Year: 1871

In sentencing Galentine, Judge


Paine said:


The unhappy and criminal eireum-


stances which have eliminated in


your elaneholy situation have so


recently been the subject Of thorough
judicial investigation as to render il


unnecessary, If not improper, for me,


on this occasion to relate them. To
your own mind they must be painful
/ ly familiar, and the public has been


surfeited with their indecor0us and
demOralizing details. I shall there
fore, only refer to such Of them as to
my mind justify the conclusion at


which have arrived as to the amount
Of punishment Ifeel it my duty to in
fiet.


That you killed DR.. Jones was ad-
mitted; and also satisfactorily proven


on your trial. II this was done pur-
pOsely, and of deliberate and premedi-


tated malice, you were guilty of muir
der in the first degree, and Justly in
CURED the penalty for that crime
This would be your crime, however
overwhelming the provocatiOn, for
although the laws under some eircum-
stances justify or excuse taking hu-
man life, murder Is unchangeble. No
circumstances justify, excuse ormodi-
fy it.


The only defense relied upon on
your trial was that you were at the
time insane, and in consequence in
capable of a criminal act, and the real
issue in dispute was whether at the
time you took the life ofDr Jones you
were thus irresponsibly insane. The
issue was attempted to be sustained
in your behalf by an array Of witness
es seldom listened TO in a criminal
case, and by argument ofunusual abil-
ity and ingenuity, and was met by
about the same number Of witnesses
and ability in argument, and the ju-
~, after mature deliberatiOn, found
against you on that issue.


If you were responsible for your acts
at the time you killed DR.. Jones, I see
no reason to believe that you were not
two days before, when you declared
your intention to take his life, and
purchased a pistol and practieed for
that purpose.


IcOnelude that the Jury must have
found that at the moment when you
fired the pistol you'were in possession Of
uch sanity Of mind as to make you
responsible for your acts, but that the
great and sudden prOvocatiOn Of the
moment so overwhelmed you as not
to make you responsible for delibera-
tiOn and premeditatiOH. If this was
their finding, the strict logical cOnse-
quenee would be verdict of murder
in the second degree, But I presume
the jury, in the liberal exercise Of
their legal right in cases Of doubt, and
In consideration that the pPovOeatiOn
was so intimately connected with do
mestic troubles growing out Of suppOs-
ed or real infidelity Of your wife, and
the difficulty Of actually measuring
the effect Of such trouble upon the
mind, named the crime manslaugh-
ter.


And yet I can not, sitting here,
made responsible by oath, and feeling
responsible to society for a faithful ad-
ministratiOn of the criminal law, shut
my eyes to the fact that days before
the cOnsummation ofyour crime you
deliberately contemplated taking the
life Of DR.. Jones, and made the ordin-
ary preparations to do so.


have said this much, and might
say more, in reference to my reasons |
for regarding your ofense, as found /
by the jury, TO be a very aggraYating |
case Of manslaughter.


Your intelligence, former good char
acter, and social position might by 4
some be regarded as reasons why |
your punishment should be mitigated, |
but 10 my mind these agencies having |
all failed to secure obedience to the |
law, rather increase than diminish ]
your punishment.


But II Is unnecessary that should /
extend these remarks, and it only re- |
mains for me 20 perform an unpleas- ,
ant duty and pronounce your sentence, |
which is that you be taken from the /
bar Of the Court TO the Jail Of the /
county, and from there TO the Peni, /
tentiary Of the State, and that you be
therein confined, and kept at hard la I
Dor for q period Of ten years, and that 1
you pay the costs Of this prosecution. /
1t is no part Of your sentence that you !
be kept any portion ofthe time in the /
dungeon Of the prison.


This one case where murder, nom
inally under excitement, but really
is Justly punished. A
strong attempt was made to get Mr.
Galentine clear on the plea Of "einO-
tional insanity" but it did not sue
ceed; and we presume that hereafter
In Ohio, men viii stop and think ere
they take life for wounded honor