The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1906-07-16
JUDGE PARSONS GIVES
H|LO A SENSATION
His Charge to the Grand Jury Has Set the
Metropolis of the Big Island By
the Ears.

HILO, July IA great stir has
been caused in Hilo by the charge de,
livered by Circuit Judge Parsons to the
grand jury on Tuesday morning. The
charge of the Judge has been construed
by one of the local papers as a refec
ton upon the county attorney, and
that paper has asked Judge Parsons
editorialIy, for more explicit details in
connection with his charge. The
charge, in its sensational parts, follows
cit was a wise and beneficial enact
ment which took from an individual
prosecutor the right of accusation for
crime and placed it in the hands of the
people. Within the past few years the
wisdom of that provision has become
more and more apparent. Prosecutors
elsewhere have proven themselves to be
possessed of their full quota of human
frailties and, honestly or dishonesty,
have been swayed by those frailties in
the performance of their official duties.
Spite, personal enmity, political parti-
sanship, eagerness to indict or convict
where an Indictment or conviction was
popularity desired, longing for public
or official appreciation, over-zealousness
to make "a good record in office by
securing a large proportion of convic-
lions, have often played a more i'm
portant part in prosecutions than an
honest desire to do exact justice be-
tween the State and the accused.
On the other hand the spectacle of
prosecuting officer entering nolle
prosequi through pique because of his
inability to secure desired Indictment
in another case has been witnessed even
in this circuit Unfortunately, refusal
to prosecute based upon trivial or in
sufficient grounds is possible even to-
day, but the adoption of the grand jury
system has greatly reduced the proba-
bility of spiteful or unjust accusations,
or of those founded only upon alleged
MUST NOT BE PERFUNCTORY.
Gentlemen: No case involving the
liberty or reputation of a fellow being
should be considered too trivial to war
rant the most searching and painstak-
ing examination on your part. Indict-
ments should not be found lightly or
perfunctorily, or upon the mere sugges-
ton of the prosecutor, but only when,
after an orderly examination of testi
mony, you yourselves believe that the
evidence unexplained and uncontra-
dicted would warrant conviction by
trial jury. If, after examination, you
shall reach such a conclusion, it will be
your duty under your oaths, to find
true bill regardless of the unfavorable
criticism to which such action may pos
sibly subject you.
''Your labors may be brought to
naught by subsequent arbitrary re-
fusal to prosecute, by the failure of the
prosecutor to make case before the
trial jury, by verdict of acquittal, or
by the action of the Court or Execu-
tive; your convictions may not be
shared by unofficial bodies; your mo-
tives may be impugned, and you your
selves vituperated by the heads of de-
partments whose subordinates you may
find it necessary to accuse, and by those
persons and organizations whose inter
ests may be thought to be jeopardized
by your action; but none of these con-
should be allowed to swerve
you from finding an Indictment where,
in your opinion, an Indictment is war
ranted by the evidence. IF the testi-
mony in any case shows an offense to
Der of persons, all guilty of its com
mission should be indicted 1t is not
within your province, or mine, to make
a selection for purposes of expiration,
even in the name of humanity. The
form of atonement once demanded of
the burgesses of Calais may have its
modern advocates, but it has no place
in criminal Jurisprudence.
'Your Investigations should include
such matters as may be brought to your
by the Court, the prosecuting
officer, or by one of your own members,
and to such matters as may come to
your knowledge during the course of
your proceedings.
AFTER THE DEFAULTERS.
"The Court directs your attention
to the statute forbidding
defalcations by those persons to whom
the public has intrusted the collection
and custody Of its funds The welfare
Of the community which you represent
demands absolute honesty on the part
of its officials and employees in all mat