The Penn's Grove record., 1920-04-16
The Lower Courts
Verdict Sustained
Supreme Court Hands Down De-
cisiOn Affirming Verdict
Against Penns Grove
MarshaIs

The New Jersey Supreme Court has
at last handed down It's decision con-
firming the verdict of conviction In the
! Salem County Court of Clarence Fish
er, Cooper Sparks and Charles Stiles,
Marshals of the Borough of Penns
Grove upon the charge of accepting
money to suppress CRIME. Joseph l..
Mooney also convicted, did mott appeal
but served his sentence Of four months
in the Road Camp and 500 fine and
costs.
The men comprised the police force
of Penns Grove, Fisher being Chief
Marshal. The latter was sentenced to
a term of not more than three years
nor less than eighteen months in State
prison. Sparks sentence was six
months in the county Jail and to pay
a fine of 500 and costs of suit. Stiles,
three months in the county Jail and
500 fine and costs. All have been at
large on bail pending the decision.
Fisher secured a position in Phila-
delphia shortly after his conviction and
has not been seen about Penns Grove
since.
Counsel for the officers, Clarence l..
Cole, of Atlantic City, urged a reversal
of the conviction Tor these reasons:
that there was error in the Courts
definition of reasonable doubt; that
there was harmful error in the refusal
of the trial court to quash the indiet-
ment because it failed to aver that GER
tain or the Grand Jurors who present
ed it affirmed without asserting that
they were conscientiously scrupulous
of taking an oath; that the Court erred
in refusing to charge that Campo a
witness for the State was a party to the
alleged crime; hat the defendant Off
GERS had no legal right to arrest any
one of the parties unless the offense
was committed in their presence or
was armed with a warrant; that the
Court erred in not allowing certain
questions on crosS-eXamination of
Campo; that the Court erred in charg-
ing that the jury could find the de-
PENDANTS guilty on one OF all the indict-
ments and lastly because there was a
misstatement OF facts by the trial
Judge.
AS to the misstatements of facts the
Court held that the proofs of the testi-
mony show that the Judge had not
erred in this respect but followed the
evidence as given.
The Court decided that the language
of the Court in defining reasonable
doubt was not a legal error; that the
ground of reversal cannot be consider
ed by the Supreme Court because the
motion to quash always precedes the
moving of the case and the ~lmpanelilng
of the jury; that the refusal to charge
that Campo was a party to the crime
was proper for the testimony does not
bear out this fact; that the refusal to
charge that the officers had no right
to make the arrests unless the crime
was committed in their presence, was
proper for the parties who committed
the rape admitted that they had done
so and it was their plain duty to APP
pear before a magistrate, make a for
NAL complaint and procure a warrant
and execute it as Dol as they reason
ably could do so. Instead, the Court
said, they took money as a considera-
ton for s~uppressing the crime, and
corruptly failed to take any steps to
bring the offenders to justice, and it
is this corruption in office that is the
fundamental charge laid against them
in the indictment. That it was proper
for the trial judge to exclude certain
questions On eross-examination for
they had no direct bearing on the COM
plant and could not possibly have
helped the defendants. The Court
added that to cite cases on this point
would be "the commission of petty
larceny upon our Digest That the
trial Judge was correct in his charge
and the jury could convict on n or
more counts of the indictment.