The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-03-24
ABE S|EGEL CASE
 WILL BE REOPENED Judge Weaver Arrests Judgment In Bribery Conviction ERROR IN ORIGINAL CHARGE Court Condemns Odious Offense of Bribery and Says Such Practices
 Shall at All Hazards
 Be Stopped.
ERROR IN ORIGINAL CHARGE

Judgment in the case of Abe Siegel, the charge of bribing an officer, was held up by Judge Weaver yesterday afternoon and the defendant released from custody, having been confined in the county jail since his conviction. His old bond of $500 was signed and turned in to the sheriff.
 The plea for the arrestng of judgment in the case was heard Saturday afternoon, and Judge Weaver's decision handed down l by him yesterday afternoon at 12:3O ] o'clock. It practically means a new trial with the admission of the testimony ruled out by Judge Weaver in the first trial, to the effect that Deputy Sheriff Louis R. Dean had been paid several thousand dol 1 lars by the gamblers.
 1 A small crowd had collected in the courtroom at the time the decision was read by Judge Weaver, who announced that it was one of the hardest problems l he had ever encountered, and that he had tried to reach just conclusion.
 This decision sets forth that the court erred in not instructing the jury as to the exact manner in which their verdict l find the defendant guilty as charged in the indictment" was the way the verdict read. The indictment contained five counts one count of which, according to ] Judge Weaver's decision, made the case a msdemeanor, while another count makes it felony, thus making it impossible for l him to tell whether Siegel should be pun ished for a misdemeanor or a felony.
 An explanation of the decision was re- quested by Solicitor H. P. Hefin and Assistant Solicitor J. P. Aird, upon which Judge Weaver advised them to read the authorities used in his charge. Thei reply was that they had read them bu failed to receive any enlightenment "Yol might as well take a brush and wipe ou all the cases on the board against per sons charged with bribery" said MT | Aird.
 The decision commended Sheriff Higdor but at the same time deprecates the man. ner in which the bribery cases were worked up, saying and so far as this court is concerned such practices shall at any rate and all hazards be stopped.
 That part of the decision treating on this subject reads as follows:
 Bribery is an offense that is so odious to all liberty loving people that its very mention is enough to cause a shudder tc run through his very being. It is abso- Iutely important that the citizens shall have a fair and impartial trial before al impartial jury of their couutrymen. and the crime of bribery strikes at the very fountain of justice and pollutes 1t witt such corruption that no citizen can hopt | to get justice when bribery or perjury en ters into the trial. Hence it will be seer that the crime of gambling is overshad owed. and presents a spectacle far more dangerous toi society by the testimony of Dean for certain amount of money he allowed the gambling tables to rui in this town. It is not only allowing crime, but it is putting a premium upor crime, and so far as this court is con cerned. such practices shall at any anC | all hazards be stopped"