Greene County herald. (Leakesville, Miss.) 1898-current, 1909-07-23
DISCUSSION OF The DILA-
TORY PRACTICE OF The
~ STATE JUDICIARY.
(BY HON. DAN MCLEOD. J

=
day. And still we scarcely hear 0
conviction IN the courts for the
awful crime of murder.
Years ago there were two muir
ders in our (Greene) county, and il
both cases, the murderers were
promptly convicted and swung by
the branch near the Court House OF
Tryon branch. the illiteracy of thu
citizens of Greene County at tina
time Notwithstanding. The juror;
of that day, thought and honestly
believed that words meant just eX
actly what they expressed. Today
perhaps one out of ten who have
been convicted of wilful murder is sen
fenced to hang, and in most of these
cases the sentence is committed by
the Governor and the murderer i,
given life Term in. the State Pris
ons, and the consequence is that il
from five to twenty years he is turned
loose on the country, and has learn.
ed enough of meanness during his
Imprisonment to want to kill some
one else. I am a firm believer in
putting to death any sane man who
willfully committed murder, and | be-
ieve the time is at hand, that cap
ital punishment in a great many
cases of murder is absolutely neces-
sary, to bring about proper respect
for the law of tie land
1t is hard to convict a man, or
woman in this day, if he or she has
plenty of money, because they are
able to employ the best counsel that
the country affords and If it is little
doubtful that the counsel can pull the
murderer through, then he can easily
say crazy, and prove it by the best
medical skill in the country. Then
the delay in the court. | notice
that most of the Circuit Judges are
always in hurry to get through and
have few days to spend at home,
and it takes but little talk by the
defense attorneys to get the criminal
a continuance for six months in or
der TO get through, and by the time
the next term of court rolls around,
one or two of the defendants wit
nesses are sick with a very severe
cold, measefs, mumps ground it3h etc.
which disables them from being pres
ent and and 1t would be an imposi-
ton on the defense to 90 to trial
without these witnesses and most of
the States attorneys agree to have
the case continued on these grounds
and of course it is laid over for
another six months. All this time
the people are paying the cost which
accumulates very fast. 1t is said
that there is a case on the docket in
our court for hog stealing that has
cost the county already about sixty
dollars, having been continued sever
al times, and the State witnesses
drawing their pay each time regular
ly. can t believe this is right, it
is surely an injustice to the taX-pay
ers, and this delay in the courts is
one reason why the pistol comes in
play so often. | candidly think
that if all violations of the criminal
law were promptly handled and
justice melted out according to law
speedily, that revengeful spirit that
now exists and is growing fast, would
soon be a thing of the past. The
friends of murdered man get rest
less under the slow motions
of the law, and often the result
is that the friends of such
take revenge into their own hands,
which always makes the matter
worse, and the delay in the courts
are greatly to blame for h es e
conditions.
I don't think criminal ought to
be brought to trial without good
time to get ready for defence; but it
is a rare case that the defendant
can't get ready in six months after
which the case ought to be prompt
ly handled and no plea ought to be
considered by the court, on either
side, until the court has fully inves-
tigated and found that the party
asking has q legal right to contin-
uance. But the above argument
might get some Judge in a strait
betwixt two. If / we're Judge, l
expect the problem would work about
as follows: The lawyer asking the
continuance is a fine lawyer, very
prominent, and influential in the
state, he worked very hard for my
appointment before, and | am anX-
ious to be appointed again and if I
don't tickle him, he might fail to
tickle me and without his influence
| am almost sure to lose my job.
SEE! The tickling must work both
ways or its no go and the case is con-
tinued perhaps for two or three
mes more on account of this tick
ling business, and in consequence
thereof the enemies of the criminal
get wrathy and buy q pistol and
swear that there is no dependence to
be put III the court and determine
to tickle in way that is not polite
al, for revenge.
All of these things occur in some