The Topeka state journal., 1914-01-28
KANSAS JUDGES POLITICAL GOSSIP
They Want Criminal Code Senator Bristow Makes His
Il Revised. Formal Announcement.
lit Carries Handicap Of the He VIII Republican
II Common Law. Anarms Doctrine.
|IP TO the lE6lSl ATUnE THE KANSAS DAY BANQUET
Judges Speak Mind Freely Early Arrivals for the Repub
Il About the Code. lican Love Feast
They Holding Interesting Strong Candidates Talked
II Valuable Sessions. for Printer.
It Carries Handicap Of the
Common Law.
Up TO THE LEGISLATURE
Judges Speak Mind Freely
About the Code.
They. Are Holding Interesting
and Valuable Sessions.

They Are Holding Interesting
and Valuable Sessions.
Kansas lawyers and district judges
will next winter demand that the leg
islature revise the criminal code Of
the state as affecting the definition of
varying degrees Of murder and man.
| slaughter and further provide that
juries be permitted to regard the fail
ure Of defendants to testify in their
| own behalf In criminal proceedings.
| These changes will demand that Kan
saS break away from the observance
Of the old common law rules OF Grim
degrees of crime be made more clear
| and comprehensible to jurors.
Questions of changes in methods OF
criminal procedure in this state
Of shawnee county and Judge Flan-
nelly Of Montgomery county at che
meeting this week of the district
judges. Now the suggested reform Is
the state bar association: Reforms
similar to those suggested this week
| were recommended to the 1918 legis-
] lature. They died in the Judiciary
committee rooms
Under the existing laws. It fs
claimed that judges find it almost i'm
possible to clearly instruct juries as
to murder and manslaughter under
the common law rules and under the
statutory provisions of the state.
zling, even to district judges and law
yers. and the average jury, COM
posed Of a dozen farmers. is hope
lessly lost in a maze of technical in
laws provide for conviction for MUIR
der on one of six possible degrees.
either first or second degree murder,
| as defined by the common law; or
granddaughter, as defined by the stat
| utes or derived from the common
law.
In event a person was assaulted but
| structions regarding assault with in
tent to kill, assault with deadly
weapon, assault with intent to COM
init granddaughter, assault and bat
terry and assault in the common ordi-
nary sense OF the word. but made q
deep mystery under technical legal
terms which q jury often fails to uu-
derstand.
Disguised with It.
Now the court judges and scores
tire procedure. They want the GRIM
ina1 code rewritten in plain. simple.
understandable English. They want
the references to the common law
rules of crime dropped from the stat
ute books and a criminal law enacted
which an average jury can under
stand and apply to the evidence.
For instance farmer jury spends
a week trying murder case. listens to
the testimony Of q score Of witnesses
and the arguments Of q half dozen
shrewd lawyers who explain the courts
instructions and the evidence from ev-
cry conceivable angle. Then the jury
goes to its room and reads the in
structions. If the murder was the re-
suit Of premeditated, preconceived
plan, the defendant is guilty of first
degree murder. II the murder was
committed in a heat of passion, based
on technical provisions Of the COM
mon law or perhaps the general stat
second degree murder or something
else. And SO on down the line.
Pot Shot on What Jury VIII Do.
Its Just a pot shot as to what a
jury will do," said Judge J. c. Ruppen-
thai Of Russell. in discussing the ex-
listing criminal law and the manner in
which a jury will apply the courts in
tions puzzle the court and lawyers
How the average jury can be expected
to understand the matter. is a mystery.
In many cases an agreement on some
varying degree of manslaughter is q
compromise. At best it is only a
guess"
So the legislature will be asked to
define the varying degrees of crime in
a manner that is clear and plain and
to forget all about the old Common Law
Of England.
But that isn't the only fault which
the judges and lawyers find with the
Kansas statutes. There Is the law
which provides that failure of a de-
fendant to take the witness stand in his
behalf shall not be considered against
him. A prosecuting attorney dare not
refer to the fact that the defendant
did not testify. A Judge commits re-
| versatile error II he mentions the fact
| in his instructions.
| the matter said Judge Ruppenthal.
| ''The only safe way seems to be to per-
NIT instructions that will permit the
consideration by the jury of the fail
ure Of the defendant to testify
| Suggested Changes.
| Only last winter that change in the law
was suggested to the legislature. The
Judiciary committee. composed Of lawyer
legislators. strangled the bill in the COM
viii again be asked to repair the measure.
su9sested s % in Kansas. but other states
have been slow to abandon the long es-
tablished rule that defendant shall not
forfeit his interests by refusing to TESTIFY
The sterilization law will also come in
! the judges and lawyers. Just now the
law makes no provision for notice to or
an habitual criminal. . defective or GRIM
inally insane person might be had with
i out notice to him or an opportunity to ap-
his rights. This failure to provide right
Of protection Is regarded by the judges
and lawyers as vital defect that renders
the law almost useless.
Many other laws will be remedied in 1915.
IL the legislature does the things that the
Kansas judiciary demands It is not 30
much a demand for new laws. but for i'm
| provement Of the old ones that worries