The Detroit times., 1910-11-07

What the Crippen case really proved
was that when an English Judge ana
Jury make up their minds that an ac
cused man is guilty, they VIII una
him guilty without the slightest re
gard for evidence. 1t also proved that
English criminal trials are conducted
more rapidly than such trials are
conducted in America. Considering
the way they are conducted in Eng
land this is not surprising.
No Questioning Of Jurors.
To start with, there is the matter
of the selection OF the jury. NO DOUBT
the challenging OF jurors is overcome
I'm American courts. AT the same
time. Il doesn't seem to be going TOO
far to allow an accused man to ask
the jurors enough questions TO satisiy
the Judge that their minds are not
made up in advance to convict him
There was no questioning OF the
Jurors at all in the Crippen case.
Three OF them we're, indeed, chal-
lenged, and others were substituted
for them. This challenging OF three
Jurors. was one OF the sensations OF
the case-st is so unusual a thing Ia
England And in challenging so
many the defense strained the judges
patience very severely. About one
more challenge and he would have In
terfered TO stop II as an unnecessary
waste OF the courts time.
The next thing was TO identify the
human fragments found in Crippen' s
cellar as portions OF his wife's re-
mains. Under English law a man
cannot be convicted of murder unless
enough OF his victim can be produced
to be identified. There is a case on
record of a woman who was seen
throwing her child into the ocean. but
could not be convicted OF numbering
ii because the prosecution could not
produce the body.
THE Corpse Is Herei"
This may be unreasonable, but 1t
Is the law. and certainly, while 1t re.
mains the law, accused persons are
entitled to the benefit of il. The
prosecution had to identify the re-
mains offered in evidence as those OF
Mrs. Crippen. The prosecutions own
experts were unable to say positively
whether they were those OF a man or
! a woman.
The conclusion was reached, how
ever, that The remains were Mrs.
Crippen's. This conclusion simply
amounted to this: I'VE need Mrs Grip
k pens corpse as preliminary to find-
4 ing her husband guilty OF killing her.
/ We have no corpse. Very well, let
these fragments represent one" II
would have done just as well to have
said. Let X equal a corpse"
This point disposed Of. the lord
chief Justice entered Just as enthusi-
astically into the examination OF the
witnesses as did any OF the lawyers.
He evidently made up his mind very
early In the trial that Crippen was
guilty. In all probability he was right.
but what is a Judge? A Judge, OF a
prosecutor? From the moment he
made up his mind, the lord chief JUS
tice managed the case for the prose
cution.
The courts have been pretty busy
ever since the Crippen trial was fin.
ished in fning newspaper editors for
their comments on II.
English lawyers do not dispute that
3 Crippen's counsel are guilty, perhaps
not quite OF the murder, but at least
OF the manslaughter of their client
| It Is impossible TO imagine a defense
mere disgustlngly mismanaged.
! II Is unlikely that any other one
thing had more to do with resulting
in q conviction than the fact that
Crippen had never made an effort to
| find his missing wife. II would have
been easy enough for his lawyers to
have made some show of looking
Amazement was written upon every
face In the courtroom when it was
brought out that the lawyers had
wholly neglected the matter.
Except Crippen himself, only two
witnesses were called for the defense
These were so-called experts, sum
moned TO combat the prosecution's
Identification OF the body. One OF
them was a mere student who quickly
satisfied everyone, under cross-exam
! ination. that he knew absolutely moth
ing OF what he was talking about. The
other actually changed mis- mind up
on the witness stand and went over
TO the prosecution.
crippen's Counsel Inefficient.
It must be borne I'm mind that the
solicitor engaged to look after an &C
cused mans interests cannot appear
in court except In an advisory capac
i ity. He must employ barrister to
conduct the defense during the trial
4 Crippen's solicitor, Arthur Newton
engaged as HIS barrister A. A. Tobin
who had never handled . criminal