United
States has the right to break into an
other mans private home and ransack
| his effects for evidence against him,
| without a legal search warrant
1T seems to me that the verdict in
/ this case was obtained wholly on this
sort Of evidence, which is no evidence.
| The manager of Waialua Plantation on
/ the stand unblushingly admitted that
| he did all these things. There was no
! objection raised to the evidence and
/ it was allowed to go in. Under these
| circumstances the verdict as rendered
was undoubtedly warranted by the
/ evidence and the instructions given to
/ the jury.
q do not want to see guilty men es-
| cape, but every defendant has the
right to a trial under the rules of evil
dence, and after comforting with my
colleagues, the two other judges Of this
circuit, I am reluctant to pass SEN
| tences in these cases"
Gear then proceeded to say that the
acts of the witnesses who raided and
arrested the three defendants were un-
warranted and outrageous, and should
not be passed unnoticed by the court
| Sentence was postponed TO two this
| afternoon, the court desiring more
/ time to think it over