The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1911-01-12
The LAWS DELAY
ZONES, Lawyer-AuthOr, Urges a
Quicker Process.
Better Innocent Suffer Than
Courts Be Jeered."
ENGLISH DO BETTER.
Cites Recent Crippen Case as a
Good Example.
Opinion Formed Should Not
Disqualify Juror"
ENGLISH Do BETTER.

1T is better that now and then an
innocent man be convicted of murder
than the courts become a byword and
a reproach.''
This statement was made by Burr w
Jones' of Madison, Wis in his address
CT THE Maladministration of Justice
- Homicide Cases." before last even
ing's meeting of the Kansas State Bar
association. The speech was delivered
at the supreme court rooms in the state
mouse. He also said that a jurors hav-
Ing read newspaper accounts of case
or having formed an opinion should not
disqualify him from serving Through
out his talk he pleaded for quicker le-
Fal process, citing the Crippen case as
an example of British quick methods.
His speech in part follows:
IF We would rescue our criminal
procedure from the odium too often
laid at its door. we must place a some
what higher estimate upon the charac-
ter and intelligence of those who serve
as jurors. There is no reason that the
religious or political beliefs of jurors
should be dragged into public view in
determining their qualifications. 1t
should be no disqualification that
juror has read the newspapers or has
formed opinions if he is at the time OF
trial competent to render an impair
tial verdict.
1.-THE police of London believed that
one DR. Crippen had murdered his wife
about February 1. 1910. His flight pre-
vented his being brought to trial until
October. The argument of counsel
lasted only a few hours. The trial
lasted about three days and only three
jurors were challeged by the defense.
He was sentenced to be hanged on NO
vember g. He had his appeal and the
conviction was affirmed and on Novem-
her % he paid the penalty of his
crime, three months and twenty-five
days after his arrest.
Probably if this case had been tried
in New York or Chicago, in view o.
the worldwide interest it had created
hundreds of jurors would have been
subjected to the ordeal of examination,
arguments on matters of eviden -
would have lasted for a week, and
month or several months would have
been consumed in the trial, and then
the long struggle would have just com
menced.
L am aware that there are those who
will insist that the poor wretch was
those accused CT murder have scant
chance for justice in the English
courts.
But it is significant that the young
woman who fled with him to America,
Ethel Leneve, and who was indicted
as an accessory after the fact. was also
tried, and after a trial of few hours
was acquitted
TT is undoubtedly good ground for
criticism of our modes of administef-
inc fhe criminal law that punishment
of crime is apt to be too long post
poned At the very outset of the triai
the problem of securing an lmpartlal
Jury sometimes long delays the case.
In the city of Chicago a few years ago
it required eleven weeks and cost soo'-
OOO to secure a jury to try murder
case.
1T is better, far better. mucn as
we may deplore it that now ana then
an innocent man should be convicted
~ murder than that our courts
should be a byword and a reproach;
than that the average man should reel
that petty offenses are punlsheo Out
that the murderer goes tree-
The following is a summary OF some
of the changes that I would suggest
as worthy of consideration;
Greater strictness in allowing con-
tinuances.
nue. on the uncorroborated affldaVlt Oh
the accused.
the part of trial judges.
1) In restricting the examination
of Jurors on the voir dire.
(2) In limiting the cross eXamln-
alton of witnesses
(3) In limiting argument on the
adnlissibility of evidence.
(4 In commenting to the jury on
questions of fact.
The denial of new trials by appel
1a+a courts where it is plain that there
has been no miscarriage of justice:
Provisions for review on behalf of
the state. ,-.
depositions by the state.
Wednesday Afternoons Session.
Wednesday afternoon President
Judge c. A. Smart of Ottawa, in MS
annual address on The Establishment
hot no
tice changed with times. As an ex-
ample he said that when $4,000 was
an unusual fortune to be left to an
heir. the inheritance tax might nave
not been just, but now, When mllhons
of dollars were left LOT squdnoerefs'
the tax was just
He also advocated recompense for
oeople found innocent after subsection
10 trial Extracts from his speech fol-
..It has now become the rule, not
4he exception, that in nearly all the
great centers of population. some time
during the year there is strife. and
the great third party. the common
peopIe, are forced to hide themselves
under their beds until organized CAPT.
tai and organized labor see fit to per
NIT them to go in safety upon the
public streets. This ought not to be.
s'If organized capital and organized
labor cannot agree, the public should
not suffer; the government should fur
nish a tribunal into which both of the
contending parties can be forced for
the final determination of their strife
and meanwhile. the business should
be operated under governmental SUI
pervision. 1t is a serious reflection
upon the intelligence of the times that
differences and disputes between men
should in this day and age be settled
with the gun. the bomb, the hired
elugger on the one hand, and all the
cruelties and hardships and oppres-
sions at the disposal of great wealth
on the other hand.
'.I believe that the public is better
able to stand the loss of life. and in
Jury to person and property growing
out of accidents to employees in places
where large bodies of men are en-
ployed than the Individual.