The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1908-02-28
JURY DECLARES
GEORGE SHEETS
IS NOT GUILTY
Reaches Verdict in Bribery
Case After Being Out Little
More Than an Hour.
TESTIMONY OF BELL
UNWORTHY OF BELIEF
JUDGE THURMAN BITTERLY
SCORES COURSE PURSUED
BY THE PROSECUTION.
WILL HE BE REINsTATEo7

WILL HE BE REINSTATED?
&. American party leaders say it is %
g more than probable that in view %
&. of the acquittal of George A. %
(. Sheets, formerly chief Of police. on %
@ the charge of accepting a bride, %
o that he will be reapDOinted chief .,
(: of police of Salt Lake. George 8"
q Sheets resigned his position as :.
Q chief of police last july following @
q his arrest on the charge upon :,
(. which he has just been tried. His %
g resignation at that time was given %
g 10 the mayor because he felt that 90
g while he was facing a criminal -
q charge he was hampered in the @
q conduct of the department and o
O should step out of office At that %
q time it was the general opinion {,
g that if Sheets were acquitted he %
9 would be Immediately reapp- int .,
g ed. A movement to this end has O
o already been Commenced by .
@ friends of Sheets. Mayor BTans- -
o ford said yesterday that 10 one .,
o had spoken to him advocating a .,
9 change in the head of the police .
(. department, and that Sheets had %
9 not been suggested for reappnint- q
. ment.
@@@@%~%@&%~@~@@~~~@
George A. Sheets walked out of the
city and county building yesterday
evening shortly after 5 O'Clock a free
man. A verdict of not guilty was re-
turned at . o'clock by the jury, ex-
onerating Sheets from the charge Of
accepting a bride while chief of police
of Salt Lake.
For nearly a year and a half George
Sheets has been under d stigma as the
result of the famous Mcwhirter rob
berry in Salt Lake, and has been al
most continuously under some charge
or another as the result OF this rob
berry
The eight men who Vindicated the
former chief of police left the jury box
at $40, and returned their verdict
shortly before O'Clock 1t was ex-
pected that the jury would be out Song
er than it was. and there were only
few people i'm the court room when
the jury came in. The fact that the
jury was out such a short time made it
a fOregOne conclusion that the YER
dict was not guilty. and Attorneys
Wedgwood and Christensen, for the
defense, smiled as the jury came in.
The defendant failed to show by any
expression of his countenance any emo
ton whatever.
1t was a few minutes before the stir
incident to the return of the jury to
the court room had subsidized.
Gentlemen Of the jury. have YOU
reached a verdict" asked the court
I'VE have" replied John James. who
had been chosen foreman. He handed
the paper TO Clerk Howard King, who
gave it to Judge c. W. Morse After
glancing over it Judge Morse handed
it to the clerk. Clerk King read:
We, the jury in the case of the
state against George A. Sheets, find
the defendant not guilty of the crime
charged"
Sheets Keeps His Nerve.
As the verdict was announced Sheets
sat mOtiOnleSs in his chair and made
no sign that would indicate his pleas
ure at the verdict. The court thanked
the jurors for their attendance at
court and dismissed them. The court
then adjourned.
As soon as the order for the adjourn
ment had been made Sheets shook
hands with his attorneys and then
thanked each of the jurors in person
for the verdict.
One of the jurors in the case sail
that as soon as the jury retired to the
jury room the first ballot was taken
The jury stood four for conviction ana
four for acQuittal. II was explained
that some of the jurors who voted for
conviction did so because they wished
that the case might be discussed be-
fore final verdict was reached. and
that though they believed that Sheets
was innocent they did not wish to act
hastily in the matter.
The discussion was on the cOrrobora-
ton of the testimony of Bell and DON
aldson. Some of the Jury thought
that there had been sufficient corrobo-
ration to warrant the consideration OF
this testimony, and the second ballot
was taken while this point was under
discussion Five voted fo~ acquittaI
and three for conviction. After some
further discussion II was practically
decided that the testimony of both Bell
and Donaldson was unworthy of belief.
and the third ballot resulted in eight
votes for accuittal.
No Further Prosecution.
District Attorney Loofbourow. who
had charge of the prosecution of
George Sheets, expressed his satisfac-
ton that the case was over, and stated
Continued on page 2.