The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1907-08-09
SPRINGS
NEW WRINKLE.
Asks for Writ of Prohibition in
Order to Choke off Judge
Bishop.
CASE MAY BE TIED UP
SAME ISSUE PENDING IN DIS
TRIcT COURT, SAYS DEFENSE.

The defense in the Sheets case made
an unexpected move last night that may
tie up indefinitely the preliminary hear
ing i'm the bribery case now pending
against the former chief Of police. Late
last evening a petition for a writ Of pro
hibtion restraining Judge Bishop from
taking any action in the case now pend
ing before him was drawn up by the at
torneys for the defense and given 10
Judge George G. Armstrong of the dis
trict court for his approval Judge Arm
strong read the petition last night and
viii announce his decision this morning
at $3.50 O'clock
In filing this petition the defense ex-
poets to prevent Judge Bishop from bind
ing George Sheets over to the district
court until after the conspiracy case now
in the district court is disposed Of The
grounds on which the writ is asked are
that the same acts, the same facts. the
same dates and the same parties involved
are cited in the information in the con-
spiracy case now pending that are given
in the complaint in the action before
Judge Bishop The contention is that the
two courts cannot have jurisdiction in
the same matter at the same time.
Will Probably Issue Writ.
An order granting a temporary writ of
prohibition, it Is expected. will be issued.
as il is usual in such cases TO give n
temporary VIII covering SuCn time
must elapSe until the case can be argued
fully. Judge Bishop will open his court
at 10 o'clock this morning. but before that
time. if the temporary restraining order
IS granted, no procedure can be taken in
the case. 1t will probably be several
weeks before he matter can be brought
uD and decision reached by the dis
trict court. Whatever decision is reached
| it is probable that an appeal TO the SUI
preme court viii be taken and il viii
Undoubtedly be months before the case is
finally passed upon.
The state closed its case in the Sheets
hearing yesterday without calling any
new witnesses. A portion Of the tran
script OF Alexander McWhirters testi-
mony in the first hearing in the Nc
/ Whrter case. when Sheets was charged
with aiding criminals to ESCAPE justice,
was introduced by the prosecution. IN
/ the transcript is the statement McWhiTtec
attributed to Sheets yesterday with some
notifications;
/ Keep still about this affair If you
/ say anything to reporters about the case
/ it will be difficult for us to catch the
! swindlers and to recover the money
! What McWhrter testified Wednesday
was that Sheets had said:
! You will require TO keep still about
I this. for IF il comes out it Will 90
/ hard with me-.
After cross-examining Parent and Don
/ aldSOn the defense moved that the case be
! dismissed on the grounds that the court
/ did not have jurisdiction in the case and
/ that the evidence was not sufficient To
/ show the commission of the offense
/ charged and that there was not probable
/ cause to believe Sheets guilty of the
crime. if there were one committed.
{ Judge Bishop denied the motion and the
/ defense was given until this morning 10
I decide what course il would pursue. The
/ writ Of prohibition. it is expected. will
! preclude the necessity of the. defense in
Producing any testimony at this time
Challenge to Produce Bell.
f,atff7.s of the E,ee,-sr,oy ,-asrarda,- WIS
the challenge Of the defense for the state
! to produce Bell to testify in the hearing.
The defense insisted that Bell was avail
able as a witness for the state and that
/ his evidence vas manifestly of more
/ weight than what Donaldson and Par
/ rent testified to relevant to their CONVEX
i satiOrs with him. The state declined To
call Bell and Judge Bishop ruled that
/ it was not necessary for it to do so.
In the states case only the evidence
necessary to bind Sheets over to the dis
tUict court was introduced That this was
meagTe was admitted by District AttOT-
ney LOOfbOurOw during the argument on
the motion to dismiss the case Attor-
new SOTen y Christensen at a climax in
in his plea for Sheets liberty said:
"Why if this case were in the district
court and before q jury on this bribery
charge and the same evidence were In
trOGuced. the court would not wait for
motion but would turn to the jury and
instruct it to find verdict of not
I will admit that that is true" said
! Mr.. LOOfbOurOW.
Nevertheless the evidence was consid-
cred sufficient by the state to hold the
defendant TO the district court and it
undoubtedly thought that it would be in
discreet to expose to the defense any more
of its case than necessary.
/ In the cTOSs-eXaminatiOn Of ". II. Par
! rent Judge Thurman brought out a vari-
ance between the testimony of the wit
1 ness at the present time and what he
/ sWore to at the preliminary hearing or
/ Sheets on the conspiracy charge. At the
other hearing the transcript showed that
/ Parent had said that after ne had showed
{ Raleigh the manner i'm which the victims
( were swindled the detective told hlm 10
be careful and to rob only strangers rms
! time he swOre that Raleigh had told him
that "thc game looked Ike it ought TO
get the money
Christensen Has Fun with Or" Jim.
..Dr. James Donaldson was called for
further denomination by the defense
when court opened yesterday afternoon.
A transcript of DOnaldsCn's testimony IN
his own case and interviews with MIN
published in The Herald We're read to the
witness by Loren Christensen, VINO put
him through a hard questioning
Donaldson cOntradicte0 much OF MS lOr-
MGR testimony. some of which he SAID
v-as the result of his fOrgetfulness ana
some due to deliberate falsehood- lie
, moved a poor witness under cross-eNaifl
, nation and changed his testimony half 2
: dozen times
Continued on Page 2.