The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1904-01-24
HEFLIN DISCUSSES
HIS SOLICITOUSHIP
HIS RECORD AS SOLICITOR FOR
JEFFERSON COUNTY is FULLY
REvIEWED-ASkS FAIR AND
CANDID CONSIDERATION.
NJ the pe0pIe Of Jefferson eounly:

have attracted many thousands OF people,
who have come into our midst to live. \
vast majority of them are Industrious and
law-abiding. That there has been a con-
siderable element of ldwless people
amonst u.s. the records of our courts will
show. To this element the disturbers of
law and order in Jefferson county, | have
given my serious concern, my best efforts
and closest attention As is doubtless
true of all solicitors, the guilty here have
sometimes escaped unwhipped of justice,
but even in those cases, l feel that l dis
charged my duty in the premises In all
my efforts to convict the guilty, in no
single instance, so far as l know, have |
allowed an innocent man to suffer
AS a supporter of one of my opponents
has criticised me in an article published
in one of the Birmingham papers for hay
ing had my brother, John I. Helm, help
me as assistant solicitor l desire to sly
that when Hon. John Mcqueen resigned
that position | put my brother in the
place temporarily. The grand iures with
whom he served voluntarily expressed to
me their appreciation of and satisfaction
with his work and l persuaded him to re-
main longer than he or l had intended
In the same article referred to my per-
centage of convictions is compared I'M
| favorably with that of other solicitors in
the state. These solicitors, in most cases.
grand juries of their counties. where not
only the prosecutor but also the state
witnesses are examined Such compar-
ison Is unfair to me, for in jefferson coun-
t. the majority of the eases brought be-
fore the criminal court are on affidavit
and warrant. and not on indictments re-
turned by the grand jury. The solicitor
has nothing to do with the swearing out
of warrants, as he is seldom consulted
cd in
Many of these affidavits are defective and
go out of court on demurrer, and many
of these cases, upon investigation by the
solicitor, are found to be frivulos and
malicious, and are mol pressed for that
reason; and many of them, when tried.
are lost for the same reason, or for lack
of evidence.
Another cause which affects the percent
age of convictions in Jefferson county is
the floating and migratory character of
the population, amongst whom, and by
whom, most of the criminal offenses are
committed If this fact is recognized the
difficulty of securing the attendance of
witnesses in the trial of cases will be
readily understood These causes oper-
ate to reduce my percentage of convic-
tons as compared with that of solicitors
who prosecute cases on indictments alone,
and in counties with a different popula-
tion
1t will thus be apparent to any fair
minded man, seeking the truth of the
matter, that the conditions surrounding
the prosecution of criminal cases in JEFF
ferson county, are manifestly different
from that of every other county in the
state, the population of which is more
fixed and stable than that of this county
In all the cases that l have disposed
of, l have never looked forward to what
my percentage of convictions would be in
the printed records of the attorney gem
eral, but in each and every one. l have
honestly endeavored to perform the func-
tions of the office fairly and impartially,
without the hope OF reward, save that
which comes from a consciousness of duty
done.
If the gentleman who has seen fit to
criticise my record had wished to be at all
fair, he would have compared my record
with that of my predecessors in the office
of solicitor of Jefferson county.
l very cheerfully invite attention to the
following, as shown by the reports of the
attorney general of Alabama since 1890:
In 1892 Hon. James e. Hawkins was
solicitor of Jefferson county. He was
justly regarded as one of the ablest prose-
cutting officers in the state His percen-
tage of convictions in cases disposed of
was So.
In 1894 Hon. James H. Little, an able
convictions in cases disposed of was a.
Following this report of the attorney gen.
eral is this note: cThe solicitor of the
court explains that the greater part of the
prosecutions for misdemeanors are COM
menced by affidavit, many of them prov
ing to be frivolous, reducing the percen-
tage of convictions)
In 1896 Hon. Lee G.. Bradley, an able
lawyer. was acting solicitor. His percen-
tage of convictions in cases disposed of
was al.
In 1898 Hon. Charles G. Brown, ex-attor-
ney general and an able lawyer, was So
licitor His percentage of convictions in
cases disposed of was AZ.
In 1900 / was solicitor. My percentage
OF convictions in cases disposed of was
a. I disposed Of during that year 1893
cases.
In 1902 my percentage of convictions In
cases disposed of was 40. During that
year | disposed of 2516 cases, the larg-
est number during any one year in the
history of the county
The last report QD2) of the attorney
general shows the number OF cases dis
posed of by me to be the greatest num-
her ever disposed of for Jefferson coun-
ty. and the number of convictions Sc
cured to be the highest In the history of
the criminal court.
The reports of the attorney general show
that I disposed of more cases from 1900
to 1902 inclusive, than the entire num-
Der of cases disposed of by all the fol-
lowing city courts combined, which have
the same criminal jurisdiction as the
criminal court of Jefferson county, viz:
The city courts of Admission, Gadsden,
Selma Talladega, Mobile and Montgom-
cry.
They also show that I disposed of more
cases for that period than all the follow
ing circuits combined, viz: First, Fourth,
Seventh, Eighth, Tenth, Twelfth and
Thirteenth judicial circuits These circuits
were composed of the following counties,
viz: Choctaw, Clarke, Marengo, Monroe.
Bib, Dallas, Hale, Perry, Wilcox, Cal
houn, Clay, Clebourne, Shelby, st. Clair,
Talladega. Cullman, Lawrence. Limestone,
Madison. Morgan, Walker Winston Cof-
fee, Covington, Geneva, Henry, Pike,
Baldwin, Mobile and Washington.
The highest percentages of convictions
In cases that were actually tried in the
criminal court of Jefferson county, since
1890 are as follows.
James r. Hawkins. SPY per cent.
James II. Little. ...... .5611 per cent.
4 IN