The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1923-05-11

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more Important, ms ! see II, TO
protect human life and human
liberty. That is the dearest E
thing of all. as I see 1T; that
comes first. The liberty of the
press cannot come MP to hui
man liberty. in my opinion. In
ease like Ycrby's. if he is
guilty as charged, the penalty
may he death. as j told you.
And then TO let any sort of out
side influence from news
paper or from any other source
prejudice the jury so that he
cannot get n fair trial. So far
ms it is UP to me any defend
ant is going to get n fair trial
IL can possibly give ii to him
under the law. And If he is
had man, or appears to be n
bad man. greater effort ought
to he made by the court to see
that he gets fair trial. How
nre you going to know whether
&c is guilty or not If you don't
give him a fair triaIt If you
try him by n prciudiced jury,
or If, from any other means, he
Is convicted unfairly, how are
you ever going to know he is
guilty. Now, he Is charged in
one ease here, to which refer
ence was made in this publfca-
ton. with joining a band OF
men and going out and taking
Doctor Bowling to the woods
and whipping him, giving him
n fiOgging-in other word a
mob TINT he Is accused of help
ing constitute. Is the net of
court any worse. If it is I'M
fnir, If trial and conviction
and execution he had in a court
unfairly-is there any differ
rncc or is that any better than
the work of the mob that takes
it's victim out and strings bin
up on the roadside to the limb
of a trecs
The whole question, gentle
men, resolves itself down to the
court seeing that every de-
PENDANT charged with crime
gets n fair trial; and 1T neces-
Sarily implies that the courts
have authority to prevent the
newspapers from publishing
articles that may influence the
jury SO that they could not do
their duty and give Il defendant
fair and impartial trial. 1t il
question of whether the
courts are supreme or whether
the newspapers are supreme;
and L hold that 1t il great
deal moro important to admin
lister the law here fairly than
1t is to try to regulate the
press. Nobody wants to try to
restrain the press when they
nre doing right, but when they
go wrong they are under the
In in rrl
other citizen.
IL these gentlemen would
show the proper spirit 1 am not
disposed to punish them, but
when they say they have done
nothing more than they have
got n right to do, and then give
no assurance but what they
Will do it again in the future,
ms 1 mentioned awhile ago,
when this case comes up again
for trial they are liable to have
"A worse piece in the paper
about Verify than before. And
how arc you ever going to give
VERIFY fair trial. And the
next thing we know his attOr-
neys will he making motion
for n change of venue to an
other county because he cannot
county. Are the courts pow
Rerless to restrain newspapers
when they are oducinG such
an effect. or might produce
smch an effect: Now, If these
gentlemen will say and admit
that the courts arc supreme
here. and TINT the courts have
notified them not 10 publish
those sort of articles that are
prejudiciai 10 a defendant he
fore the trial, and go further
md say that they won't do 1t
any more, then l am willing to
let them walk out without any
punishment whatever. The
mere fact that they snid they
didn't intend anything Is Insult
ficient. II is my duty as judge
pf the circuit court of this
county to do what ! believe
under the law is right in ad-
ministcring justice in this
court. Judge Fort has held
with me; we each thought that
they had done things that were
preiudicial TO the rights Of
VERIFY. He passed this case
one time on account of n pub
LEGATION that he though was
prejudicial to the defendant
VERIFY. l don't know VERIFY.
never have seen VERIFY, but ono
time. and that is when he was
here the other day, but 1 know
that he has charges against
him of such serious nature
that IT is n very vitn1, or of
vital interest 10 him to have a
fair trial; and the state don't
want to punish an innocent
man. The state wants to give
him an opportunity to show
that he is innocent, If he Ii In
uOcent.
AS 1 started to say, 1 don't
feel like, don't want to, and II
put any punishment on these
gentlemen It will he done re-
gretfully hut firmly for the
purpose of uphOldlng the SUI
prcmncy of the law here, and
to notify every newspaper and
every individual that it cannot,
or he cannot, Obstruct the ad-
mfnfstFatiOn of Justice by any
means. whether it he by the
publication of newspaper or
otherwise. And now If these
gentlemen will assure me that
they will not do things Of this
kind In the future, before
case has been tried-it Is all
right to publish the news Of
the trial when the case Is in
progress. That's all right. but
don't go and do some thing
that would prejudice mans
rights to y fair trial when he
TX charged with serious
crime. Any fair-mindcd man
knows that a thing Of that kind
ought not to be done, and 1t
could not have been for the
benefit Of the people, the public.
generally. They had already
published those things about
VERIFY, and they could not pub
fish anything and get it to
Jury, or where 1t might get to
Jury. any more so than you
could tell il to them after they
went in the box to try a par
ticular ease. No ease on trial
should he influenced or prcju-
diced by outside matters not
pertaining To that particular
casc. Any lawyer knows that.
and any lnyman knows 1t. We
don't try cases in this country
like they say they do In France
just lug in everything about
man. We try them according
10 the rules of law here. and 1
nm trying to follow the rules
If the supreme court of Ala
I'm mn eSueciaIIy in irving cnSex