Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1905-01-25
Judge Sheldon Charged the jury ii

A1te1 1tNltNlilS III OulillIe tHt I'll
stances Of the case the judge Informed
the jury that the law required a unan-
inlonS verdict. He said:
"'rhe jury room is no place for pride
of opinion. or Tor any such persstency
as may fairly he called Obstinacy. OF
course YOU are not to surrender your
own deliberate and Well-founded con-
vcti"iis. but YOU should not obstinatelv
adhere 10 any conclusions without haV-
ing first exercised the greatest care TO
be- sure that they are deliberate ana
we'll founded"
With great care and at length the
judge defined the rights of the prisoner.
the credihility of witnesses, the weigh
ing of evidence ana the difference be-
tween direct and circumstantlal evil
dcnce. lie said
"\othi.i@ must be taken for granted:
nothing can be presumed against the
prisoner. The fast that he stands mere
in the dock q prisoner is not to weigh
against him. The proof Of his Guiit
must be beyond a reasonable doubt or
he is entitled to q verdict of not guilty.
Proof beyond a reasonable doubt has
been defined as proof to that degree of
certainty upon which reasonable
men are accustomed to act. i'll the
Most important affairs of their own
lives.
"1ou are to decide this case upon the
evidence given H. open court by the
witnesses who have testified before
YOU. Statements made by any of these
" itneses elsewhere either outside OF
court or in amy of the Investigations
.,I, 10 hcrf tpff,r
which are in any way Inconsistent with
their testimony given here are to be
considered only in 50 far as they may
assist you in determining the credit to
be given to those witnesses. But any
statements freely and voluntarily made
By the prisoner, whether or not they
| were made in answer to questions put
| to him by officers YOU may consider as
| evidence against him.
'''rhe prisoner. as he has the right to
| do. has chosen not to testify in this
| case and it is his right that he shall i'll
no degree be prejudiced and that no
| inference shall be drawn against him
| By reason of this failure
In defining circumStantial evidence
the court gave several illustrations.
Having covered these points. the
| court continued:
There arc some circumstances in dis
putc here to which your attention ought
to he called a little more in detail. The
| first and most important Of these Is
| whe, her or not the prisoner was at the
| Page house at the time of the commission
Of this murder If he WIS not there. or II
| upon all tie evidence You arc left in
| l ga. enable doubt whether he was there.
then OF course he must be acquitted then
under the circumstances of this case in
| view of the contention of the party. il is
not too much to say that long though
not necessarily important step has been
taken toward his conviction.
| The court referred to the fact that it
was necessary to show a motive Regard
ing the testimony of the handwriting eX
pcrts. the court charged:
| None Of their opinions are binding
upon you. none of their opinions are to
he followed ny YOU except 50 TAR as they
may commend themselves 10 your own
good sense and as You may see that they
ought to he followed"
| Judge Sheldon then discussed the pin
| found on Tucker and the money he had.
| The question OF whether fuckers knife
could have made the wounds upon Miss
| Pages body was pronounced important
by the court, although he could not say
as a matter Of law that the Jury should
| regard it as decisive. Touching upon
| fuckers act in breaking the knife the
court said
All is a general rule of law that any
one who upon learning that suspicion of a
crime has either beer fined or is tending
to become fixed upon him. endoavors to
eXtrcate himself by fabricatirs false evil
| dcnce or by conccalinG. SupprcssinG or
| destroying true evidence. does thereby
create a certain presumption against him
| self And yet, this is principle which,
like many other general principles. should
| he applied with cauon. Innocent mel
may forget that the sureSt refuge of inno-
ceEcc is in the truth and may attempt to
secure their safety by resort to fasehood
| or to fraud
| The court concluded by defining the diff
| fereut degrees of murder which it was
possible 70: the jury to name in its YER
| dict.
He said:
IF YOU should find that the prisoner
did unlawfully take the life of Mabel
Page. with malice aforethousht and that
he did this with deliberately premedi-
tatcd malice aforelhought YOU will re-
| turn Il verdict of murder in the first de-
| gree
| III YOU shall find that he took her life
with malice afOr"thought not deliberate
| l. prcmeditated, or that this last aGSra-
waiting circumstance is not proved beyond
a reasonable doubt. yoI will return a YER
dict of guilty in the second degree.
IF YOU shall find that he uniawfully
| took her life. but do not find il proved
with necessary certainty that he did this
with maj ice aforethought. then you will
return verdict of guilty of manslaush-
| ter.
IF You should not find it proved that
he unlawfully took her lire at all. then
YOU will returned a verdict of not guilty"
AT SO =. NJ, the jury came into court
and asked for information regarding the
exact legal meaning of the word ''malcs''
in the expression malice aforethoUsht."
Judge Sheldon spoke at great length in
defining the word
The jury then asked for information
concerning the different degrees of MUIR
der ard what constituted rnauSIauphter