Evening star., 1935-05-03

OF oelay IN Cne prosecution Oh CrHn-
inals.
Statement of Mrs. Harvey w. Wiley
(Par. 4; p. 2D.
Mrs. Wiley asserts that there should
be a woman prosecuting attorney to
"do the work in the Domestic Rela-
tions Court" BY this assume she
means that there should be a woman
assistant district attorney handling
non-support cases. In non-support
cases the Supreme Court of the Dis
trict of Col .bia, where the prose-
cutting official is the United States
attorney, has concurrent jurisdiction
prosecuting official is the corporation
counsel. Under the practice for long
time prevailing, only those cases
where the defendant is a fugitive
from the District of Columbia are ham
died by the district attorneys Office.
Therefore. the great bulk of the cases.
comparatively speaking, in which Mrs.
Wiley is interested. are not handled
by the district attorneys Office, but by
the corporation counsel's Office. Where
the defendant is fugitive from the
District of Columbia, the district at
torney handles the non-support cases,
because the Supreme Court of the Dis
trict is the only court which can re-
move defendants from points outside
of the District of Columbia.
The district attorney has had no
complaint about the method in which
the limited number of non-support
cases handled by this Office have been
conducted. The officer in charge of
this work has been in this Office for
more than 20 years, and before the
creation of the Juvenile Court he had
much experience in passing upon all
manner of domestic relation offenses.
He is a man of excellent Judgment.
and the splendid manner in which this
business has been transacted without
complaint attests that it is matter
of grave conjecture whether any other
method could have been more effective.
The Statement of Mr.. Arthur Ciaren-
don Smith (Par. 4; P. 2D.
Mr. Smith asserts that in order to
discourage crime, offenders must be
brought to trial with the greatest speed
possible. Any implication that my Of
flee has been derelict in this regard
Is dllSWcIcu III Tie lcplS W Tic SIdtc-
ment of Mr.. Yaden. supra.
Mr. Smith also states that the most
glaring weakness is the slipshod
method of continuing criminal cases
and accepting pleas. The record of
this Office shows that cases are not
continued except for good cause shown.
including illness of counsel. defend
ants or material witnesses. or the en-
gagements of counsel in other courts
or cases, or sometimes by the Gov
ernment when it appears to be in the
best interests of the administration of
criminal justice.
Mr.. Smith complains about the slip
shod methods of accepting pleas
There is no law known which pro-
hibits defendant from pleading
guilty. If Mr.. Smith means the ac-
ceptance, with the consent of the dis
trict attorney, of pleas of guilty to
offenses less than those charged, this
Is not a general practice, but Is only
permitted when it is believed, after
careful consideration and study of the
matter, that the Governments evi-
dence will not support the more serious
charge. In these exceptional cases
pleas are not accepted under any
agreement as to punishment, the i'm
position of which is within the sole
province of the court.
The assertion that the Bar Association
Is noncommittal CPar. 5; p. 2D.
Paragraph of Section 4 of the
eubcommittee's report was read to
Mr.. Wheatley this morning, and he
stated that the inference drawn in
the report from his testimony was
unfair; that he did not intend his
statement as a criticism of my Office
in any way, but that he was merely
stating the fact that he had no per-
sonal knowledge, not being a criminal
practitioner, and therefore felt him.
self incompetent TO make any obSer-
vations concerning my office. More
over. what does not appear in the
report is that Mr.. Wheatley testified
before the subcommittee that the
criminal as we'll as the civil docket
of the court was in better shape than
he had known it to be for many years,
end that on one occasion, when he
was in one of the criminal courts. he
heard a case being tried within three
weeks from the date Of the commits
Bull VI tllc Illilc. MI. WIledGley
statement to the press of this date
Is attached hereto, marked Exhibit /.
The assertion that the Women's Bar
Association has petitioned the
President of the United States to
remove me Par. s; P. 22).
1t is true that the women's Bar
Association has passed such a reSolu-
ol~x,i1 -
alleged interview. which was not au-
thentic, that I would not appoint a
woman as one of my assistants, but in
any event this has nothing to do with
the conduct of the Office.
The assertion that I am not familiar
with certain criminal statues set
forth in the report, viz, the non
support, bad check and house.
breaking statutes and the provisions
Of the probation law (Par. Sill;
PIP. ~, 23).
I did not appear before the COM
mittee on the assumption that I was
to be quizzed in respect to the many
complexities and intricacies of our
criminal statutes. Every lawyer knows,
Irrespective of his erudition, that it
Is necessary. when confronted with
any particular legal problem, to go to
the statutes and the authorities to
determine the legal question involved.
The statutes mentioned are peculiarly
complex and controversial in this
jurisdiction Take for example the
housebreaking statute. The house.
breaking statute covers, in addition to
the elements of common law house.
breaking, an entry without breaking,
an entry in the day time as well as
in the night time, an entry with in
tent to commit misdemeanor, as well
as a felony. an entry into a freight
car, an inclosed yard containing
merchandise building which is not
at the time occupied, steamboat or
other watercraft, and an entry with
intent to take away fixture attached
to the house entered. These are only
some Of the many complexities sur
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