New Britain herald., 1917-11-20
MOST OF TALESMEN
FAVOR ACCUSED
Four Jurors Already Accepted in
Murder Case Of Mrs. De SaulleS

Mineola, Nov. 2o.-Only four jurors
were accepted yesterday in the first
day of the trial Of Mrs Blanca de
Saulles, on Aug. 3 Of this year.
Manning on the charge of murder in
the first degree for the killing of her
divorced husband, John Longer de
saules. on Aug. of this yeear.
A large number Of jurors disquali-
fled themselves by admitting that they
had strong prejudices in favor of the
young woman. Many others were OPP
posed to capital punishment Several,
! who appeared to take a very stern
and inf1exible view of the duties of
jurors, were objects of peremptory
challenges by the defense, while 9TH
ers who wavered on the question Of
inf1icting the death penalty on a Wo-
man or admitted that they might be
more or less moved by sympathy, were
excused by the State. A total of twen-
ty-eight men were examined.
In the questions touched upon In
their questions to jurors, counsel for
Mrs. de Saulles allowed a liberal view
at their plans for defense. These in
dicated clearly that they will attempt
to establish that Mrs. de Saulles act
ed without generalization in killing
her husband and that she was suffer-
ing from defective reason" when she
fired the shots.
No Alienists.
The defense Of insanity will be pre-
scented in a noval fashion, according
to statements by Henry A. Uterhart,
chief counsel for the defense, who dis
cussed his plans briefly yesterday. The
principal innovation will be the alb
sence of alienists. Mr.. Uterhart said
that he would not according to the
present program, call single alieniSt.
Mr.. Uterhart would not go further
and explain just how he expected to
convince the jury that the young wo-
mans reason was so affected that she
did not know the nature of the act
when she killed de Saulles.
One thing which threw light on the
strategy of the defense was the ques-
ton put to every prospective juror
whether he would vote to acquit, if he
felt any reasonable doubt as to the
sanity of the woman at the moment
when she killed her divorced husband
When this question was first pro-
view of the law was that the State
was not obliged to prove the defend
ant sane beyond a reasonable doubt,
but that only a preponderance of evil
dence of her sanity had to be estab-
lished to justify a juror in bringing in
a verdict of guilty.
Mr.. Uterhart argued that the State
had to prove every essential fact be- |
You'd a reasonable doubt and that the |
sanity of the defendant was one of the |
essential facts After authorities had |
been placed before him on the subject, !
Justice Manning ruled i'll favor Of the |
of the law urged by
Mr. Utcrhart.. District Attorney Chas.
r.. Weeks did not make any argument
against the plea that it was lncum-
bent on the State to prove ati1rma-
lively the young Woman's sanity De
You'd reasonable doubt.
Counsel for the defense was al
lowed thereafter to place all jurymen
on record as purposing to acQult II
they had a reasonable doubt as to the
defendants sanity at the time when
she killed de Saulles.
The insistence of the defense on this
noint together with the decision to DO
without alienists, was taken as mean
ing that a departure from the ord1n-
ary practice of presenting the "un-
written law side of a case would be
adopted It is expected that the de-
Tense will content itself by proving
from physicians, not alienists, who
examined her as to her general health
that she was very sick at the time
when she killed her husband, and that
the temporary suspension of reason
in such cases was not infrequent.
The Green Monster.
The novelty which is expected to
distinguish this from other similar
cases of insanity defense. with the
suggestion of an appeal to the "un-
written law, is that the defense may
barely sketch a medical and social
history for the young woman; raising
doubts as to her past mental condi-
ton, and then leave the State to
wrestle with the problem of establish
ing her sanity beyond reasonable
doubt. The other point of difference
in this case is that while jealousy
vN6D0DrANT TO AT, WOMEN