Perth Amboy evening news., 1920-09-29
BRANDON FOUND GUILTY
OF FIRST DEGREE MURDER

NConInued from page III
tives, which were not admitted as
evidence, were not a part Of the du-
ties Of the prosecutors Office, Attor-
ney McDermitt said.
IF these letters did not contain
anything which would have compli-
Gated matters for the state, why was
the prosecutor ashamed to place
them before the jury as ~evidence?"
the attorney asked. The contents
of those letters must have been
something which could not stand the
sunlight
DR.. Moore, Of the Railway Re-
formatory, was referred to at this
point Of the summing up as the star
moonlight witness of the state, who
had been introduced to Brandon in
Auburn prison as the assistant dis
trict attorney of Union county" un-
der an assumed name.
Frame Up Alleged.
Cant you see the effort being
made to frame up this man Bran
DOM" McDermitt shouted. Some
thing took Perchand to South Am
boy that night. He had a return
ticket and saw the girl only five or
ten minutes. I'll tell you why he
was down there. He was there to
carry out a hold-up party of his own.
He had a confederate ard when with
the trend of events they tried to
frame-up Brandon"
The attorney for the defense de-
clared that finger prints are the
biggest humbug in the world" He
said that not only the Union county
prosecutor. but other police officials
were being taken in by men claim
ing to be expert bertillionists. In
closing he made a strong plea for a
verdict of not guilty and said that
combined effort had been made to do
Brandon a grievous injustice.
Prosecutor Sums Up.
Prosecutor Walter L. Hetield in
summing up the states case took
thirty five minutes, commencing at
.2;05 o'clock and concluding at 2:4o
O'Clock. He opened his charge with
the assertion that the attorney for
the defendant had charged everyone
with doing something wrong with
the purpose in mind of befogging the
issue so that the jury would think
of other things than the real facts.
He said he was conducting this state
as his duty to society and although
he knew Perchand was not an ange;
the time had come when Perchand
has seen his errors and told what
I believe to be the truth" Every
fact Perchand has stated on the
stand" the Prosecutor said, has
been corroborated. In addition to
these proofs there are the h~ngerprints
found on the right e. door of the
automobile, Identical to those of
Brandon's. there is DR.. Moore's
evidence that he recognized Brandon
as the man who got from the car
and moved Kupfer to the street. and
last, but not least. there is the
Testimony of Miss Sabold who saw
Brandon in Parlin on the night of
the murder"
my opponent" Prosecutor Het-
field continued" has said that no
While sitting in the rear seat of Kupf-
er's automobile Brandon conceived
the idea of stealing the car. When
Kupfer said the car was only a block
and a half away from the station
Brandon realized that the time to
act had come. When Kupfer said
these words they proved to be his
death sentence for the two shots
followed quickly. Perchand could
not have fired the shots as he was
driving. Brandon lost his nerve
after shooting Kupfer and Miss
fanny and told Perchand to go on
with the car while he made the rest
of the trip by train. The murder
was just as the indictment charges,
'willful and deliberate and / ask for
a verdict of guilty.
No Evidence, He Claims.
Brandon says: I wasn't there. ]
didn't do it Here he stops. There
was no evidence shown to prove
where he was on the night of the
t~wenty-first and early morning Of
the twenty-second except that of his
aunt who says: He was always in
by 1 o'clock, the prosecutor con-
tinued.
THE verdict of this jury, said
Prosecutor Hetfield. as he closed his
summing up, will tell other gun
men that they can't come to Jersey.
shoot down innocent people in cold
blood and get away with it. Where
ire Brandon's employees or friends
to prove where he was on the night
in question? ?" In closing the prose-
cutor made another request for
quick Jersey justice" in this case
Judge James j. Bergen in charg-
ing the jury spoke for twenty five
minutes. explaining the difference OF
first and second degree murder. the
possibility of recommending life i'm
prisonment instead of death and of
the bearing that alibis would have
in rendering the verdict. He then
gave a resume of the evidence Of the
case as he understood it.