The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1934-10-31
Court Records Reoea ChamIee LeibOuUtz Charges As Lies
Southerner Praised LID and Denounced Criminal Attorney

I DO not charge him with neglect.
1t is my firm opinion now, that
he, as we'll as all of the other
attorneys in the case, had a perfect
right to rely upon the judges in
structions; do not condemn him
for the telegram which is quoted
above and do not blaine him for
what took place in that court upon
the date of the argument of the
motion for a new trial. I do We
hemently condemn and criticize
both the judge and the attorney
general, who raised miserable legal
bubbles and technicalities of their
own making for the purpose of de-
feating Haywood Patterson's eff
forts to take a proper appeal.
And likewise condemn in no I'M
measured terms the efforts of
Messrs. Chanlee and Leibowitz to
make it appear that the I. L. D..
or Mr.. Fraenkel or myself were
negligent in filing the motion on
Dec. 90, 1898, which, as is now
clear, was the date fixed by the
Honorable George w. Chamlee, ST..
himself,
Now as to the second step neces-
sary to perfect the appeals, namely
the filing of the bill Of exceptions.
Under Alabama law bill of ex-
ceptions, which in effect constitutes
the transcript Of all of the pro-
ceedings at the trial, must be filed
either ninety days after the denial
of the motion for new trial or
ninety days from the date Of entry
of judgment.
Common sense would seem to
dictate that Judge Callahan hav-
ing struck out the motion for
new trial on Feb. "a, which in eff
feet was denial thereof, give us
ninety days therefrom within
which to file our bill of exceptions
But we had just had a bitter test
of Alabama legal hair-splitting. and
so Mr.. Fraenkel decided that he
would not wait for ninety DAYS
from Feb. "a, but that he would file
his bill of exceptions within ninety
days from the date of entry of
judgment.
There was some discussion at the
time between Mr.. Chamlee and Mr..
Fraenkel as to whether the ninety
days ran from the date of convic-
ton or from the date of sentence,
which was rendered on Dec. s. Mr..
F'rsenkel gives it as his opinion
that neither event was controlling.
but that the controlling event was
the entry of judgment in the docket.
Both Mr.. Fraenkel and Mr..
Chan1lee, who we're in Decatur, at
the time that the motion for a new
trial was so summarily and cruelty
disposed Of by Judge Callahan, ex-
amined the clerks minutes in De-
catur and came to the conclusion
that judgment had been entered on
Dec. 6. Their opinion in this re-
spect was corroborated by the writ
ten motion of Attorney General
Knight himself, who, in moving to
strike the motion for new trial.
had set forth that this court no
longer has Jurisdiction, power or
authority over the Judgment rem
dered in this cause on the 9th day
Of December, 1888"
In other words, the court docket
showed conclusively that Judge Cal
lahan had in his own handwriting
entered Judgment on Dec. 6, 1888;
the Attorney General had set for. Ii
in his motion papers that Judgment
in the case of Haywood Patterson
had been entered Dec. 6. 1888.
And it is my Judgment and opin-
ion now, as 1t was then, that both
Mr.. Chamlee and Mr.. Fraenkel
we're correct in concluding that
since Dec, was the date of entry
Of judgment, March 6, 1884, was the
last day upon which the bill of ex-
ceptions could be filed.
This meant that whereas defense
counsel had expected to have three
months from Feb. 24-assuming that
the motion for a new trial would
be dismissed on that dsy-within
which to prepare a bill Of excep-
tions, this allowed only ten days
within which so to do; this In
volved a task of the first magni-
tude, since it meant turning into
narrative form over one thousand
pages of testimony. Mr.. F'raenkel
commenced this job the moment he
stepped on the train in Decatur on
Saturday afternoon. Feb. "a, 1894
and continued working all of that
night until his arrival in New York.
In the meantime, he arranged by
telephone to have other attorneys
here in New York work on other
portions of the record. Monday
morning, Feb. 26, most of the ma
terial was placed in the printers