Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1924-06-12
M|STR|A[ ORDERED
IN NJ lowell CASE;
NEW TRIAL TUESDAY
One Man Reported to Have
Stood Firm Throughout
for Death Penalty

OF Frank Mcdowell, whose trial on
an Indictment charging him with the
murder of his mother began here in
Pinellas county circuit court Mon
-sAsss.
/ I3udge NJ A. McMullen ordered
the jury reported after having had
the case since late yesterday that
1t was hopelessly out of agreement.
Mcdowell was remanded to Jail to
await further action in the case.
Judge McMullen set Tuesday. July
II, for the second trial of the youth.
According to reports around the
courthouse following the jurors re-
port of disagreement, they stood at
first 10 to for acquittal on the
ground of insanity. In final effort
to reach an agreement, they voted
on the question of life Imprisonment,
out for the death penalty
The case was given to the jury at
4:45 O'Clock yesterday afternoon,
and after considering the evidence
until $3.50 p. M, the jurors reported
they were unable to reach an early
agreement, and were allowed to re-
tire for the night to take up the
matter again this morning.
The first word of the day from the
jury was a request for a transcript
of testimony offered by Dr. H. Ma
son Smith, alienist. Word was sent
back by Judge McMullen, however,
that the law would not permit him to
grant tSe request, and that they
must depend On their memories.
The verdict of disagreement re-
turned by the jury this morning
marked another chapter in a muir
der case without parallel in Ameri-
can criminal history, according to
Students of criminal cases. The 49,
year-old boy charged specifically
with the Staying of his mother as
she slept in her st. Petersburg home
On stormy night last February,
and whose confession was intro
duced as evidence, also confessed
that he had killed not only his
mother but shot his father at the
same time and that he had burned
20 death two sisters in February
1928, at Decatur, Ca
Battle Over Sanity
Throughout the trial plea of in
sanity was made by the defense
which devoted every effort in that
direction The state, on the other
hand. directed it's efforts toward
showing that Mcdowell was fully
capable of knowing the penalty of
the crime that he committed when
he fired the full contents of IL pistol
iaco the bodies of his mother ard
father as they slept size by side,
and that he had known right from
wrong when ne set fire to the bed
Occupied by his sisters and burned
them to death.
.rhe matter of determining whethr
er or not the youth was mentally ir-
responsible at the time of The kill
ings was placed squarely in tie
hands of the jury. The defense
placed on the witness stand DR.. H.
Mason Smith, who served seven
Years at the State Hospital for the
INSANE at Chattahoochee, three years
las q member of the staff of ply
A MHians, and four as superintendent
- OF the institution, and DR.. G.. Adolf
plus, formerly a member of the fac
ulty of an Atlanta medical school,
where he taught subjects pertaining
to mental diseases. Both of them tes-
titled emphatically that it was their
opinion that Mcdowell was suffering
from incurable insanity at the time
he killed his parents, and that to-
day he is in an even worse condition.
They both described the youth as a
hebephrenic type of dementia prae-
cox, and said persons who suffered
from this type of mental disease
were subject to progressive mental
deterioration.
Neither of the physicians thought
Mcdowell knew right from wrong at
the time he killed his parents.
1t was pointed out to the jury dur
ing their selection that insanity is
complete defense in murder cases.
Judge McMullen, who presided over
the trial. charged the jury, however,
that the state presumes a person
TO be sane under such circumstances
until it is proven beyond a reason
able doubt that the contrary is true.
1t was not to be presumed, the Judge
charged the jury, that person is to
be considered insane ma~ely because
of the fact that he has committed a
crime or because of the enornity of
the crime. He told the jurors that
they should exercise common sense
In reaching their decision, and should
they be unable to reconcile testi-
mony presented in the case, they
should give consideration only to
that which they readily could be-
lieve.
He stressed the different degrees
of homicide and penalties therefor.
Mcdowell Watches Jurors Faces
The jury retired with the words
of States Attorney E z. Wilson
ringing in their ears when he said,
IF you believe this Young man
knew what he was doing when he
sent his sleeping mother into eter-
nifty, it is your duty to send him to
the electric chair
Mcdowell. in tho courtroom when
the jurors filed into the rooms with
their hata in hand, watched intent
" their faces as they took their
seats. and relaxed as they reported
disagreement to the judge.
The indictment on which Nc
Dowell mas tried charged specifical-
~ the murder of his mother. He
also was under indictment for the
Staying If his father, who with Mrs.
Mcdowell, was shot to death as the
couple lay sleeping in their st.
Petersburg home on the night of
February 10, last,
The case was given 10 the jury