Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1922-08-08


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able to convict the witness of perjury
but often too late to affect the case on
trial The disappearance of an i'm
portant witness will also cause the case
of the state to sag while alibi wit
nesses, the truth OF whose stories the
prosecution has not the time to investi-
gate, interpose a fatal handicap in the
administration of justice.
Coached and trained so well are
these professional witnesses that they
often cause the stumbling and halting
stories of the witness for the state,
who are really telling the truth, to ap-
pear as clumsy fabrications. The adage
that truth viii prevail" is correct but
the difficulty is that by the time the
real truth is discovered the trial is over
and the defendant has been freed.
The handicaps in a criminal trial are
all imposed upon the prosecution. 1t
must prove the man on trial to be
guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. No
juryman who is a normal human being
desires TO send a man to prison or
mayhap the gallows or electric chair
unless he is absolutely convinced OF
his guilt. These crooked lawyers take
full advantage of this feeling. BY
placing multitude of witnesses upon
the stand, even when they know the
jury will not believe them all, they
hope to confuse the jurymen sufli-
cently so there may be that doubt that
will incline them to free a possibly
guilty man rather than To suffer the
self-reproach of having voted to con-
vict a man who might be innocent.
The "ace in the hole" of these
gentry, however, is their ability to
bribe q member of the jury. Through
their secret force of ferrets they are
able to discover the financial condi-
ton and the susceptibility TO tempta-
tion of the members of the panel. A
mistake in approaching the wrong man
would be fatal to their case and such
their man thoroughly before any over
lures are made. But even though a
mistake should be made the attorney
has so covered his tracks that it is al
most impossible to trace the offer back
TO him. Second, third and often fourth
parties are, used to cover up the trans
action and when caught one of the
tools is paid a large sum to be "the
goat" If there are no witnesses-and
usually good care is taken that there
will be none-it is the case of one
seldom that the brber fails to escape.
The Newspaper Sob Story.
With one fixed juror the case for the
defense is as good as won. He can
hang the jury until doomsday and
there is no requital. Not only that, if
he happens to be a clever man with a
gift of persuasion, he can often bring
some of the other jurors around to his
side. While a. hung jury does not mean
acquittal, by successfully hanging a
number Of juries it is possible to dis
courage the prosecution, who, to save
the taxpayers further expense, will
dismiss the case. In this lies the
secret of SO many jury disagreements
where the general public has fully
made up it's mind as to the guilt Of
the accused. If the prosecution re-
fuses to dismiss the case entirely it
will often compromise upon a light
sentence after several disagreements
of jury.
Another favorite and probably un-
conscious ally of these crooked law
yers is the press, especially that por-
ton of il that plays up news from a
sensational angle. These attorneys
make it a point to curry the favor Of
newspaper men and women. Women
writer's, who write. the human-interest
stuff, as it is called, and who are nick
named "sob sisters" by the profession,
assist them greatly in creating public
sentiment in favor Of the accused.
There is seldom a criminal so hard
ened but who has some human quail
ties and the sob sisters" in discover
ing these good traits harp upon them
until the public is convinced that the
defendant is a poor victim of circum-
stances who is being cruelty persecut-
ed by society. Popular sympathy is
always with the underdog and often a
public prosecutor through the dissent
nation Of propaganda Of this sort in
the newspapers finds himself at the
beginning Of a trial confronted by a