Evening star., 1943-11-16

Delay in Arraignment
Frees Defendant
In Assault Case

Although stating that he was
satisfied that his decision would re-
suit IN a miscarriage of justice, a
judge in District Court yesterday
instructed the jury to return a YER
dict of not guilty in the case of
Haywood Wilborn, II, colored, who
was on trial on charges of house
breaking and attempted criminal
assault. g
Justice David A. Pine, the trial
Judge, told the Jury he felt that I'm
admissible evidence" showed the de-
fendant to be guilty; but that under
recent rulings by the Supreme Court
and the Court of Appeals for the
District, he was obliged to dismiss
the crarge.
These decisions, in substance. hold
that confessions made by a prisoner
cannot be used against him unless
he was taken into court for ar.
raignment promptly after his arrest.
Other Cases Affected.
United States Attorney Edward
M. Curran said there are about IS
indictments pending which probably
will have to be dismissed If the
stringent ruling bysSthe Court of
Appeals, following the Supreme
Court decision. remains in effect.
The advisability Of seeking a re-
view OF the local appellate ruling
is now under consideration. In
cluded among the offenses covered
by the pending indictments are such
crimes as criminal assault, assault
with intent to kill, housebreaking
and larceny. One man is defendant
IN % of the HOUSEKEEPING and
larceny cases. however.
Wilborn was arrested as a suspect
on the morning of March 18, after
colored man had entered a room
occupied by three Government
workers and had attempted to at
tack one OF them. None Of the young
women was able to identify Wilborn
as the intruder. He was taken to
headquarters, however, and police
said he made voluntary confession
there.
Wilborn denied making the con-
fession, but admitted he had signed
a statement which acknowledged his
guilt. He said, however, he did not
know what was in the statement.
Re-enacted Crime, Police Say.
The police officers and the COM
planning witness also testified that
Wilborn, when brought after his
arrest to the room occupied by the
young women, re-enacted the crime
In detail
1t was admitted, however, that the
defendant was not taken to Juvenile |
Court until the afternoon following
the night of his arrest. This meant
that a total of 71a hours had elapsed
from the hour the court opened |!
until Wilborn was turned over to
juvenile authorities by police.
With this set of facts, Justice
Pine said he had no alternative but
to dismiss the charge against the
defendant under the appellate court |
decisions.
The principal controlling decision,
he said, was that returned by the
Court of Appeals last month In the
society burglar" case. In that de- !
cision the appellate court said the
District code required that the po-
lice take a prisoner into the proper
court Immediately without delay
Justice Pine said he could not
believe that a delay of seven and
one-half hours in this case met the
requirements of the statute.
Right to Protection Cited.
In urging Justice Pine to permit |
the jury to pass on the evidence
against Wilborn, including his
alleged confession, Assistant United
States Attorney John Conliff argued
that the right of the public to be
protected against criminal acts Of
the sort involved in this case is just
as important as the protection of |
technical rights of accused persons.
Justice Pine said he was reluctant
to disagree with this view, but that
he felt he was bound to follow the
language Of the statute and the
higher courts.
Il say this with reluctance" he
declared, because in my judgment
the inability to present this case to
the jury results in miscarriage of
Justice"
Wilborn, who was represented by
Attorney Brooks T. Sanders, already
is serving one-year Jail sentence
for simple assault in connection with
an attack on young woman on the
day before the alleged assault in
this case.