Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1907-02-07
GIVES Law IN THAW CASE
Interesting Statement Of the Law as 1t will Govern The
ThaW Murder Trial In New York
How The Jury viii Be Charged as TO The Defense Of In
sanity And Its Bearing on The Matter Of Guilt

III view OF the Importance OF tllS tTldi
of Harry K ,Thaw for the killing of
Stanford White and the great interest
it excites, not only locally but through
out the country, and even abroad, a
statement of the law by which the guilt
or innocence of the accused must be de-
termined will be of interest not only to
lawyers who make no special study of
the criminal law, but to laymen as well
A statement of the law on the subject
has been procured from Mr. William
I. Clark, reviewing editor of the Cyclic
pedia of Law and Procedure, known and
cited as "cyc, and the author of well
known works on the criminal law. For
the benefit of Our readers who may be
interested in the case and wish to follow
the testimony as it is published from
day to day we here reproduce his state
me1t. He says:
st would be both improper and unfair
to the defendant to express any opinion
as to his guilt at this time. Whether
he is guilty or innocent must be deter
mined, not on the facts which have been
published in the newspapers, but on the
facts as they appear from the evidence
which may be given at the trial, and the
question will be decided by the jury on
this evidence under the courts instruc-
lions as to the law They cannot convict
llnles sthey are convinced of the de-
PENDANTS guilt beyond a reasonable
doubt, and a reasonable doubt as to his
! sanity at the time of the killing will
require an aequittal. En-.
with respect to the law there can be
little question. In the first place it is
perfectly clear that the so-called tunwrit-
ten or higher law, in the sense in which
the terms have been used nconnectior
with this case has no place in the law
of New York The innocence or gull
Of one who kills another depends en-
tirely upon the application to the facts
of the law established by the statute an6
judicial decisions Of the state. OF course
it is possible for jury to disregard the
law as laid down for their guidance ii
] the charge of the court, and this is al
there is to the idea involved in this us,
of the term unwritten law y but in tlli
state jurors are not the judges of til,
law, but of the facts only, ard unde
B their oaths they are required to decid
according to the law as given by tn
court On Y. Code Grim Proc. 49,,
@ If the law is harsh as applied to the fact
of any particular case then the remed,
is by application for executive elem
ency. (Peop1e v. Silverman, 1s1 N. Y
# 236. . @s.
Independently of statutory proyis
/ ions, if sane man Intentionally kill
another, he is guilty Of murder, unless
the circumstances are proven to Iav,
been such as TO justify or excuse hi
act, or to reduce it, by reason of provo
cation, to nlanslaughter; and if a person
Intentionally fires a pistol at another, al
intention to kill is presumed AS it i
concisely said in the Cyclopedia of Law
and Procedure, malice IS implied il
every Intentional and prenleditated honli
eide, if there are no circumstances serv
ing to mitigate, evcuse or justify til,
act (21 Cyc 1857 Under the New
u York statute, assuming that Thaw wa.
sane, his killing of White was murder il
4 the first degree, unless it was justifabl,
4 or excusable, if it was committed eithe,
CD from a deliberate and premeditatee
design to kill, or % BY an act imn,i
nently dangerous to others. and evincins