The Hawaiian gazette., 1911-01-06
DECIDES DRINK
WAS RESPONSIBLE
The Presidents Communication Of
Wynne's Death Sentence Put
Blame on lntoxicants.

President Taft in committing the
death sentence Of John Wyuuc to inn
prisonment for life, wrote with his own
hand review Of the case and the
communication, the text Of which is as
follows;
81 have read the evidence taken on
the trial of John Wynne for the muir.
der Of McKinnon. The jury found tho
defendant guilty of murder in the first
degree and he has been sentenced by
the court TO be hanged The case made
was that Wynne was an oilcr on the
steamer Rosecrans, tied to the dock in
Honolulu harbor. McKinnon was the
third assistant engineer.
"Wynne was under the orders of Me
Kinnon. McKinnon had attempted to
secure Wynne's discharge some time
before. More than this, Wynne com
planned that McKinnon required him
to do more work than others under
him. On the night of the murder Nc
Kinnon and Wynne had both returned
from the town to the ship. ,McKinnon
went to his room and lay down ON a
settee with his head toward the door
on n passage or ailcyway, along which
Wynne had to go in reaching his room.
Uses Hammer as Weapon.
"Seeing McKinnon lying there,
t,.,l etn >, Lao,
mer, three pounds in weight, and mash.
ed in McKinnon IS skull and killed him.
1t does not appear definitely where the
hammer was, but probably Wynne had
to go downstairs to the engine room to
the middle level of some thirty or
forty feet in all, to get the hammer be-
fore using it, for that was where the
tool box was in which the hammer was
kept. If Wynne was sober and in his
right mind, there was ample time and
opportunity for him to form a premedi-
tated purpose to kill McKinnon and to
execute it, and the elements of murder
in the first degree would all be present
and require the verdict given.
''But there is evidence that Wynne
had been drinking all day, and that
when he came aboard his gait was un-
steady and he was in drunken CON
dition. 1t is sufficient in my Judgment
to raise reasonable doubt whether his
mind was in a condition capable of that
generalization necessary to constitute
murder in the first degree.
Facts Consistent With Theory.
"The facts are consistent with the
theory that Wynne, as he walked un-
81 |, ar .,
McKinnon lying where an attack was
easy, suddenly conceived a homicidal
purpose to crafty his grievance against
McKinnon-which he had just been dis
cussing with one Bright, the second en-
gineer, both in their cups-and quickly
procuring the hammer, hit the head
which lay helplessly and temptingly ex-
posed to his drunken impulse.
'There is considerable controversy
as to his condition after the deed, but
it is clear that his breath showed that
he had been drinking heavily and his
subsequent actions show him in an ex.
cited half-crying condition of confess
sion. The shock of realizing what he
had done was quite enough to explain
change from condition of drunken
viciousness to that of more or less
sober admission of guilt. If this theory
is sustained, as / believe it is by one
reasonable view of the evidence, then
it constitutes the reasonable doubt of
the existence of one element indispen-
sable in making the crime of murder
in the first degree, to wit, premedita-
tion. Drunkenness is no excuse for
crime, but it may be inconsistent with
a state of mind necessary to constitute
a certain degree of crime.
Intoxication Rebuts Inference.
"Of course, if after determining to
commit murder one gets drunk in order
to nerve himself to the deed the drunk.
enness only points to and confirms pre-
meditation, but where the purpose to
kill is formed in a drunken brain the
intoxicated condition rebuts the infer
ence of generalization necessary in muir
der of the first degree. The pardon at
torney and the attorney general have
reached the same conclusion in this
case as that above indicated. Judge
Dole, the trial judge, in effect reports
that he concurs in this idea. The jury
recommends Communication of the SEN
tence to life imprisonment.
For the reasons given the sentence
of death will be committed to imprison.
unnt far lifa -