The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1922-07-13
BAIL TO BE FIXED
ON HIS RETURN HERE
Decision of High Court Leaves Little Reason
to Believe That Frank Lang Will be
Tried Second Time
HOLD CONFESSION INVOLUNTARY
CONFESSION
INVOLUNTARY
Court Arraigns Police Officials of City of Kenosha and
Holds Lang's Confession Was Secured Under
Duress - Instructions Faulty

Jones received by Attorneys Buckmas-
ter and Hammond, who represented
Lang, the court says:
In considering whether on the morn
ing of September 28th there was vol
untary confession admissible in evil
dence we make full allowance for the
fact that the defendant was vitality in
terested in the result; that his story
was probably exaggerated; and that I'M
der the most favorable circumstances
he may not have been very reliable
witness. If his testimony had not been
corroborated by other trustworthy wit
nesses and by the physical facts we
might feel bound by the conclusion at
which the trial court and the jury ar
rived. But there was very convincing
evidence corroborating his testimony
that the confession was made under
duressl
Photos Showed Wounds.
Photographs of defendants body,
taken about two days after the night
when his statements were made, show
beyond question that he had received
very recent bodily injuries. No ex-
PLANTATION was given by the state for
this condition except that the injuries
might have been incurred by falling
from a window after one Of the burg
laries claimed to have been committed;
but this was pure speculation. Physi-
clans testified that the injuries were
of such a nature that they were prob
ably caused by blows and that it was
not probable that they were caused by
a fall. This testimony was practically
uncontradicted.
At the instance of the officers, in
order that "it might help him to
think defendant stood facing the wall
with his hands up for some time dur
ing the process of questioning. State
ments made by the officers to disinter-
ested witnesses were convincing that
violence was used, and some of the
officers even boosted of the disgraceful
means they had used to obtain the
confession.
Subjected to third Degree"
The defendant was taken from his
bed at eleven o'clock at night to the
police station, and the ordeal of ques-
tioning began. Although at times he
complained that he was thirsty and
faint, he was subjected to the "third
degree, inquisition until four o'clock
There was not the slightest evidence of
any resistance on his part at any time.
Even If there had been no personal
violence this treatment was an outrage
which cannot be too severely con-
demned. In numerous cases this
sweating" process, when prolonged
and so conducted as to cause distress
and mental anguish, has been held
sufficient proof that the confession was
involuntary.
After the defendant had been re-
duced to what was supposed to be a
sufficient state of submission, about
four o'clock in the morning one of the
officers charged him with shooting Pa
cini. The officer testified in part as
follows;
The Officers Statement.
II says, You might as we'll clear
your conscience now and tell the truth
He says, No, l didn't do that. Their
he began smiling sickly smile. He
says, No, l didn't do that SAYS.
Lang, if l amt looking at murderer
now never looked at one in nv life
and tears came into his eyes, and he
says, Yes, might as we'll tell the
truth; I shot Charley"
The testimony on this branch of the
case convinces US beyond doubt that
the statements of the defendant made
under these circumstances, and which
were relied on for his conviction. were
made under duress which amounted to
torture. The officers in charge of the
prisoner on that night did not seem to
realize that they were living in the
twentieth century. In order to secure
what they called confession they
adopted methods which might have
been approved in the seventeenth CEN
fury when, on confessions procured by
torture, persons were imprisoned and
executed as witches, and when in state
trials prisoners obnoxious to the rul-
ing monarchs or their servants were
condemned because, on the rack or
under the lash, they had confessed
Officers May Have Been Sincere.
The officers who secured the alleged
confession in this case may have been
sincere in their belief that the de-
PENDANT Killed Pacini and that the end
justified the means. But officers of the
law should understand that prisoners
in their custody, even suspected fell
Ions, have sacred rights which must be
respected, and one of these is freedom
from such violence as was inflicted in
this case. For more than century
and half such treatment of prisoners
has been condemned by the courts of
England and America, and there is no
better settled rule of law than that
confessions must be voluntary to be
admissible in evidence The rule and
the reason were well stated in an Eng
lish court in 1885 as follows:
Quotes English Law.
Confessions are received in evidence
or rejected as inadmissible, under a
consideration whether they are or are
not entitled to credit. A free and vol
untary confession is deserving of the
highest credit, because it is presumed
to flow from the strongest sense of
guilt, and therefore it is admitted as
proof of the crime to which it refers;
h.14 ,foseso, RorooI 49,. AZ 4