Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1899-1903, 1903-08-13

OF passion or interest.
These statutory duties enjoined up
on members of the Lar are no less
binding upon them when they appear
In behalf Of the state or county than
when they appear in behalf of private
individual employers, and it would
seem that every one of us ought TO
keep himself in such an attitude in
regard to his cases that he can follow
to the letter every one of these wise
and salutatory provisions of the stat
ute"
Witness and Prosecutor.
What attitude then should be taken
by county attorney in those nulner-
Gus cases which arise in localities
where some citizens clamor and de-
mand that the county attorney shall
file an information and proceed to see
that the law is enforced. would coun-
sci no man to shirk from the perform
ance of any official duty, but on the
other hand it is the deliberate judy
ment Of the writer that we ought not
to appear in the dual role of prose-
cutting attorneys and prosecuting wit
nesses in the same case; the frailties
of human nature are such that we
should with difficulty refrain from
making strenuous effort to sustain
charge that we had made by filing an
information.
1t is not the design or purpose OF
the law that any one should be pun
ished for crime of which he is not
guilty. neither should it be the wish
o,. IF al
to secure the conviction of any one
of the very charge on which he is
tried.
"In Alger VS. Merritt, Is Iowa 121.
our supreme court said: No attorney
having just conception of his true
and proper position will willingly unite
the character of counsel and witness
in the same CASE
There was said Of an ordinary wit
ness in civil case; that if it be true
of such witness in such a case, how
much more must it be true that one
should not in criminal case combine
the character of prosecuting witness
and prosecuting attorney.
And while not writing directly upon
that subject the supreme court of our
state in State VS. Will, 81 Ia, has indi-
Gated that it would not tolerate siren
uous insistence on the part of the
county attorney that an Indictment
should not be returned by the grand
jury in any particular case, for 1t is
there said that the will of one man
should not be substituted for the will
of the grand jurors who alone are
charged with the responsibility of de-
termining whether an indictment
shall be found and their discretion
should not be interfered with
Other Officers Are Liable.
at may be asked: Shall crime be
permitted to go unpublished? And we
answer: Certainly not But the whole
responsibility for the punishment of
crime does not rest with the county at
torney; he is only one factor in the or
ganization of legal machinery designed
to bring offenders to justice. There
are peace officers, magistrates, courts,
grand juries and trial juries, each of
which have duties to perform that are
as binding upon them as ours are upon
us.
Take, for illustration, the chapter
on intoxicating liquors. Code section
2428 provides:
Peace officers shall see that all
the PROVISIONS of this chapter are faith.
fully executed within their respective
jurisdictions, and when they are in
forme or they have reason to believe
that the law has been violated, and
that proof thereof can be had, they
shall file an information to that effect
before a magistrate who shall there
upon proceed according to the law
Subject to Fine.
Notice that the language of this
section is mandatory in regard to the
peace officer. Later provisions of the
same section render peace officer Ii
able to fine of not less than $40 mol
more than $50, and to forfeiture OF
his Office for failure to comply with
the provisions of that section.
''In the same chapter the only thins
which the county attorney is manda-
torily directed to do is to see that the
provisions as to the mulct tax are en-
| forced.
"Other provisions of the code sci
forth the ways in which peace
officer may set the ma
CuluGIy VI luc CFlulludl law IL
motion. Section 5193 authorizes q
peace officer to arrest without war
rant one who COMMITTEES or attempts
to commit public offense in his
lpresence, and the same section au
| thorizes the peace officer to make an
arrest without warrant when q
public offense has in fact been com
mitted and he has reasonable
ground to believe the accused person
guilty.
| "Under sectioon 5198 a magistrate
may order peace officer OF private
person to arrest another committing
a public offense in the presence o.
such magistrate. If the order is civ
en- to a peace officer it is given tt
him as an officer and as such he mus
obey; but if the magistrate gives sucf
an order to you or to me his order i!
directed to the citizen and is no
given to us in the capacity of public
officers; as officers we have othe