The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1908-02-01
THAW NOT GUILTY
OF MURDER BUT
WAS INSANE
Jury Returned Verdict Of Ac-
quittaI This Afternoon
SENT TO MATTEWAN ASYLUM
Justice Bowling Orders Him There
for Indefinite Period, But May
Be Freed.


returned a verdict of not guilty by rea-
son of insanity at lis this afternoon
after being out 25 hours.
The verdict of not guilty by reason
of insanity brought the young Pitts
burg millionaire face to face with the
asylum and Justice bowling immedi-
ately ordered him committed to the
Mattewan asylum for an indefinite
period.
His counsel will Immediately take
steps to show that Thaw Is not now
insane and should therefore be freed,
There are a dozen different mthods of
procedure and II one fails another will
be tried
Justice Bowling delivered compre-
hensive charge TO the jury, who then
took the Thaw case into their hands
and, calling for all the exhibits in the
case, was escorted to the room set
apart for its deliberations.
Justice DowIing's charge was re-
garded by both prosecution and de-
Tense as eminently fair.
After the customary reminders TO the
jurors that they must do even hand
ed justice" that their verdict must be
determined solely upon the evidence,
uninhuenced by any matters outside
the record, and that their sole function
lis to determine II any crime has been
committed, its grade, and leave the
question of penalty to those response
BILE for its imposition" the justice de-
fined homicide and its. subdivisions
murder, manslaughter. excusable hon.
lcide and justiiiahle homicide. Con-
tinuing. he said.
"The defense here is that the defend
ant was insane at the time of the com
mission of the act. and the law APP
plicable to the defense of insanity is
found in sections 20 and II OF the pc
nal code.
"Section 20 provides that an act
done by person who is an idiot i'm
beetle. lunatic or insane Is not crime.
This language Is very broad and would
appear to apply to all persons of I'M
sound mind without regard to the de.
gree of insanity. but the words of sec
lion 81, to which now direct your at
tention, limit the general words in
section 30 as follows:
"A person is not excused from criminal
| liability as an idiot imbecile. lunatic or
insane person except from proof that at
. uf al he oil .N,-tr,
inal act he was laboring under such a
defect of reason as either not to know
the nature and quality of the act he was
doing or not to know that the act was
wrong?
You will recolect that mere inn
pulse impeling n person to. commit n
crime is no defense to crime. lndul.
gence in evil passions weakens the re-
straining power of the will and con-
science, and n rule recognizing and
controlling passion would be the cover
| for the commission of crime and its
| justification. The doctrine that Grim
inal act may be excused upon the mo-
ment of an irresistible impulse to com
NIT 1t when the offender has the abii-
ty TO discover his moral and legal duty
in respect to It has no place in the
| law. But Ii Is defense If his mind Is
In such an unsound state that reason
and judgment are overwhelmed and he
acted from an uncomfortable impulse
and as an involuntary agent.
Heat of passion and feeling pro
duced by motives of anger, hatred OF
revenge is not insanity. The law holds
the doer of the act under such condi
tons responsible for the crime because
a large share of homicides committed
are oceasioned by just such motives as
these.
"You will remember that you are MOI
to he preiudiced by any testimony of
fered here which reflects upon the
guilty on the ground of insanity, ant
he is still hopeful that favorable de
cision eventually will be reached.
District Attorney Jerome said, mo
body can tell what jury will do, 81
what is the use of specializing"
Thaw sits disconsoately in his eel
in the Tombs. He expressed the feal
that third trial would be necessary
This was the general opinion held b!
the court attaches. The attorneys in tn,
case all were deeply disappointed b,
the trend of affairs. as every one hat
hoped that some definite conclusion
might this time be reached.
Mr.. Jerome would not discuss thu
probability of a third trial, but said |
there was one 1t might be In som,
other jurisdiction of the state thar
! New York county.