Imperial Valley press., 1929-07-10
Courts Ruling
FavOrs Gillett
Continued From Page u


ing would be applied should they
be caught and tried as has Sheriff
Gillett. The sheriff is the titular
and actual head of his department
and as such is responsible, regard
less of his detailing duties to Others,
for everything that occurs in his of
flee
the money and used 1t as it saw fit
and failed to account for same to
the proper authorities, then no one
can be blamed but the sheriff him
self.
"As an illustration, suppose the
county treasurer should come to me
and say l am going to take $4,000
which is in the vault and if you
say it is o k. IN give you $4,000.
Then if the county treasurer should
get caught and tried all the official
would have to say, under the ruling
made this morning, was that | told
her she could do it.
"The law, as | interpret it and
as is cited in number of cases,
holds that the public official that
uses public money for any other
purpose than that for which it is
intended, is criminally responsible.
Next Move Unknown
just what the next move of the
district attorney would be is not
known as Head refused to state.
However, it is expected he will con-
tinue to keep the auditor on the
stand to bring to the attention OF
the jury the various items contained
in the ll5 charges which show the
difference Of the money received
from various sources and the actual
expenditures.
Levinson was on the stand most OF
the morning reading from the rec
ords he had compiled from the data
of the sheriff's office. The last
30 minutes of the morning session
were devoted to reading the sum-
mary of the figures on each of the
counts in the first Indictment
charging misappropriation
The figures submitted by Levin
son showed that during the period
of five years covered by the indict-
ments the 3Sl $50 meals served
prisoners had an average cost OF
approximately "a cents each, the
total amount received, as stated by
the auditor being $50, 1886. This
was in feeding the federal prisoners.
The defense objected to Levinson
reading the figures even though
judges Finney had Indicated none
of the records would be allowed to
be passed on by the jury They
claimed the figures were conclusions,
irrevelant an not material They
were willing to have the jury know
! the total amounts but did not deem
it necessary that the summary be
read
Judge Finney ordered Levinson to
read the summary as fast as he
could and John Kepley, court re-
porter was kept busy following.
When overruled the defense stat
ed that if by reading the summary
it would help the trial to conclu-
sion they were willing it should be
read. The jurors looked like y
group of martyrs as they listened.
Prosecution Near End
The state is expected to finish
its case not later than tomorrow
night and the defense will then
place their witnesses on the stand.
Summed up the trial now stands,
according to competent court OBJ
servers, with the state deprived of
its best weapon, the records, and
with the knowledge that the judge =
instructions to the jury will be that
Gillett cannot be held criminally
responsible for acts of which he had
no knowledge
The defense contends that such is
the ease ard that although Gillett
received certain moneys during the
time set forth in the indictments
that he spent it in accordance with
the way that he believed Was right.
District Attorney Head stated un-
officially this morning that the
trial was not costing the taxpayers
as much money as many people
| thought. He pointed out that since
the county supervisors had taken
over the feeding of the prisoners
a great deal of money has been saw
ed the taxpayers and evened up all
around the trial would not be an
excessive added burden ON the peo-
| ple