Show HOPT TO HANG How Shall the Statutes on Appeals Ap-peals in Criminal Cases be Interpreted I Something that Appears to be Queer The general impression is that Frederick Hopt alias Fred Welcome Wel-come will be hung on the 1st of June for the murder of John F Turner the particulars of which assassination the public is already acquainted with Hopt was indicted with John McConnell alias Jack Emerson for this crime but separate separ-ate trials were granted Hopttried first was convicted of murder in the first degree and an appeal taken McConnell was next tried and also found guilty of murder in the first degree the penalty being death but in his case the jury recommended rec-ommended him to the mercy of the court This recpmmendationunder our laws leaves optional with the judge betore whom the case is tried to impose the death sentence or to inflict imprisonment for life but unless the recommendation is made there is no alternative for the judge he must pass the death sentence In the case of Emerson the recommendation recom-mendation of mercy was heeded by the judge and imprisonment for life was his sentence and from this judgment no attempt to appea has I been made In the case of Hopt the judgment of the Third District Court was affirmed by the Supreme Court of the territory and the appeal was 1 then carried to the Supreme Court of the United States where the judgments of the District and Supreme Su-preme courts of this territory were reversed and a new trial ordered This trial took place during the February Feb-ruary term last the result which has all along been a foregone conclusion con-clusion being a verdict of guilty still unaccompanied with any recommendation re-commendation of mercy as in the case of Emerson The attorneys in the case Lee J Sharp and John A Marshall who have labored for I Hopt without any pecuniary reward re-ward performing the work as a duty which fell upon them in their appointment to the case by the judge gave notice that they would take another appeal Sentence of death was passed upon Hopt and he chose to be hung The transcript was prepared and filed with the clerk of the supreme court and all other acts necessary to be done by the attorneys in the case to perfect the appeal were performed Notwithstanding Not-withstanding these acts however it seems that Hopts fate is sealed and that too without waiting for the hearing of the appeal The death warrant has been made out and signed and is now in the hands of the marshal who unless some un forseen and unexpected legal inter ference should occur will be forced to carry it into effect on the date given As before stated every step necessary to perfect the appeal has been taken by Hopts attorneys notwithstanding which the fellow is practically as good as done for The criminal proceeuure in Utah see 300 laws of Utah iSiS provides as follows An appeal lo the Supreme Court from judgment ot conviction stays the execu tion of the judgment upon filing with the clerk ot the court in which the conviction con-viction wa hod a certificate of the judge of such court or of a justice of the Supreme Su-preme Court that in his opinion there is probably cause for the appeal but not otherwise The section appears to be a little queer and would admit of some illumination ia order that it may not only seem ludicrous but to preserve pre-serve it from the charge of being positively and outrageously inI human The statute distinctly I states that an appeal may be taken I upon any one or all of three grounds and nothing can prevent the appeal but the section above quoted seems to render the provision provi-sion of an appeal absolutely worth less unless any one of the three judges will sign a certificate to the effect that there is probable cause for the appeal upon which certificate certifi-cate being filed the execution is to be temporarily estopped but not otherwise To the reasoning capacity capa-city of a granger the working of this section would have an effect like this Hopt was convicted and sentenced sen-tenced his attorneys independent of the matter of belief as to his innocence in-nocence or guilt were of the opinion that there were sufficient errors committed in the trial of the case to justify another trialan opinion to which the attorneys were unques tionably entitled and which may or may not have been sound they give notice of an appeal and the appeal is takenfor that cannot be prevented the judges however re fuse to sign a certiticate to the effect that there is probable reason i for an appeal the result is the i judgment is not arrested and the I time for the sentence pi esses onward on-ward June 1st arrives and the prisonor is to be executed The judges still decline to sign the certificate cer-tificate and the Governor is unwilling un-willing to grant a reprieve this is of course oaly a supposition Hopt is executed as the death warant directs onthe 15th of June the Supreme Court convenes and the appeal in the Hopt case comes up ot course it would be the veriest farce to hear further proceedings when the accused is dead but is it any greater farce than to allow the appeal when it Is within the power of the judges to render an appeal absolutely valueless V But for the sake of a logical deduction suppose the appeal were considered might it not be found that errors sufficient to justify a new trial had been com I mitt d And in such an event what would be the result Or suppose the Supreme Court of the Territory held there were no errors and the appeal was carried to the Supreme Court of theUnited States is it not possible that august body might find as it did once before in the same case that all the Utah judges are astray and that the appellant was entitled to a new trial Does not section the way it reads place it in the power of the judges to derive p de-rive a human being of life through the refusal to sign a certificate which is to contain only the mere statement that there is probably cause for the appeal Or course no one would intimate for a 1 second that such a thing would be done but does not this section render such a condition of affairs possible Or has this section an entirely dif ferent interpretation If it has it should be known If it has no other it looks as though it were a serious bull of the legislature Of course it may be urged that the object of the section is to prevent a delay in the execution of guilty persons but it is a great deal more f likely to hasten the execution of persons guiltless and do much more mischief than good The judges j as we understand it have all refused to sign the certificate which the section quoted requires should be filed before the judgment can be arrested and the result is that while an appeal has been taken the only power which can save Hopt from death on the 1st of June is in the hands of the Governor Gov-ernor and must come in the shape of ta reprieve a commulation or 80 pardonthe last two being wholly impossible and the first not any too probable The HERALD has no doubt of Hopts guilt and as little that he should suffer death but it seems just possible from the reading of section 360 that the life of an innocent in-nocent man mightbe placed in great jeopardy and all because of a very questionable provision Will some lawyer be goodenough to make section 360 appear consistent r consis-tent with the rules in cases of appeal I ap-peal |