The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1924-02-16
HIGHEST COURT
SAYSEVIDENCE
IS SUFFICIENT
Must Continue to Serve Life
Term in Penitentiary For
Murder of Marie Wick
COURT is DIVIDED
Justice Nuessle Unable to
Concur with Majority -
Trial Court Is Upheld

William GUNNER, youthful Fargo
hotel clerk, must continue to serve
life sentence in the state peniten-
tiary for the murder of Marie Wick,
ls-ycar- old Grygla, Minnesota girl,
fer which crime he was found guilty
by jury at Valley City.
The supreme court today, in
composite opinion delivered by the
court, with Justice w. L. Nuessle, un-
able to concur with the majority in
full, affirmed the conviction. The
supreme court found that the trial
court, Judge c. NJ. Cooley, did not
commit errors in admitting evidence
at Gummers trial which would JUS
tify a reversal of the conviction and
a new trial.
The opinion of the court, filed at
10 a. m. today, contains a lengthy re-
view of the case. The members of
the supreme court have closely stu
died the GUNNER case over a period
of several months, it standing out as
one of the most important criminal
cases before the court. Justices par
ticipating in the decision were Chief
Justice H. A. Bronson, A. NJ. Chris.
tianson, L. f. Birdzell, w. l.. Nues-
sic and District Judge A. G. Burr,
Justice Svenbjorn Johnson having
| been disqualified because he was at
torney-general at the time GUNNER
was tried.
! What Court Found
| The court, in brief found, that:
The evidence in the case, which
| was circumstantial, was sufficient to
support the verdict of guilty and
to exclude every reasonable hypo-
thesis of innocence.
The trial court did not err in re-
ceiving certain evidence offered by
the state tending to establish the
close and intimate friendship and
association between the defendant
GUNNER and his roommate, Andy
Brown.
| The court did not err in restrict
! ing the cross-eXamination by defense
attorneys, attempting to show that
Brown did not write a fictitious name
upon the hotel register in Fargo the
night of the murder, to the subject
| matter of the direct examination.
The court did not err in limiting
the cross-examination of the states
attorney who had testified concern
ing certain admissions made by the
defendant.
The state made proof Of all the cir
cumstances attending the commission
Of the crime in question and if it is
necessary to show an immoral course
| Of h1y hn lnrn
ant, the facts are admissible.
Where the authorship of q certain
writing was at issue--the handwrit-
ing on the hotel register the night
of the murder of what the state
termed fictitious CUES" THE
party attempting to prove it to be the
handwriting of an individual could
introduce specimens of the hand
writing of such persons for the pur-
poses of comparison.
Murdered in 1921
Marie Wick was murdered in
hotel in Fargo in June, 1921, her body
being found tied to the bed the morn
ing of June Z. She had been attack
ed and brutally beaten. GUNNER,
night clerk of the hotel, was accused
of the crime. At that time he was
% years Of age, his home being in
Mayville. He was tried at Valley
City, convicted and sentenced to life
Imprisonment. When he entered
prison he protested his innocence.
The decision of the majority of the
court was voluminous, and exhaus-
lively reviewed the history of the
| <ho IL
Judge Nuessle Dissents
Justice Nuessle, said: Il am un-
able to concur in the opinion of the
majority of the court in this case.
My dissent is based upon and limited
to- those portions of the opinion
covered by paragraphs a, Z and of
the syllabus. l wholly agree with
the principles of law invoked in dis
posing of the matters therein dealt
with, but l disagree in the applica-
tion of those principles to the facts
in the case. l think that the evil
dence objected to was improperly ad-
mitted; that it's admission cannot be
justified by any logical application
of those rules of evidence which the
majority opinion recognizes and seeks
to apply. The evidence complained of
was prejudicial in the extreme, and
the judgment should be reversed and
a new trial ordered"
Brutal Crime
The killing Of Marie Wick was one
of the most brutal crimes in the his
tory of the Northwest. From the
time of the discovery of the body
until the conviction Of GUNNER IN
tense interest was manifested in the
case. 1t was several months after
Gummer's conviction, but still with
in the time limit fixed by law, that
, The appealed the case to the supreme
: court.
r The defense asked the court to
!. overturn the verdict on tho ground
that prejudicial errors had been COM
$ mitted during the trial. The objsc-
Y tons Of the defense were summed M
(Continued on page 81