The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1903-08-05
GEORGE FERRIS
TO Be HANGED
THE MURDERER OF JOHN WAT
SON LOSES HIS APPEAL TO
SUPREME COURT.

The Supreme court yesterday render
ed a unanimous decision in the case
of George E. Ferris affirming the YER
dict and sentence of Judge Gear. Ferris
! was tried and found guilty of the MUIR
der of one John Watson and was SEN
fenced to be hanged. The opinion of
the court is by Justice Perry and is
concurred in by both the other mem
bers of the court. The syllabus says:
"A party who neglects to claim his
right of challenge to the grand jury,
before they retire, valves it, although
he may be imprisoned at the time.
1.-The right, if any, of an accused to
have the assistance of counsel at the
impeachment of the grand jury, is
waived if he neglects to claim it, even
though imprisoned at the time.
Where one who is detained in custody
awaiting action by the grand jury does
not notify the court that he is finan-
cially unable to employ counsel for his
defense and does not request the as
signment of counsel, it is not error for
the court to fail to make such assign
ment prior to the arraignment.
Sat the arraignmenr deputy of the
Attorney General may read the indict-
ment.
Upon a motion to discharge a de-
PENDANT, made after plea of not guilty,
on the ground that he has not been duly
arraigned, one who, with the acquies-
cence of all concerned, acted at the
term of court at which the indictment
was presented as a deputy of the At
tcrney-General must be presumed, in
the absence of any showing to the
contrary, to have been duly authorized
to act in that capacity.
1.-The use of intoxicating liquors by
member of the jury pending the trial.
and before the final submission of the
case, such liquor having heen furnish.
ed by one of their own number, will not
in the absence of a showing that pre-
judice to the defendant resulted there
from, vitiate the verdict
"A court of record may, even at a
subsequent term, cause amendments to
be made to the minutes of its proceed
ings, kept by the clerk to the end that
the same may conform to the actual
facts and truth of the case.
Verdict held not contrary to the evil
dence."
The court discusses at considerable
length the various claims brought for
ward in behalf of the murderer and
finds in all cases that Ferris trial in
the circuit court was free from error.
The following are extracts from the
decision:
Exception 2S. At the close OF the
case for the prosecution, the defend
ant moved to dismiss the indictment
and for 1iraotaI ,.arJiat tbo
grounds named in exception l, already
disposed of, and on the further ground
that there was no evidence to connect
the defendant with the commission of
the crime or to show that the deceased
met his death from a wound inflicted
by knife or any other instrument in
the hands of the defendant or from any
other wound received at the hands of
the defendant. Were this case of a less
serious nature, we would be inclin-
ed to characterize this motion and
exception, in so far as It relates
to the alleged lack of evidence, as
frivolOus but mindful of the gravity of
the charge and of the sentence we have
carefully read the transcript of the evil
dence.
We have no hesitation in saying that
a complete prima facie case was es-
tablished by the prosecution and that
the motion was properly denied. The
evidence adduced by the prosecution
was such as standing by itself to have
amply justified the jury in finding the
following as facts: that at about eight
O'Clock on the evening of April 16, 1902,
the defendant was standing on the
front veranda Of the lodging house of
one Meyers situate on Queen street in
this city, talking to Meyers and per-
haps others about horses; that John
Watson, the deceased, then approached