Durango semi-weekly herald., 1902-09-08
DISTRICT COURT.


The case of the People VS.. Matthew
Mayne for malicious mischief. was con
tinued to the next term of court.
In the case of James Cronin and
| others for entering a ID, & h. G. car
| and stealing two and a half kegs of
beer, Judge Russell said that there
had been blunder on the part of the
| jury on account of the matter not hav-
ing been properly looked into and that
no trial could be held by law on the
charges of burglary and petty larceny
| in one case. Mr. Hill had committed
perjury. and on that charge he was
committed to the custody of the sher-
iff for further trial The other three
were discharged.
In the case of W. II. Moore Judge
Russell said that although he had COM
mittod the crime of embezzlement he
had not committed the greater crime
of perjury, but had plead guilty. He
took into consideration the fact that
Mr.. Moore had been a soldier in the
late war, and also that his physical
, condition would not permit long
term of Imprisonment He then SEN
fenced him to not less than three
years and not more than five years in
the state penitentiary with hard labor
In the case of Cronin ct al the court
delivered a sharp rebuke to attorneys
in his talk to the defendants as fol
lows:
Mr.. Cronin, Mr.. Flannery Mr. Hill.
NJ. S,t11 ~
the court, together with the officers
of the court, have gone through with a
sort of trial in your case. The jury
that tried you. the members of the
jury, the court has known for a num-
Der of years. They are honorable and
upright men; they are not men that
would do anything wrong unless they
were led into it inadvertently. In
your case, the verdict that the jury
has brought in is entirely unwarranted
and wrong. The jury were no doubt
led to this mistake through the error
of the district attorney The district
attorney, perhaps in the crowd of bus
mess, has not spent sufficient time to
examine into the matter and prepare
the information filed in the case. The
informations the court hardly ever
sees until it picks up the information
for the purpose of debating instruc-
tions. When in this case it did so,
it found the blunder, but too late to
rectify the mistake. You are charg-
ed with burglary, and in the same in
formation. with petit larceny. This
cannot be done in law. A person can
be charged with the same information,
where it grows out of the same act,
and where the penalty Is the same,
with two different offenses. For in
stance. with burglary and with grand
larceny, and this is done for conven-
ience in the introduction of testimony
but there can be no such thing in the
case of burglary and petit larceny and
no trial where there are two such
charges. Therefore, I say that the
trial was simply farce; the jury was
not to blame; the court was not to
blame; the district Attorney was per-
haps somewhat to blame for not TAX
ing more time. This is not like a case
where there is a charge of murder
where the defendant may be found
guilty of manslaughter. 1t becomes
my duty, under the testimony in this
case, to ignore the verdict. The de
fense was founded upon the most glar-
ing structure Of perjury | have ever
known. There can be no question in
the minds of anyone as to your guilt.
Not only when it was disclosed in the
evidence of the case that your defense
did rest upon perjury, but when in the
face of this your attorney permitted
an act that the court has never before
seen presented-he turns to the jury
and he says to the jury. not perhaps
in these words. but the purport is the
| same-'What if we did commit per
jury? Why gentlemen. you under the
| circumstances would do the samel"
| never heard such an insult to a jury
| swear falsely. II is an outrage upon
the court and insult to the jury. For
| years. ever since have been upon the
bench. | have known occasionally the
| defense of perjury. 1t SENS to have
become almost a universal defense.
1t was SO plain in this case that the
court cannot overlook it. OF course,
so far as you three are concerned,
there has not perhaps been sufficient
evidence to warrant the court intak-
| ing action. but as to one of you, and
have an opinion that one Is the most
! innocent of the whole four, the evil