Evening star., 1920-01-08
PROSECUTOR SUMS
Up IN WAN TRIAL
Asserts Guilt Shown Without
Confession: Case: May Go
to Jury Tomorrow.

.The government takes. the posi-
tion that this case is IVoNed an
soluteiy by circumstances. ne COZ, or.
fesSion of the defendant m ~ ne iei
entirely out of the case: indeed II
may never have been obtai ncd ana
yet the government would Lave Il
case which irrislSjibN points 'o 'le
guilt of this defendant.
So declared Assistant United states
Attorney Laws today in opening fhe
argument for the prosecution to ne
jury in Criminal Division ]. Whl en-
is trying Ziaug sung Wan, the YOU ~
Chinese student. for the muro er
of Ben Sen WI. an uuderSe''retaLy -
the Chinese educational mission, ~. .
kalorama road. January - last
Actions of Police Defended.
The assistant prosecutor defends
the actions of the police in attemptut
TO secure Information from the "''
cuSed. and declared that the effort 10
beSmirCh the detectives was to b" eN-
pectcd from the defense. What more
natural thing for the defense 10 do
Face 10 face with certainty OF con-
victiou if this confession Is true. in
quired the lawyer, what is more nat
ural than to try to bring The con-
dcmnatiou of the jury down upon the
police in an effort to make the jurors
forget that Wan is the one on trial.:
Mr. Laws insisted that the police, by
an extended crosse eNaminatiou Of the
ACCUSED did what intelligent pro-
tectors of the public would d"--"1ueS-
tion "A man who vas involved by the
circumstances of the case and deeply
involved hv his own lying. Counsel
pointed out the weaknesses in the de
Tense and the chain of circumstances
woven by the witnesses for the gov
ernment about the accused.
Scores Defensr's Tactics.
MIR. Laws pointed out the efforts of
the defendant to cast suspicion on
a
cluSiOn said:
But. gentlemen. this is an old story
What better for defensive purposes
than to make the jury forget the real
issue? What better than to mud the
waterso What shall be the answer to
This indictments First shift the trial
to trial of the police: let us see II
we cannot make the jury get angry
with them. Then. let us get the jury
mixed up as to the guilty parties. 1t
need not he proved that HSie. or Chen.
or WI. or KanC Lii, or 7. j. Wang or
Nov. or anybody else, committed this
murder. Just let II be suggested ana
rope the jury VIII get befuddled as
to the true issue. This Is the de-
fenSe.
Says Murderer Left Clue.
But there are intelligent men look
ing at unshakable evidence. The mur-
derer has left his clue. Intelligent po-
lice have followed up the clue. CirCum-
stances have gathered themselves about
this man. until he can lie no more.
Then he makes a confession, in part
true but putting himself in the role of
the avenger of the foul murder of his
good friends. He finds later the law
says man may not avenge murder.
and even his confession makes him
guilty. Then his only hope is to blacken
the police and mud the waters. Can
he succeed? His plans We're well laid
but they were fathomed- He is face to
face now with his crime
Plans of Defense.
Attorneys Charles Fahy and James
A. O'Shea. for the defense. will follow
Mr.. Laws. The argument for the gov
ernment will be concluded by United
States Attorney LaSkey. Justice Gould
will instruct the jury proba bly, tomor-
row morning.
Twenty PRAYERS for instructions to the
jury. involving the law of the case as
viewed by counsel for the defense, were
submitted by Attorney O'Shea. The gov
ernment asked no instructions, being
content to accept the law as the court
would outline it. Most of the inStruc-
tions of the defense We're adopted by
the court as proper statements of law.
Testimony for the defense was con-
cluded this morning with the evidence
of DR.. j. Russell Nerbrycke. a stomach
specialist. who told of the illness and
weakened condition of Wan about the
time of the signing of the alleged con-
fessien. Similar evidence was given by
DIR. James \. Sannan and DR.. Ludwig
AuguStinuS.
Called in RebuttaI.
The prosecution in rebuttaI called
Detectives Burlingame and Kelly, bank
officials and the taxi driver, who de-
MED statements made by Van. the
brother of the accused. and told of ad-
missions by him that pointed to the
guilt of his brother. Van. it was
stated. admitted that it was Wan who
waited in the taXicab outside the
Riggs Bank. and the taxi driver ex-
plained that the occupant of the cab
wore eyeglasses. as does the accused