Evening star., 1922-02-11
DELAY Upon DELAY
|NDRY[:AIW TRIALS
Lack Of Judges and Other
Causes Show Need of
Separate Court.


the District Police Court, and time
intervening between arrests and the
fnal disposition OF cases dealing with
violation Of the volstead act length.
ems into months and months and in
some instances into years. Convic.
tions BY turtee are infrequent, on the
average. due. 1t 10 believed, to the
ginning Of the trial.
The long delays daily experienced in
the handling Of these cases. which tie
up the other business Of the court.
have emphasized. the need OF q sepa-
rate, court to hear these cases. Of
ficials say, as was shown necessary
in the tradic cases.
Judges on the bench are Of like
opinion, but decline to speak for pub
1ifnti9n; Lice, .n1n The tn, s., fear that some one
Ing to tighten the eir own burdens
seems to prevail
From 1890 o'clock Thursday morning
| to o'clock in the evening, with half
an hour on for lunch, two cases were
colored. for selling liquor, the YER
| dict was returned by the jury as
guilty. but sentence by Judge Nc
Mahon was delayed until next Wed.
nesday. In the other against James
=. Dixon. colored, the verdict brought
in was for acquittal. Both these
| cases were recent violations.
Several Sentenced or Fined.
til lis O'Clock in the afternoon, ana sen
| tences were imposed by, Judge Hardi-
| son for cases tried many months be-
fore, one q year ago, another last
| summer. Caesar de Caesar was fined
$50 for unlawful possession. and
months for selling and fined $500 for
transport ting; John Smith, six months
| for selling; and Walter Wade Davis
two months and $500 for making
handbook.
Attorney for the last three asked for
motion Tor new trial and writ Of
error by the Court Of Appeals. The
| three men were released on bonds,
Archie Brown, charged with violation
OF the ~Volstead act, forfeited $500 by
ais non-appearance.
Delays In the trying Of cases are
caused In this manner: when ART ar
ralgned the plea of not guilty is entered
ana jury trial demanded The case
Is set Tor some future date. often weeks
on, SO 'he government can investigate
Th ano az the witnesses be summoned.
Ihen at the time set the case again is
postponed for the reason that some of
the witnesses are absent or the de-
| fendant is Ill, or perhaps tne chemist
cannot appear
The case is set again. and maybe
Il
| the bench in the lower court, or per
haps is on vacation. A new Judge
| is on the bench and doesn't know
anything about tie case. The case Ia
again postponed until the former
!uose comes back. Then. as often is
trial is withdrawn. sand a plea Of
! guilty entered. The case then comes
up. II not experiencing new delays.
| ana the sentence Is imposed. A
motion for new trial is made and
sentence is postponed.
| are not exceptions, but almost Gus
TOM. Recently Assistant United
States Attorney Heffernan recon-
mended having the defendants when
possible plead guilty and ask for a
disposed Of soon. He stated that it
| was almost impossible to get convic-
tions by juries
The reason that q comparatiyefy
| small number of convictions are re-
| the jury. In recent interview. and
| former talks with members of the
Jury, 1t was disclosed that the ma
| 1ority OF 5urymen based their decision
on the credibility of the witnesses.
| especially the law enforcement off,
| GERS. IT." 1t was disclosed. ''the
statement Of q policeman or internal
| revenue agent indicates a frame-up
in the slightest degree. or unusual
tactics in getting information leading
law, we will not convict"
The case of Edward Hooks, col
ored. charged with unlawful posses
sion. transporting and selling, was
| afternoon. The case was continued
until today because one Of the in
ternal revenue officers was absent.
Today Hooks entered a plea Of not
guilty. and stated that the case was
a Sframe up" According Is his testi-
him to procure some whisky. which
he refused to- do. Later. he stated.
he was arrested and told he had sold
some whisky, and that II he admitted
The case was again continued. this
time to Monday. for the purpose OF
hearing the testimony OF some OF his
friends who were with him at the
time Of the alleged transaction. and
had not been summoned to appear.
! Clarence Burroughs was brought
before Judge Mcmahon few min
utes later, charged with transporting
| twenty-four half gallons of whisky.
He entered plea Of not guilty and
| this trial or the time it is sup
| posed to come up. will be posted
| later.
Summing up the whole situation.
one official declared. affairs at Police
Court are in bad shape. One official
| has declared that unless something
is done to prevent the unnecessary
| delays he will ask to be transferred
! to some other line OF duty.
/ 1t Is stated that there is at pres
ent a bill before Congress to give the
Judges Of the Court of Claims power
to try federal cases, including viola
tions of the volstead act. This is. in
| the mind Of certain officials. one way
to remedy Police Court conditions
There is no doubt in the minds of
any of the officials. or those in regu-
lar attendance in the Police Court.
that, with few exceptions, averag-
ing probably one in fifty. all the men
brought into court for violating the
prohibition laws are really vioiators.