The Michigan chronicle. [volume] (Detroit, Mich.) 1936-current, 1939-08-12
By RAMON A. MARTINEZ
THE CHYLLA CASE"

About lis in the afternoon of
Saturday. August 5, 1899 six White
men and six White women. in sin
gle file, headed by a police court
stiache and thanked by another,
marched out tremendously from a
side room in the court of the Hon.
Donald Van Zile. one of the judges
of the Recorders court for the City
Of Detroit, and on arriving in front
Of the bench, faced the judge in a
straight line, and stood silently and
tnsenttyAonking- upon the dignifled
counienance Of His Honor. 1t was
the jury in the case of The People
versus Albert Chylla. a white po-
lice detective charged with assault
and battery; in this case. accused
OF having brutally beaten Jasper
Choice, an 10 year old Negro boy
and having broken his jaw.
The case had attracted much pub
lie attention; public feeling was
pretty high. especially among De-
troit Negroes; the newspapers, Ne
gro and white, hat carried head
lines because of this and other re-
ported cases of alleged police bru-
tally in the community; the Mayor
and other high city officials had
been conducting investigations of
charges of police manhandling; and
as a consequence, the courtroom of
Judge Van Zile had seethed with
tension during the five days from
Monday to friday that a black
prosecutor and two white defense
lawyers had lunged and parted at
each other with testimony, motions,
objections and argument. AS the
case went to the jury on Friday,
everybody seemed weary and tired
of the ordeal, including the curious
public that remained hanging
around during the jury's delibera-
tons.
As the jury filed out OF the jury
room. a wave of parties witnesses,
attorneys. police officers. newspa-
per reporters, and curious specta-
tors surged with a murmur into
the court room excited and eXpec-
tant In a moment there was a re-
S1teTcc IN me CnJmbeT Of
justice For seven hours tina. jury
had wrestled, wrangled and ar
gued over the case. The end had
come.
Is there any possibility Of agree
ment?" asked His Honor.
None whatever" said the fore
man. The more we talk. the fur
Their apart we get I don't see any
use
so say you all, members Of the
jury" asked His Honor with a run
ming glance all down the line of
the other eleven.
81 "Yes, Your Honor" answered the
jury in chorus
Very well. declare this case a
mistrial because of jury disagree
ment, and discharge you from fur
Their duty on this panel. You may
report 70 your Jury assembly room, y
concluded the justice.
just why did the Chylla jury dis
agree? Why couldn't it bring in a
verdict Of guilty" or mot guilty."
What was there to such simple
case, "a miSdemeanorl to cause a
I jury Of twelve presumed intelli-
gent persons TO become deadlock
ed?
From the time that defense coun-
sci requested a jury trial, we be-
came strongly suspicious that the
outcome was going to be a hung
jury This suspicion was based on
our observation and experience
with American jury system. lr
spite Of all the dmonitions of the
I prosecution, the defense. and the
courts, juries very seldom decide
! cases strictly on the facts and the
evidence. One of the hardest things
] in our jury system is to prevent
sentiment from seeping into the