Imperial Valley press., 1919-04-14
MURDER CASE
OEFENSE: WINS
VIC II DRY IN
HIGH COURT
Supreme Court of State De-
nies Petition of PrOsecu-
ton for Hearing in khair
Din Case.

Through victory won by the de-
fense in proceedings before the state
supreme court, knair Din, a Hindu
rancher, will be released from San
Quentin prison only to be brought
cack to Imperial county to stand trial
or the fourth time for murder.
District Attorney Il. K. Simon, who
nad charge of the prosecution Of the
accused man in previous trials, today
reiterated his determination to place
the Hindu on trial again for the al
legged murder of his two partners IN
q Valley farming enterprise.
The Supreme court ruling, hinging
on the alleged error in permitting a
disqualified juror to sit on the case,
refuses the plea of the people, repre-
sented by Joseph l.. Lewissohn, depu-
ty state attorney general for South
ern California, for a hearing.
The application for a hearing III
the case was precipitated by the posi-
tion of the appellate court in revers-
ing the judgment of the Superior
court in finding Khair Din guilty of
first degree murder with its conse-
quent penalty of life term in pen
tentiary, and an application for
rehearing
When his client was declared gull
ty and taken to the great stone Pc
nal institution, Attorney O. V. Will
sen, for the defense, appealed to the
Second District Appellate court, bas-
ing his stand on errors of law in the
conduct of the case by the trial
Judge.
The upper court, after bitter con-
test between Attorney Wilson for
the defense and Deputy Attorney Cen
eral Lewissohn and District Attor-
ney E. r. Simon for the prosecution,
handed down a decision reversing the
lower court.
Dissatisfied with the ruling and
believing that the judgment should be
retained, the prosecution petitioned
the Appellate court for another hear
ing, but this was denied. Then fol-
lowed the appeal to the states high
est court.
Legal circles were more or less
agog today with discussion of the
case and tie position Of the Supreme
court because of the fine points of
law involved in the briefs filed By
the opposing attorneys. The attor-
ney general declared that if the APP
pellate court decision was allowed to
stand it would constitute a reversal
of the usual procedure in selecting
iuries in criminal cases.
"The ruling of the court is especi-
ally interesting to me, not only be-
cause it constitutes a victory for my
client, but because it settled a point
of criminal law that has never been
raised before to the best Of my knowl-
edge declared Attorney Wilson.
an effect the ruling means that
when even one juryman is allowed TO
it in judgment on base by the trial
Judge when Re is preiudiced or in
any manner disqualified, even though
the remainder of the court proceed
ings is perfect. a reversible error has
been committed. In other words, it
it adds another strong arch to the
constitutional guaranty of a fair and
impartial trial to an accused man
The jurv about whose head the le-
cal conflict ragged was :'red Gunt2r-
man of CaleXico, who was allowed to
remain on the jury although his state
ments are alleged to have disqualified
him on the grounds OF impartiality or
prejudice.
In explaining his position, Judge
Franklin J. ole, the trial jurist, to-
day said:
at was an error in failing to ex-
use Gunterman. Although the de-
fense had used up its twenty per-
amptorv challenges. the legal limit,
| would have granted a challenge
against the Juror, but it was not made
by the defense"