The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1930-03-20
JUDGE ADMITS IT.
is CLASS c ASE.
Question Of jury Trial
Is Political Matter

Continued from Page One)
breaks all over the world. The case
has serious aspects. I think (speak-
ing to Unger) that you are playing
into the hands of these people.
They want to say that they did not
have fair trial. The case must be
handled with extreme care. You
must prove that there is no vim
dictiveness. This consideration in
my mind has tendency to influence
me to grant the application (for
jury triaD. l am sure the news
papers will have a lot to say about
it,"
Then Unger Spills Beans.
Unger nearly collapsed and be-
came more than usually careless in
what he gave away.
81 disagree, your honor" he said,
"We can't keep the newspapers from
saying things about this, entirely,
unfortunately. These people want
publicity, but they get more pub
licity from a jury trial than from
the trial before three judges, which
is quick, effective, and our conten-
ton is that this case should be
treated as any other misdemeanor
case, case suitable for trial in
special sessions, with jury, quickly
disposed of.
"Let me remind Your Honor of
the case of Mae West, which is get
ting a jury trial, and results in
very much publicity"
"There is much in what you say"
said Ford, and then ordered Unger
to submit a memorandum on the
case, at a p. m. tomorrow, after
which he promises to quickly decide
the question of a jury trial.
Class Against Class.
The attitude and the remarks of
judge and prosecutor indicated
clearly enough the basis of the de-
cision to be made. The mere fact,
ably presented by defense attorneys,
before Judge Ford posed the real
question, that the prosecution is
making a trivial case of "parading
without a permit" into a serious
case of unlawful assembly," the
fact that the curious New York law
provides heavier penalty for an
attempt to parade than it does for
an actual parade; the fact that the
statutes provide that when a case
involves a difficult point of law, or
set of facts which are disputed
and require many witnesses to clar-
ify, or case that sets precedent
(all Of which conditions prevail in
this case) it should go to a jury
trial-all of this is practically dis
regarded by the bosses court. The
real question to decide from their
point of view is simply: do the
workers learn more of the rotten
ness of boss government, its judi
cial hypocrisy and the nature of the
courts, if a jury trial is granted, or
if three staunch Tammany judges
"quickly and expediently" railroad
the delegates of the unemployed to
term in prison?
By Play.
Unger resorted to bit of flat
terry in calling the attention of the
judge to a case involving an alleged
immoral play (Ford is death on
what he chooses to call immoral
plays) in which Ford himself re-
fused plea to change from spe-
cial sessions to general sessions,
and was praised for his decision by
the N. Y. Law Journal. Unger
didn't think of this himself; work.
ers in the audience overheard a
legal shark who accompanied Unger
to court telling him this before the
case started. Hell like to hear
that" said Unger's coach.
On the other hand, the defense
was able to point to a case, the
purely legal aspects Of which were
the same as the case of Foster,
Amter, Minor, Reynolds and Lesten,
in which the present district attor-
"sv. Grain, then Judge, decided in