Norwich bulletin., 1919-06-06

intent to kill was returned Thursday afternoon against Royal G. Holmes of this city by the jury in the superior court at New London. where he has been on trial since nlay 21 on the charge of assault with intent to kill and murder Capt. James Lennen at >the captains home on the night of Dec. 5th last.
 The verdict was on the next lesser degree of the crime than that on which he was tried ana showed the opinion of the jury that there had been. no malice aforethought in the at- tack made upon Capt Lennen.
 The verdict was returned at 3.s0 af ter the jury had had the case about an hour and a half. After wait of about another hour and a half during which counsel for Holmes conferred and the states attorney conferred with Judge William $. Case, the state moved for sentence.
 Pleas for leniency for Holmes were made by Attorney Arthur M. Brown and Attorney Jeremiah J. Desmond ! and were answered by States Attor- ney Hull before Judge Case sentenced Holmes to not less than two nor more than four years in states prison. sey took Holmes to the jail in New London to await transfer to states prison.
 In making the plea for clemency Attorney Brown spoke first saying that he felt the story the accused man had told must have been told though a belief in his own. innocency or in an abnormal state of mind. The at torney referred to the blameiess char acter of the accused up to this time the wife and family of three children l,o boI yIo ,1ffa lot Lo hoH already borne through the experiences of two long trials. 11e hoped the l judge might see that the ends of jus tice might be met by imposing fine i of $500
 Attorney Desmond referred, to his 1 long acquaintance with the family of the accused and the great personal shock this accusation and verdict was | to him and also referred to what | seemed an abnormal state of mind as an explanation of the commission of the crime. Judge Case interrupted ] him to remark that this was the first he had heard of any mention of a mental disturbance in this case.
 In pronouncing sentence Judge Case i said he would like to, but he could see | no grounds for leniency. On the face ] of the verdict. this conviction carried with it conviction on two other
 crimes, attempted burglary at the
 Lennen house and the fixing up of the alleged receipt. The case had been thoroughly tried, said the judge. in fact one of the most thoroughly tried he had ever known, and the accused
 could find no fault with the effort that
 had been made by his counsel. While
 he was sorry for the accused and for his family severe punishment was de- served and he pronounced the sentence | already mentioned.
 ! Holmes received announcement of
 the verdict and the sentence without
 a trace of emotion. but his two
 brothers law, John R. Tarrant and 1 Richard L. Tarrant, who have stood
 Loyalty by him throughout. seemed much affected They sat by him in the
 court room while he awaited sentence Mrs. Holmes and her three children
 who had been in court during the morning were not present when the verdict and sentence were pronounced
 but waited in nearby building in the
 neighborhood.
 When court opened in the morning Attorney John C. Geary occupied ar hour in making the final argument foi the defense.
 Argument For Defense.
 
 acter, said Attorney Geary as he open
 ed his argument, in that a man with
 out blot on his character or reputa-
 tien is brought to the bar of justice i accused of this crime and for six out of the last eighteen weeks has beer
 under the strain of two trials on this
 accusation. He enlarged upon the ad-
 vantages possessed by the state 1T being first to present its evidence 1T
 the course of ths trial and went on tt
 say that it was significant that MT Roland, who appeared honest ant truthful, should have asked Whit ney where to find a telephone wher . he had already twice before telephon. ed on the night of the assault. Sup
 posing that Captain Lennen's story i! : accepted as true, argued the attorney 1 what motive is there discoverable It wasn't necessary for Holmes to Xiii kCaptain Lennen to get the note. If i
 had been discovered missing from thu
 safe, Holmes could have said it wa
 in the tin box at the bank and Gap
 tain Lennen would never have knowl [ the difference. If Holmes had beer q intending to kill the captain. he would have got the securities out o f the tin box before he did it so tha
 they wouldn't be discovered after, 2 WdIuS 1NOL d pcuuy OI SGpldul Len mems property is missing.
 l As to the bloody marks on the tabl
 cloth. the attorney asked how coult g a glove make finger prints if tfer' l were no blood on the palm of the glov, :. and he charged that the state had beel
 unfair in not trying to find ou
 whether there were traces of blood il
 the palm. If those finger prints wer / made by gloves, they were some oth
 CT gloves and worn by some othe man. MT. Geary declared.
 t Why didn't the state produce a lock
 smith, he asked. to show that the ke, was not of the kind made 20 year }, ago. The alibi is a perfect one an, 2 is proved, not by relatives, but b, ). casual persons. The appearance o1 MT. Holmes that night at the Lennel house is explainable by his illness wit grip but at other places that nigh nothing unusual as to shortness o
 breath or asthma or agitated man
 ner was noticed. The police had - theory, the attorney argued, and, t |. speak plainly, somebody had to lie t = support it. Officer Carrolrs zeal over e came his notion of truth. Holmes di ,. the natural thing for anyone to d Ii when he saw Captain Lennen. Who ar you going to believe. Dr. Cassidy o r the others?
 :. The attorney attacked the testimon = of Donovan who he said hadn't spoke d to MT. Holmes for year, and wen 7, on to discuss the impossibility of n man committing this assault after tn 5 clock struck nine and getting to Put < aski hall at the time Sergeant Bloc : said that he saw him there It was Ii natural thing for receipt to hay D been given if the note ha : been mislaid and Holmes had offere ii to show the receipt to the police bu e they didn't go to see it. As to tn < testimony on the handwriting s-ive