The Bemidji daily pioneer. [volume] (Bemidji, Minn.) 1904-1971, 1918-03-04
Second degree murder carries
with it life sentence.
It is expected an appeal will
be taken.
Asked today when Henrion.
net would come up for sentence,
Judge Stanton replied he wasn't
qllite certain

qllite certain
"Guilty of murder in the second
degree"
Such was the verdict of the jury
that heard the trial of Roland Hen
rionnet, charged with the murder of
Oscar Nelson on the forenoon of No.
vember Is, the scene of the tragedy
being in the Third street stairway
entrance to the Northern National
bank building and on the walk in
front of the bank.
The verdict Of the jury was re-
turned Saturday night after de-
liberation of one hour and IS min
utes. Judge Stanton finished his
charge to the jury at $3.50 o'clock
and the verdict came in at 10:45
o'clock.
Mother in Mysteries.
AS the foreman of the jury made
known the. verdict and the jurors
were polled, all in the affirmative,
Mrs. Henrionnet, mother of the slay-
er, burst into loud hysteria and it
was with difficulty that she was re-
strained. She had waited in the
court room for the verdict after the
jury retired, unwilling to leave
while the fate of her boy was in
the balance.
The arguments occupied practic-
ally the entire afternoon. State's q
Attorney Torrance spoke for one hour
and Is minutes, and E. e. McDon-
aid for the defendant, spoke for
three hours, closi ng at 5:45 o'clock.
Court was then adjourned until
7:45 o'clock, when Judge Stanton
was to give the jury it's instructions
in the law. He commenced at 1855
o'clock and finished at $3.50 O'Clock.
MASTERPIECE of Legal Analysis.
The instructions and the charge to
the jury was a masterpiece of legal
analysis and fairness. Judge Stan
ton spoke slowly and not word but
what was heard in every nook of
the courtroom. He spoke of the du-
ties Of the jurors and what their
attitude towards the case in its en-
tirety should be. He placed before
them the three verdicts, one Of which
they had to decide. The first was
the verdict of murder in the first
degree, the second, murder in the
second degree, and the third, ac-
quittal.
He informed the jury that the
trial disclosed Enthusiastically that
Roland Henrionnet shot Oscar Nell
son, causing the latter's death. The
points to be considered, then, being
the circumstances surrounding the
tragedy.
Law Seals Lips Of Living.
The question of the eternal tri-
angle" did not figure in the charge
of Judge Stanton. Any conversa-
tion between Henrionnet and Mel
son either before the entrance of
the pair into the hallway, or during
the time they were together when
Henrionnet commenced to shoot was
not allowed to be related by the de-
fendant as witness and hence did
not figure in the trial.
In such case, when death seals the
lips of the dead, the law seals the
lips Of the living.
Degrees of Murder.
Judge Stanton described the def
milton of murder in the first degree.
He stated that the killing of one
man by another constituted either
murder, manslaughter or justifiable
homicide. The indictment procured
before the grand jury by States At
torney Torrance was for murder in
the first degree and upon this in
dictment was Henrionnet tried.
Murder in the second degree was
analysed as where the slayer didn't
think before committing the crime.
The third form Of verdict was the
acquittal.
Indisputable Facts.
Indisputable facts enunciated
we're:
That Oscar Nelson died in Be-
midi, Minnesota, on the eighteenth
day Of November from wounds in
f1icted by Roland Henrionnet.
Second, that the death of the said
Oscar Nelson was caused by wounds,
by bullets, fired from revolver held
in the hand of Roland Henrionnet.
The verdict, if murder in the first
degree, must take into consideration
time not being con-
sidered.
The second degree, without design
or generalization. .
Stanton Highly Praised.
Judge Stanton touched on the
trial in several of it's phases. He
recalled the testimony purporting to
show that Henrionnet had been i'll
and that his physical being was not