Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1921-09-09
Failure of Petit Jurors.

A Spartanburg correspondent re-
ports Judge T. s. Sease, as telling the
grand jury of that county that the
responsibility for much Of the crime In
their state is due to petit 1ucors. Ac-
cording to the correspondent:
Judge Sease said he did not pretend
to say that the petit juries are dis
honest, but that their action is due 70
lack of intelligence to properly weigh
the matter. While the fault is with the
petit Jury, the fault for their lack OF
intelligence lies with the state OF
South Carolina, which for 200 years
has failed to provide an adequate COM
pulsory education law. 1t was not un-
til the last few years that anything
has been done to force the voter and
the Juror to become educated. The state
owes it to herself to put a tax suff-
cient on the real and personal proper
ty to defray the expense OF educating
the voters. The crime wave, Judge
Sease went on to say, Is not an AFTER
math of the great world war, put is
due to the failure Of the petit jury to
convict criminals regardless OF their
social standing, whether great or small
Justice is said to be blind to the
standing of the criminal. The object
of the law is to punish the criminal
and to deter others from crime. The
Juror should consider 1t matter OF
personal safety to bring true verdict,
for he does not know at what time his
life or property will be at stake be-
cause Of the failure OF juries to do
their duty.
For years, Judge Sease said, he has
advocated a compulsory education law
with teeth. No man has right to let
his boy grow up in ignorance when the
state stands ready to pay for an edu-
cation for that boy in order to make
him an intelligent voter, and to keep
him from being a criminal. mdiyidu-
al cases can be selected where an
educated man has become a criminal,
but that is seldom the case.
While we recognize Judge Sease as
one of the ablest circuit judges on the
bench, we beg to differ with him in his
conclusion that crime in the state Is
due to petit jurors to anything like the
extent he seems to Think
1t is understood. Of course, that ac-
cording to the judges reasoning, II
petit juries were more unerring in
their conviction Of the guilty the re-
sulting menace to evil doers would
serve as a deterrent to crime; but
since the petit juries let so many Of
the guilty get by scatheless, they ere
not afraid.
This reasoning is all right II we are
to put all the responsibility upon the
petit jury; but as a matter Of fact,
does the responsibility really belong on
the petit jury? ..r-
In the opinion of The Yorkville En-
quirer the petit jury is often less to
blame than is the presiding judge.
c., yes; we can very we'll under
stand how the judge and lawyer can
esteem it presumptious for a layman
to have an opinion on this subject: but
we are not at all abashed at that.
We have seen many a guilty man
railroaded through to an acquittal in
the full knowledge of everybody in
the courtroom except perhaps, he
presiding judge himself.
We have seen defendants counsel in
full knowledge Of the guilt of their
clients secure the acquittal Of these
clients with defenses so absurd, ridi-
culous and false that 1t seemed in
comprehensive that the presiding
Judge should be too dense to zee
through 1t all.
To be sure, under the constitution of
this state judge has nothing to do
with the Interpretation Of facts to a
jury; but there is certainly nothing in
the constitution to prevent a judge
from seeing that all the facts of case
are developed to the fullest extent.
That was not much of jury that
tried Tom Harrison over in Greenville
the other day. Eight or ten Of them
were all right maybe; but there were
three or four of them who would
rather have returned a verdict of ac-
uuittal than not. Except for one thing
there would have at least been a mis-
trial, and that one thing was the judge.
1t has been our observation that
when a judge who is really capable Of
running a court essays to do so, there
is no triiing with him by lawyers,
witnesses or jurors, and the cause OF
justice seldom suffers under such con-
ditions.