Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1914-03-25

SLIME tcHStH 70 rIHc fSCcfsL GHdtSS VI
court procedure. The charge Of Joc
Gentlemen CT the Grand Jury:
By operation Of law and action o.
court, you have been drawn as .
grand jury for this term of this court
You are quasi-judicial tribunal
In very large and important sense
you have to DO with the condition Of
Maui county so far as criminal mat
tiers are concerned.
Under cur law, no person can BIZ
prosecuted for crime until he has beer
Indicted by grand jury. Hence, al
criminal proceedings started in this
court must be initiated and set in mo
ton by grand jury. Hence, it be
comes your duty to inquire into al
matters presented to you that seen
to demand a criminal prosecution;
and. further, II you know Of cases Of
tyour own knowledge, you should bring
them before the grand jury while In
session for its examination and &C
ton.
Your duties are not only the exer
else of power directed by intelligence
and education, but also the exercise
Of your moral powers commonly call
ed the conscience.
You win serve your county and
this territory by closing your minds
against, every consideration except
that Of justice which you will promote
by doing just what the truth requires.
You will indict no man because of
faalsnc of dfCIflyc
and you must not fail to indict any
man on account Of fear, bias, friend
ship or favor. You should also re-
member that the proceedings in the
grand jury room must be kept Sc
eret as this is the law and seems to
be required by. your oath and by pub
lie policy.
No person can be in your grand
jury room while you are voting on
the question Of indicting or not, and
no person can rightfully and legally
advise You as to whether you should
in any case return an indictment or
not
While you are taking testimony, the
attorney-genera or his deputy, the
county attorney, can be In your room
for the purpose of assisting you in
obtaining knowledge of the facts by
the testimony. When examining into
a case where you have to take the
testimony of persons who can not
speak the English language. you may
have an. interpreter to assist you in.
getting the testimony. Should you
find any true bills, the indictment
then will be drawn for You by the at
torney-general or his deputy, the coun-
ty attorney, and such officer will en-.
dorse your bills of indictment which
must also be signed by yourl foreman.
Few Eases for Investigation
BY inquiry, I have learned from the
county attorney and the sheriff that.
so far as they knew there are very
few cases now. needing prosecution
for q criminal offense and that what
few there are are for minor offenses.
Thus your session viii undoubtedly
be very short as you will very quick
ly dispose OF the few. cases. con
graduate you upon this condition, and
| congratulate the people of Maui es-.
pecially that such state of affairs
exists in this county.
/ was somewhat amused some time
ago by hearing a lawyer criticize le-
gal matters in Maui by saying that
they did not have anything to do and
he remarked that if he had the run.
ming of the county attorneys office he
could very easily manage to have at.
least $500, more fees for the attor-.
neys
regard attorneys fees as good
thing and / must admit that / have
so regarded them for a great many
years. But they are not an unmixed
blessing for community.
Of course, it is better that this
country should have cong terms of
court and great deaf OF court bust
ness and an immense amount of court
expenses than that crime be allowed
TO go unpublished Punish when and
where necessary, not for the sake of
but for the sake of de-
terring men from committing crime
and needing punishment.
In my opinion, Maui is remarkably
free from the disease of crime. 1t is
a healthy, body-politie. We have no
criminal class IN this county. Maui
county is entirely without beggars
ard is nearly free from criminals.
| have been upon this. bench for
over five years, during which time
have SO had the assistance of the sher-
ifs OF Maui and their deputies, of the
county attorneys and their assistants,
of the district judges. and of the Of
f;eers of the county generally. that the
result is such. | think, that | am war
ranted in saying a vast improvement
has been made so that now the GRIM
inal matters can be just as thoroughly
to with half the prosecu-
tons and half the expense as. was
the case a few years ago. This has
been most largely due to the moral
in public opinion which
in the final analysis is the supreme
law of our land. Public opinion has
been improved very largely by the
action of our juries. ~. d
Shakespeare Rough on Lawyers
Other juries have so acted that
good men repose confidence in them,
while bad men stand in fear of them
and it has been discovered that YOU