The labor journal. [volume] (Everett, Wash.) 1909-1976, 1918-08-09
MOONEY CASE
WILL NOT DOWN

the Mooney Case the editor of the
San Francisco Bulletin prints this
summary Of the state supreme
courts denial of new trial for
Thomas Mooney
"The court of last resort in the
state has finally decided that its
powers do not enable it to take the
extraordinary step which justice
requires. This is because there is
no provision in the code of Califor-
MIA by which a court may purge it's
own records Of testimony subse-
quently found to be false. Such a
remedy exists in some states under
the form of the writ of coram nobis,
by which the parties to a case may
be summoned by the court and their
evidence reviewed and amended. AS
the law of California is comprised
within it's code, and as no writ of
coram nObis is mentioned in the
code this remedy could not be used
in this case, no matter how fragrant
the perjury appeared. Executive
clemency, space for which was left
in the constitution out of a belief
that such cases as this might arise,
is the only remaining recourse.
Executive clemency is equity trans
cending law where the law proves
inadequate.
"The legal facts about Moneys
trial, as shown in the record, are
that he was duly tried, that no error
appeared, and that the period during
which attorneys for the defense
might have been granted new trial
was suffered to elapse without such
action. The practical facts are, Of
course, that Mooney was convicted
on perjured testimony, SO that in
equity he was not convicted. at all.
This was a case where the letter
killeth and spirit giveth life. The
naked law surrounded the case like
An iron fence, in which those who
want justice for, Mooney have vainly
tried to find an opening.
"The effect that this has had in
turning Russian revolutionary opin-
ion against the United States is in
calculable. 1t has even tended to es-
TRANCE the workers of the allied and
neutral countries, and has been made
the subject of embarrassing diplo-
matte conversations between our
government and those of six or
seven other countries.
|" "It is consequently of vast I'M
portance that the case be rightly un-
derstood as we'll as honestly dealt
with. 1t should be made plain that
it was not the unwillingness of our
courts to repair an injustice but
their inability to do so that has kept
Mooney so long without fair trial,
that even though Oxman had been
convicted instead of being white
washed and even though the victims
of the parade turned out not to
have been injured, after all, no
court could now interfere"
Who can marvel that Russians
distrust US when such law is en-
forced in this nation of vaunted
freedom? Who can marvel that
Russians, recently released from au-
tocratic rule, can see little differ
ence between the Governments of
the United States and the Gar
when such law as the following
is expounded by the trial judge
when for the second time he SEN
fenced Tom Mooney to death:
"In this state it is the settled
law that judgment cannot be set
aside because it is predicated upon
perjured testimony, or because ma
terial evidence is concealed or sup
pressed.
with all the harshness and Sc
verify of this rule and with knowl-
edge that injustice must at times
be done in its application it is the
law defined by the supreme court
of this state and by it this court is
bound.
"If the obligation of the district
attorney to present only compe
tent and legitimate testimony be
violated and perjured testimony pro
duced or material evidence sup
pressed, in so far as the judgment
is concerned, the injured party is
without remedy"
These were the words of Judge
Franklin Griffin before whom Ton
Mooney was tried.
There is another angle of this case
Mooney was reprieved until Decem
ber IS. The November elections
take place on November s.