Court Opinion

ID: 9595302
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 00:38:26.336489+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:01:27.426266
License: Public Domain

Pless, J.,
concurring:
Here we have another example of the right of unbridled, unrestricted and unlimited appeal.
The facts set forth in the previous appeal by our able Chief Justice Parker show that the defendant suspected his girl friend of two-timing him. Without proof, he condemns her to die. He forces her into his car, telling her he is going to kill her. Having procured a half gallon of gasoline for his savage purpose two hours earlier, he deliberately throws it on her clothes and strikes a match to ignite them. She dies in agony a day later, after telling the above story several times. The defendant has yet to deny its truth except by his formal plea of not guilty.
Upon the first trial his life was saved when the State did not seek the death penalty. Upon conviction of second degree murder the court imposed less than the maximum penalty for that offense. With that, the defendant should have been content — if not exuberant.
But no! With the tendencies of some courts (not this one) to protect the “rights” of criminals — and, by corollary — to overlook and ignore the rights of the public, and the victims, he seeks and obtains a new trial. He has nothing to lose, and all to gain. He can never be tried again for more than second degree murder; his appeal is at the public expense for the cost of the record and a State-paid lawyer to represent him. Why should he not pursue, and continue to pursue, even after this, his all-to-gain and nothing-to-lose, opportunities?
His complaint at this time (he will have others on his later, all-expense-paid motions and appeals) is that he was discriminated against because the grand jury and trial jury contained too few *264Negroes. After thirty-two years on the Superior Court bench, I can say that he is most fortunate that he was not tried upon a first degree murder charge before an all-Negro jury. It would have promptly returned a verdict that invoked the death penalty. One of the major complaints of the responsible Negroes is that the courts do not impose sufficient penalties when one Negro kills another. They insist that the death of a Negro, even though caused by another, deserves more punishment than is usually imposed.
No one would deny that a person charged with crime should have his rights fully protected. But neither can it be denied that the object of government and law is primarily to protect the public from murder, burglary, rape and other offenses. From my viewpoint, it would seem that the latter has been relegated to an unrealistic and impractical position and that the criminals are given more than their “rights” while the safety and security of our good citizens are, to an alarming degree, diminished.
I fully concur with the opinion.