Idaho County free press. [volume] (Grangeville, Idaho Territory) 1886-current, 1923-11-15

"The only discretion he has," con-
tinued the Occur d'Alene jurist, who
is in Grangeville holding district
court in the place of Judge Wallace
n. Scales, sis a judicial and not a
personal discretion, and the response
bility of inflicting a sentence that
takes human life is a sentence of the
law and not of the man."
Not Against Death Penalty
'Should it be taken, then, that you
are opposed to capital punishment"
the judge was asked.
mo, l am not, in a proper case"
was Judge McNaughton's reply, but
it is really surprising how many peo-
pie are"
Judge McNaughton explained that
it would be extremely discomforting
for judge to face a man and as
much as tell him he was going to take
an ak and knock him in the head.
But it is purely the judicial phase
which a court must consider in pas
sing the death penalty, Judge Nc
Naughton declared, on the part of a
public servant carrying out the pro-
visions of the law. One is not actu-
ated by passions such as characterize
lynching mob, but is afforded plenty
of time in which to cody deliberate
over the gravity of taking human life,
weighing the evidence, and calculating
the effect which passing of the death
sentence, or failure to pass the death
sentence, will have upon society.
It's No Easy Task
at is a difficult proposition to pro-
nottnna fba 1aafh cpnfanpQ i'm auV
case" resumed Judge McNaughton,
ito look a man squarely in the eye and
tell him he must die. But the court
naturally looks upon it as the per-
Torrance of legal duty. No matter
what his personal opinion may be, he
feels it his duty to pronounce the SEN
tence imposed by law and required by
the public welfare
"0ne feels the deepest remOrse
and is not actuated by revenge
at all, because there is nothing
to arouse passion. 1t is just a
question of the proper sentence to
pronounce: First, to prevent the
recurrence of such a crime from
the defendant, and secondly,
sentence which will have deter
rent effect on others, and the law
does not contemplate it will be
pronounced i'm a case where there
is reason to believe the defendant
might reform"
Judge McNaughtOn sentenced Arnold,
alias Robert Ford, notorious GRIMM
al, with prison records in Kentucky
and Washington, and a convicted
murderer in Washington, to die on
Of ho cfa rNricnn Rnicn
on November /, for the murder of
John Crist, a storekeeper, at Hope, in
Bonner county, early in the summer.
Mike Donald, another negro, and
of Arnold, who took part
in the robbery of the store, and who
was an accomplice but not directly re-
spOnsible for the murder, was sentenc-
ed by Judge McNaughtOn to life i'm
prisonment in the penitentiary.
Negro Pleads Guilty
Arnold pleaded guilty guilty to MUIR
der in the first degree. After being
warned by Judge McNaughton that the
death penalty might be imposed by the
court. and after being given an OPP
portunity 10 change his plea and stand
trial before a jury, the negro evinced
willingness to ''take his medicine"
and was told he must hang. Before
the man, however, Judge
required the state to put
IN all its evidence in the case.
Arnold was taken to the state peni-
-entiary and was confined in the death
ell. but an appeal to the supreme
.ourt was perfected, and he was
granted reprieve by Gov. G. G.
Moore, pending outcome of the appeal,
which was taken on the ground that
Arnold did not receive a fair trial,
n that he was wrongly advised by
lis counsel to plead guilty to murder
/ the first degree.