East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current, 1905-06-23

After celebrating over five hours,
the jury in the case of Grover Martin
charged with the murder of o. N.
Preston, returned a verdict of man
slaughter at S:45 last evening.
Shortly after S-oclock in the even
ing the foreman of the jury COM
municated to the bailiffs that they
had arrived at a verdict, and Circuit
Judge Ellis, and the various attorneys
and interested parties in the case
were notified. Soon after court was
called to order, and the sheriff was
ordered to present the prisoner in
the court room. Pale and worn out
from the ordeal through which he
has been subjected during the past
few days, Martin took his seat and
at the orders of the judge stood up
while the sentence was read by
| County Clerk Frank Sailing. At the
conclusion of the verdict Martin sank
into his seat, and though he showed
his disappointment, bore up welh
under it. However, as he was being
| led back to his cell his strength left
him. and he supported himself by
taking hold of everything possible
along the way.
Five Conclusions Reached.
On the first vote which the jurors
took after leaving the court room,
plurality stood for murder in the
second degree, the vote being: muir
der in the first degree, l; second de-
gree, 4; manslaughter. 8; acquittal,-
8; and blank, l. After several ballots
/ af in
and voted for manslaughter. How
ever, the other two held out firmly,
and for a while 1t looked like a hung
| jury, but finally an agreement was
reached by those desiring first and
second degree coming down to man.
slaughter, and those for acquittal
raising to that penalty. An effort
was then made to have the mercy of
! the court requested, but this was OBJ
jected to by the sterner jurors, and
so was left out of the verdict
The Maximum Penalty.
The penalty for the crime of man
slaughter. of which Martin has been
convicted. is Imprisonment in the
state penitentiary for a term of from
enc to Is years, and in addition a
fine of not more than $4,000 may be
imposed, though the fine may not be
imposed alone, it being necessary for
the convicted party to serve a term
/ in prison.
No sentence has yet been passed
upon Martin by Judge Ellis and 1t
cannot be done under the law until
tomorrow, unless the prisoner should
waive time for sentence, which it is
said he will not do.
Following the announcement of the
verdict last night Colonel ]. H. Raley,
! leading counsel for Martin, moved
that he be given 80 days in which to
! file a motion for new trial, and it
was allowed. Whether or not a new
trial will be requested. has not yet
been decided by the attorneys for the
defense, as they have not had suf-
ficient time to go over the evidence
| in detail.
Should a new trial be asked OF
Judge Ellis, it is the current opin-
ion among attorneys that it will be
denied, in which case an appeal to
the supreme court would be open to
the defense. Should such an appeal
be made it would be on the ground
that improper evidence was allowed
in the trial, and should the appeal
be sustained a new trial would be
ordered held in the circuit court.
Under the law, should another trial
be held, the defendant could not be
convicted of a greater offense than
manslaughter.
However, 1t is strongly doubted IL
an appeal will be made, as such
would be expensive to the defendant
and his parents and with little hope