The St. Joseph observer., 1922-12-30
MUST BE FREE FROM ALL
OUTSIDE INFLUENCES


Continued from Page one)
ecuting attorney must play politics,
unless he is blind to his own interests.
I realize that much OF the criticism
that has resulted while I have been
prosecuting attorney has been due to
this very fact refused at all times
to allow any criminal prosecution to
be handled or affected in any manner
on account OF political matters grow
ing out of the circumstances. am
proud that l did this because I
think IT is raising the standard
of the prosecuting attorney of
this county to a place that It has not
heretofore lately held. The prosecut-
ing attorney must, to secure a con-
viction, depend upon the assistance of
the clerk of the circuit court, the
sheriff of the county and the judge
of the circuit court.
Elected by political Parties
At this time each Of these officers
are elected by political parties. 1t is
natural that these officers should
play politics to sustain themselves In
that office. If they do not, great
masses Of the people do not under
stand their attitude in holding office.
Admitting that you have these off
| GERS free from all influence, that they
handle all OF their duties without any
attempt to affect a prosecution, yet,
| the prosecuting attorney may be af-
fected by several things that the aver
age man has never considered.
The selection of jury in our coun-
ty is taken from the body OF the
county. No man, on account of his
| likes or dislikes about a particular
law, is declared to be ineligible to sit
on a jury on account of that fact He
may believe that a particular law is
contrary to right, and yet he is quail
| fled to be one Of tho jurors to be Sc
lected in a case. OF course, the man
who has such opinions against a law
oft times conceals them.
When a jury is selected out OF the
jury wheel as the law requires, the
sheriff is required to serve the par
| ticular men that have been selected
by chance out OF the jury wheel. 1t
is easy for the sheriff to fail to serve
certain number of men and in this
way the standard of the jury is low
cred for that particular week. Then.
after that is done, these jurors that
are served present excuses to the
judge OF the court, qualifying the
Jurors. As a rule, the busy men Of
Jurors. They are men who believe in
the enforcement Of law. who would
be the leaders on a jury, and yet
| times without number, these men
| have been excused from juries, some
excuses sometimes very trivial indeed.
The result has been that the leader on
that particular jury was lacking, and
jury without some man Of standing
and influence to guide and control II
is liable to render an unexpected YER
| dict in case.
Defendant Has the Advantage
But when it comes to selecting a
! jury I'm a case, under our law we are
so careful that the prosecuting attor-
ney won't have any advantage that we
allow the defendant twice as many
| challenges as the state has. In an
| offense where it is punishable with
! death or imprisonment in the poni-
tentiary, not less than life, the defen-
dant has twenty challenges while the
state has eight. If the offense is
punishable by Imprisonment not less
than a number Of years and no limit
to the duration OF such imprisonment,
tho defendant has twelve and the
cases the defendant has eight chal-
lenges and the state four. If you
would see the result Of this law in
! operation come and sit in the jury
| room, near the examination OF Jurors
and see the defendant strike off the
ablest, the best, the strongest minded
men who believe in law enforcement,
from the jury, the state only having a
chance to strike off a few men who
are affected by some outside influ-
ence, which always appears In every
case. then YOU win understand that
the jury selected is not the result OF
twelve fair minded men selected from
the body of the county but consists
OF men often prejudiced against the
state, and who would refuse TO re-
turn a verdict, or il they returned
one at all. would render a verdict of
the least possible punishment.
No voice Was Raised
The record of our criminal court,
not only since have been prosecuting
attorney but for a great number of