The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1905-12-29
MRS. BRENNAN IS
MOVED TO TEARS
Alleged Murderess Loses Her Com
posture for the First Time
During Trial.
Murder in Either First or Second
Degree May Be Verdict,
Says Court.
Yesterdays late proceedings In Brennan
trial on page 8.

Mrs. Stella Brennan's fate now
rests with jury Of her peers. These
twelve men and they alone must now
decide whether or not she killed her
stepdaughter, Elizabeth Brennan, and
if she did, whether, or not she was in.
sane when she did it. The evidence
was closed yesterday, the arguments
today and now the court, the lawyers,
the public and the defendant are anx
iously awaiting the verdict of the jury
that may mean life or death to human
being. E. P.
Whatever the verdict of the jury,
Mrs. Brennan may escape the life pen
atty for her crime. Judge H. D. Dick
inson will charge the jury that they
may, find the defendant guilty of muir
der in either the first or the second de-
gree. If the verdict is murder in, the
first degree the defendant will probably
be sentenced to hang unless the court is
! convinced that there have been shown
| exceptional circumstances that make the
case one in which the death penalty
should not be imposed. If the verdict
is for murder in the second degree the
| defendant will be sentenced to life i'm
prisonment. III
In Second Degree7 '-E-
There has been and is now consider
able discussion among lawyers and the
a verdict Of murder in the second de-
gree would be error. Defendant g coun-
sci and some others contend that if the
/ defendant is guilty at all she is guilty
Of murder in the first degree and any
other verdict will be error. They as
sert that Mrs: Brennan either did or did
not murder these children and that if
she did murder them she did so in a
cold-blooded, premeditated manner, or
else she was crazy and should be &C.
| quilted. r-~
On the other hand, it is commended
that while even tho the Jury finds that
Mrs. Brennan did commit the murder
and was not insane enough to be ire
Isponsible, her mind might still have
been affected enough to make murder
in the second degree. A decision in a
: prominent case is cited and reads:
/, 8 Tho a total want Of responsibility ON
account Of insanity be not shown, yet
if the prisoner IS mind be so impaired
crate, premeditated murder, he should
be convicted Of murder in the second
Degree g... "
- Judge Dickinson's Stand.
This is the stand taken by Judge
|,
that in the present case enough evi-
dence of insanity has been introduced
to raise an issue as to whether or not
the defendants mind was even par
TALLY impaired and that that issue is
; one for the jury and not the court to
decide. ~-- -, ~-.-. =
The fact that the defendant is a
woman and the evidence regarding hel
:; physical condition are believed by
: ! RI he Sfrnnr ch n
make some Of the jury refuse to vote a
verdict that means the scaffold for the
defendant, even tho there is no doubt
of her guilt. Reasoning on this by
pothesis it is contended that the jury
.. will probably compromise on verdict
: Of murder in the second degree. That
seems to be the general expectation.
Wept First Time Today.
After nine days in court durin.
! which time she has undergone an OF
deal to which woman has seldom beel
: subjected, Mrs. Stella Brennan has re
!: NAMED calm, unappreciative and appa1
: emily Indifferent. Today for the frs
time she broke down and tears, rea
8 tears, either of sorrow Of repentanc
. or Of fear, rolled down her paled cheeks
3 She sat. without finching during tn
opening of County Attorney Smith
4 numbering her innocent little stepchi
s dren and looked straight at him a
. times. When he began to describe tn
5 murder with terrific realism and told Q
: the babes who had loved their fathe
3 and had hungered for mothers love
being found cold in death with the bu
Z let holes made by woman assassin il
!: their heads, the crisis came and Mrs
!: Brennan could not restrain food o
!. tears. Her nerve soon reasserted itself
s however, and she remained during tn
: rest of the argument red-eyed, but az
3 parently calm and as uncaring as eve