The copper era and Morenci leader., 1915-11-19
BOARD REPR|EVES KERMEEN;; TWO
 SAVED
Murderers of Mesa Marshal Get Life Imprisonment; Inquiry Into. ker- meen's Sanity; Hopeful View of Governor Hunt

At a, special meeting of the state board of pardons and paroles held at the penitentiary at Florence, it was decided to commute the sentences of John Tomlin and Atha M. Leonard (the youthful murderers of Marshal Hi Peterson of Mesa) to life imprison- ment. The twain had been sentenc- ed to hang on November 26, but a great pressure had been brought to bear on members of the board and on account of the boys youth and also because. there were eNtenuating cir cumstances in connection with the case it was thought best to change the sentence from hanging to life inl- prisonment.
 Tomlin and Leonard were original ly to have been executed on May 22, 1914, but the sentence was put off several times, both by action of the pardon board and also by the inter- ference of Governor Hunt. who IS heading the. agitation against capital punishment in the state.
 Walter Kermeen, the Cochise coun- ty murderer, was granted a reprieve of four weeks in order that the prison physicians might have time to hold an inquiry for the purpose of inquiring into his sanity. He was to have been hanged on November 19, but it is said of late he has been showing marked signs of insanity, and a delay of his execution was or dered.
 No action was taken by the board on the proposed executions of Will liam Faltin of Phoenix and Ramon Villalobo of Pinal county, scheduled to hang on November 26 and Decem- Der 10 respectively, and this is thought to mean that the two con- demned men can expect no further clemency from any source whatever, inasmuch as their crimes were of a purely premeditated character, Faltin having dug grave for his intended victim two days in advance of the
 murder. Faltin was originally to have been put out of existence on April IS, 1914, and the first date seJ for the hanging of Villalobo was Jan
 uary 8, 1915, it will be remembered,
 was convicted for killing a man nam-
 ed Peterson in this city about two years ago.
 | Governor Hunt, who has been mak- | ing hard fight to save the condemn ed men from the gallows, in comment 1 ing on the action of the pardon board | in committing the sentences of the
 five men, said:
 T believe there is a growing senti-
 ment among the citizens of this. state against capital punishment, and this action of the board will meet with lpopular approval. It is probable that there will soon be enacted a statute
 which will provide that in case a
 mans sentence is comuted from hang ! ing to life Imprisonment. there can i be no move to secure his liberation i from prison until he has served at least twenty years of the sentence. i Should this measure be enacted it will do away with a great deal of the op- position to the anti-capital punish
 ment bill which comes from those peo- l pie who object to the usual procedure
 of some persons attempting to secure i the release of the prisoner after ser
 wing a year or so. If this law is put
 on the statute books, it will go Ions
 way toward making smooth sailing
 for the enactment of the bill which
 would do away with the death sen i tence.