Evening star., 1925-11-03
MITCHELL GIVEN RIGHT TO CALL
LONG LIST OF WITNESSES ASKED
Court Recesses After Denying Motion to Dismiss Case
On Ground Prosecution Failed to Show Bad
Effect of ColoneIs Charges

Continued from First Page.)
benefit to military and naval services
ana to correct the maladminiStration
OF the national defense. The Govern
ment will contend that the mere pub
lcatlon without any result is suffi-
cient to sustain the charges, but it
mas offered no evidence to show mali
cious intent
Cites Public Acclaim.
No one will deny, counsel continued,
that the issuance of these statements
had the effect of correcting this NAL
administration or that the accused
has done the greatest service of any
one in the Government. The people
regard him as one of the greatest
patriots" in the history of the Gov
ernment. No one ever thought that
he issued the statement for the pur-
pose OF bringing diScredit on the mill
tary service" Yet the prosecutor asks
that you find on the face of the publ
cation this wicked intent"
Representative Reid then delivered
a laudation of Col. Mitchell, pointing
out that he had always followed the
orders of his superior officers. and has
done great service, as attested by the
many medals that he wears. He has
attacked no individuals and made no
charges against particular persons
He merely criticized the system.
Continuing, Mr.. Reid said that the
prosecution could have submitted
proof but that it was testified yester-
day directly that the publication of
the statement had had no i'll effects on
the military discipline in the area
Then, scanning the court, he said:
You are all generals. some of you
commanding corps areas. Not one of
YOU mas ever stated in your weekly
reports to the War Department that
good order or military discipline has
been etected i'll Your command by
the statements issued by the ac-
cuSed."
Representative Reid told the court
that the burden OF proof was on the
prosecution to establish the guilt of
The accused beyond a reasonable
doubt and cited the court martial
manual to bear him out. The prose-
cution has the burden of proving, by
relevant evidence that the offense
charged was really committed. he
SAID; that the accused committed it,
ana that he had the requisite crimi-
nal intent at the time
Stresses Intent"
He laid much stress on the word
intent and cited authorities to uphold
his contention that the publication
must be accompanied with some in
tent to do harm.
citing from an opinion by Justice
Holmes of the United States Supreme
Court, he quoted that distinguished
JurlStS definition of intent as fol-
lows:
When words are used exactly
deed Is not done with intent to pro
ouCe a consequence unless that conSe-
quence is the aim of the deed 1t may
be obvious to the actor that the conse-
quence will follow and he may be LA
Die for 1t even If he regrets it, but he
does not do the act with intent TO
produce it unless the aim to produce
II Is the proXlmate motive of the SDe-
enc act, although there may be some
deeper motive behind it"
This means only one thing as / in
terpret 1t, Representative Reid con
tlnued. and that is that a thing must
be done with intent to produce some
harmful result: in other words, that
the one doing the act intended to do
injury or damage to some one or some
thlng, or intended that the result
should be hurtful of and preiudicial to
good order and military discipline or
that 1t was intended to bring dis
credit upon the military service. But
1t has been amply demonstrated and
established over and over again. in
every conceivable way. that the intent
or the accused in this case in issuing
the statement was to benefit good or
der and discipline by correcting the
evils which are admittedly destroying
1t IN the Air Service and the Army
generally, and to correct the malad-
ministration of our national defense
so that credit may be restored to re
place the diScredit which those in
charge of its administration have
brought upon the military service. the
War Department and the Govern
ment"
Holds Intent Improved.
After pointing out that there is no
presumption of intent which is con
elusive that the defendant actually
intended what may appear to be the
natural. usual and necessary consc-
uences of uttering these words, Rep
resentative Reid continued:
Not one sCintilla of evidence has
the prosecution produced to prove
that they were made, uttered and pub
lished with any intent to bring dis
credit upon the military service or
prejudice good order or discipline. l
challenge the prosecution to point to
one word or line of evidence that it
has placed on the record to prove this
intent which is an absolute requisite
under the rules laid down in court
martial in order to support convic-
ton But the prosecution will. per-
haps, having failed utterly to prove
the essential element of intent, fall
back on the theory that the state
ments indicate an intent to bring dis
credit on the military service and to
prejudice good order and discipline.
How could any fair-minded. intelli-
gent American citizen, having the
welfare of his country at heart, con
tend for one minute, from reading
of the whole statement, and having in
mind the events which led up to their
issuance, they were issued with any
other intent whatever than the cor
recting Of the evil they denounced in
plain language, the arouSing of the con
science of the American people to stop
the wasteful extravaganza of Amer
lean money, the preventing of a con
tinuance of the loss of life and treas
ure through incompetence and NAL
administration of the national defense
and the Air Service, and certainly no
one can deny that If the issuance of
the statements could have these eff
fects their author would be rendering
his Government and his Army the
greatest service ever rendered them
in our history.
Malice Unthought.
prosecution comes here and asks
YOU to find that on their face, with
not one jot of evidence to support the
claim, they We're issued with this de-
two ND -yply