The Waterbury Democrat., 1939-08-09
''7his Is NO Alcon Jury" Says
 Atty. McDonough Ln Speech Today

Attorney sidney Cassel resumed his argument this morning as fol- lows:
 Ladies and gentlemen of the jury: A man isn't guilty of the crime of conspiracy if he fails to assess his taxable property. I say to you, ladies and gentlemen, most seriously, that 1t is e common failing of man in general to try to get away with taxes. But does that make him guil- ty of the crime of conspiracy? Oh, no Now, the second answer is simply this. Here is Q man who works for the city of Waterbury. He doesn't know when the work IS go- ing to end. He gets Q particular type of equipment for Q certain period of time. Isn't 1t sometimes more proper to rent that equipment from others-to exchange equip ment with others rather than to purchase them and then you don't know when you are going to use 1t next2 Oh, no. The state of Con- necticut demands evidence, not suspicion. And suspicion can never take the place of evidecel This is a criminal case. The state must go much farther to prove this case beyond Q reasonable doubt. Is that an empty phrase? Is 1t Q mere ges- ture? Doesn't 1t mean anything2 Of course 1t does. It means what 1t says. The foundation of justice is that the commonwealth be served and none shall be harmed.
 Have they been fair with you when they say the defendants have been engaged in mad rush? Where is the mad rush? Where is the act of concealment2 Where Is the act inconsistent with innocence and consistent with guilt7 It doesn't exist.
 Now, ladies and gentlemen, 1t Is a very painful task assigned to me and that is this: to attack the char acters of witnesses that have gone on the stand. We are all subject to the common ills of man; we all make mistakes, and don't like to knock down anybody. I don't like to abuse anybody. But what can l do when 1t Is upon the evidence of men, the type that I'm going to talk about, that the state relies to send Philip Coppeto to prison.
 Paragon of Virtue
 Let me take up the matter of Purcell, and I'm going to use in that connection the very words used by the state. He's honest; he can't be bought. The city owes a debt to him." And he has been held up to you as the symbol of righteousness and the paragon of virtue. Every word he uttered was the gospel truth; the man who can do nc wrong; the man who tried to be so fair. He tried to actually help the defendants. Now, let's analyse this interest. Let's use little bit ot that common sense and see what the actual situation was with ref erence to James Purcell.
 Here is Q man who was the chie1 accountant of the city of Water bury between the years 1930-38. Can you think of any man who would know more of what was going on between those years than James Purcell2 He is the key man. Ii there were any irregularities-i1 there were any fraud-if there wert any corruptions-if this was tn. greatest conspiracy that ever existed in the state of Connecticut, wasn't he the man who would know? Could you think of . more logical man? ] can't. Between the years 1930-38 (k you can believe his story) when there was fraud, corruptions, vice rambling through this city, when the most colossal crimes were being committed land if you can ac- cept this testimony as being true) that's what happened. What was this man doing? All right. He couldn't complain to the mayor. Do