New Britain herald., 1929-08-06
PAVING THE WAY FOR LEGAL
 ELOQUENCE

ELOQUENCE
 The defense in the Shook trial at l Columbus, Ohio, has waived it's pro- | test on the admission of the confes- sion Dr. Shook made in the murder 1 of Theora Hix. After a court battle yesterday, in which the reterin- arian's attorneys claimed that the confession, together with virtual ad- missions of the crime to newspaper men, were obtained under duress, l the defense decided to back down i and allow the state 10 present the confession as testimony. without ob- jection.
 The action mystifies the student of criminal procedure. at first glimpse because Shocks confession is cer- tainly damning. If it goes into evil dence it is difficult to understand how any jury made up of intelligent 
 men and women can acquit the pro- lessor. Shocks attorneys. incidental ly, are far from beginners in the art of presenting a strong case. There fore their action is all the more un- expected. The only theories, it fol- lows, left to the distant observer are that the defense hopes to build up it's highly touted narcotic plea or use its turnabout action to good advantage in summing up.
 The jury was excused while the argument over the admission of the confession was going on, as is usual in hearing the merits of admitting , disputed evidence. Now the confess sion is to go before the jury. A clever lawyer, by inference, at least, can accomplish much in this situa- ton.
 Given the Shook trial situation, it l is possible to see quite clearly what the defense attorneys are driving at. To begin with they certainly are not , deceiving themselves on one point | and that is that every member Of the Shook jury knew ahead of time that confession had been obtained from the professor. The case has been so widely reported in news papers that it is practically impos- slble to find 12 men and women who have not at least heard of the essential details. Suppose, then, that the defense had succeeded in barring the nfesson-what effect would if have had anyway, since the jurors knew it existed?
 It is to be presumed that the ex lstence of the confession, even though it was not produced in court would have some sway with the jury, Jurors are ordinary human beings. The ordinary human being, knowing Of the confession, would have if in mind in considering the evidence Perhaps, then, it was advisable to stage just the court gesture that Snook's attorney did yesterday.
 Now the lawyers can use the ad. mission of the testimony with tellinf effect. They have little to lose anG everything to gain when 1t is read te the court. They can pick it apart anC exhibit it before exports as the ray. | ings of drug addict. They can in. sinuate that it was obtained by fore, and they can certainly get admis sions from the prosecution witnesses on cross examination, that Dr, SnooI was examined for r hours withou rest and that the prosecutor slapped his face three times during the grill ing. All of these things are facts, no denied by the prosecution.
 Last but not least they can twis the battle over the admission of th confession-a fight made in the ab sence of the jury-in truly admir- able legal style. It will take a cleve lawyer 10 make capital out of tn confession, but Shook has cleve lawyers. One of the cleverest move thus far is what they have don concerning the confession. They ma not Win out but their chances ar better than they would have been they had fought temporarily win ming battle and excluded all mentio, of the confession.