Evening star., 1932-01-12
PUBLIC DUE TO GET
REPORT ON MOONEY
Cutting Plans to Have lnfor-
nation Given Wickersham
Commission Printed.

Senator Cutting Of New Mexico Is
contemplating a move to have printed
for public information the experts re-
port to the Wickersham Commission on
the Mooney Billings case.
Authorization to make the report a
public document might be asked in the
Senate, he indicated, as the next move
following its receipt last week after be-
ing formally requested from the Presl-
dent
Prepared by three experts for the
Wickersham Commission, but never &C
cepted by that body, the report con-
tanned a series of conclusions charg-
ing gross violations" of California law
by police and prosecution in the case
of Warren K. Billings and Thomas j.
Mooney, convicted of the 1916 Pre-
paredness day bombing in San Fran
cisco.
It also included letter from the
judge who presided at the Mooney trial,
saying he had become convinced that
the conviction of Mooney is a gross
miscarriage of justice" The recon-
mendation was addressed by Judge
Francis A. Griffin of San Francisco to
William S. Kenyon of the Wickersham
Commission last March %.
Placed In Record.
This letter was placed in the Con-
greSsional Record today by Senator
Costigan, Democrat, Colorado, who,
with Cutting, Republican, and Sem
ator Walsh Democrat. Montana, spon-
sored the resolution under which the
previously unpublished report was call
ed for
Later, Cutting said this letter "would
seem In itself to be decisive as to what
action should now be taken" He said
he believed, In the light of the letter,
the California Governor should pardon
them.
He expressed the view that for the
release of Mooney and Billings would
be unWise. He said he believed such
action might be resented by the State
and react against the possibility Of
early release.
Chairman Norris, Nebraska, of the
Judiciary Committee, to which the doc
ument was referred, said he was at a
loss to know what to do with it.
There is not horn of the dilemma
which we can take hold off, he said,
explaining that in his opinion the COM
mittee had no power either to seek
release of the two men or to pass laws
designed to present similar cases in the
future, since they were tried in State
courts.
Early Consideration Expected.
Norris expects to have the committee
consider the report at an early meeting.
The loan copy sent to the Senate by
Attorney General Mitchell has been
much in demand. Senator Norris ex-
pressed the view there would be con-
siderable opposition to any attempt to
have 1t printed as public document on
the ground of lack of jurisdiction and
the expense involved.
Among the statements Of the three
experts-zechariah Chaffe, jr.; Walter
H. Pollak and Carl S. Stern-is the
conclusion that the conduct of the
prosecution toward the defendant was
plainly unfair"
whether the unnecessary depriva-
tion of their liberty was the result of
malice or whether it was due to an
irrational conviction of their guilt
which even the verdicts of two juries
could not overcome" the report said,
sit was deprivation that has no proper
place IN the humane administration of
the criminal law"
False Testimony Charged.
A letter from Judge Griffin said it is
nov conceded by all that three of the
four witnesses who testified to MONEYS
participation in the crime testified
An analysis of the testimony
of the fourth, the judge said in his
letter, clearly demonstrates its falsity."
mot only did these four witnesses
perjure themselves" the letter said, but
the disclosures since MONEYS trial
point almost conclusively to the fact
that they were produced as witnesses
with knowledge that their testimony
was false"