The Winslow mail., 1923-02-23
JUDGE BLFDSOE'S INSTRUCTIONS
TO FEDERAL JURY IN TRIAL


referred ito is, and is to be considered
as, mere charge or accusation
against these defendants. 1t is one of
the means required by the law to be
employed in order that the defendant
may be brought before the bar of the
court for trial, and not being eviden-
ce and being merely one of the pieces
OF machinery required by the law to
be presented here, it is for that rea-
son no prejudice, and no juror should
permit himself to be on any account
influenced by or prejudiced against
the defendants because of the fact
that an indictment has been filed
against them. The question is, Have
they done the things charged against
them herein?
1t is the duty of the jury to decide
whether the defendants be guilty or
not guilty of the offense charged, con-
SIdering all of the evidence submitted
to you in the case. 1t is not for you
to consider the penalty prescribed
for the punishment of the offense at
all, and if you gentlemen or any of
you are aware of the penalty pre-
scribed by law it is your duty to dis
regard that knowledge. In other
words, your sole duty is to say wheth-
er or not the defendants or any of
them are guilty of the things charg-
ed, and then under the law if you
say that any of them are guilty, it
becomes the duty of the Court to pro-
n0unce judgment upon those whom
you find guilty as will be commen-
Surate with the requirements OF the
law; and l think, with no impropriety
| may suggest to you that you may
find in good faith to rely upon the
wise judgment and discretion Of the
Court being exercised in that behalf
in the event that you find any of the
defendants guilty. In other words,
you determine the question as to whe-
ther or not they have violated the law
and then the Court under its respon-
sibility and under it's oath OF office,
will say that punishment shall be in
flicted in order that the demands OF
the law may adequately be met.
You observe that we have here
eight defendants, all charged with
having conspired and confederated to-
gether to violate the laws OF the Unit
ed States. 1t goes without saying, OF
course, that, though all the eight Diff
ferent defendants are charged Jointly,
yet the guilt or innocence of each de-
PENDANTS must be determined by the
Jury separately. Each defendant has
the same right as though he were
being tried alone; and by that self
same token the fact that you should
find one defendant guilty would be no
reason for finding another defendant
guilty, or if you should find one de-
fendant innocent that of itself would
be no reason finding another DEFEND
ant innocent Each tub stands on its
own bottom.
In the course of these instructions
frequently the words defendants"
and defendant" will for the sake OF
economy, be used, and unless some
particular defendant be named it will
be understood that each defendant is
thus specifically referred to, and
therfore, any instructions given re-
ferring to defendants" or defend
ant" generally will be understood and
considered by you as referring to each
defendant separately and individu-
ally
This case, gentlemen, like all cases
triable in a court of justice, should be
determined by the jury upon the evil
dence before it, and upon that alone,
subject to the rules of law laid down
for your guidance by the Court, and
no juror acting conscientiously can
base his verdict upon any othr con-
sideration. In this connection you
are instructed that jurors are impan-
eled for the purpose of agreeing upon
verdict if they can cOnscieniOuSly
do so. 1t is true that each juror must
decide the matter for himself; yet he
should do so only after considera-
tion with his fellow jurors, and he
should not hesitate to sacrifice his
views or opinions in the case when
convinced that they are erroneous
even though in so doing he defer to
the view or opinions of his fellow ju-
rOrs.
This case, as I have indicated to
you few moments ago, is one of con-
siderable Importance because of the
issues presented and the principles in
vOlved and the rights asserted. A
practically complete paralysis of in
terstate commerce and transcOntinen
tai traffic over the available railroads
in and about Needles was had because
of the cessation of work of the en-
ployes on that road at that place, or
some of them, and for which it is as
serted here in this case that these
defendants are responsible jointly or
severally, or both.
l feel that at the outset I should
call your attention again, as it was
called to your attention at the time
of your Impeachment, to the fact that
the question involved here is singly
and solely a question of whether or
not these defendants violated the cri-
minal law of the land in the respect
and behalf indicated and pointed out
in the indictment. That is the only
thing for which they are on trial here
at this time. The fact, as it is the
obvious fact, that suffering and in
convenience and delay were engen-
.dered these defendants and those act
ing in cooperation with them out here
on the desert among passengers and
with raCOppt IN trade and the trans