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Show M! 10 JURufl CiiCELSTSI Testifies Lawyer Spoke to j Him Concerning Pend-j Pend-j ing Case. ; Contempt Proceedings May i Be Instituted, District j Attorney Says. Ahn-jst upon the eve of its going to j The jury. he case of C. C. Thompson, i charged wil -i a si a t utory often se, w as declared a mistrial vest-ruay in the crimi-i crimi-i mil division of the Third district court. I bv Judge Harold M. Stephens, after .1 . j 1. Henncssv. a member of the jury, h-'d ; testiiied fiat be was approached in the l eorriuor outside of tne courtroom by At-, At-, torney Parley P. Christ en sen concerning ! the case. The attorney, according to ; the iuror, deplored the fact that the de-fe-ulant had been prosecuted. The court I called the circumstances and evidence to the attention of the district attorney, and -instructed that such action should be taken in the matter as the law provides, for and the facts justify. District Attorney Richards laid the matter mat-ter before Count y A ttoriiey Richard Hartley Hart-ley yesterday afternoon, asking for a complaint com-plaint . against Attorney Chrlstensen, charging him with a misdemea nor. Immediate Im-mediate investigation was begun by the county attorney. Contempt proceedings may he instituted, as well, according to Mr. Rlcliai ds. Juror Commended. j The occurrence which resulted in throwing throw-ing the case ou t of court, with the re-I re-I suit that it will necessarily be tried over before a new jury, came after prac-I prac-I tically all of the evidence was in. Report Re-port of the conversation which the juror said occurred between Attorney Christen-sen Christen-sen and himself was made to Judge Stepb-ens Stepb-ens Tuesday afternoon, the court taking tm til yesterday morning to determine action in the matter. The court commended com-mended the action of the juror in making mak-ing report of the circumstances. "In so doing," the court said, "Mr. Hen-nessy Hen-nessy was actuated by a sense of public pub-lic duty as a citizen and a sense of public pub-lic duty as a juror, -which was exceedingly exceed-ingly commendable. There was not the slightest impropriety on his part. There was, on the contrary, a commendable and unusual exercise of public duty as a juror and as a citizen, which few citizens and few jurors would have the courage and J the conscientiousness to perform, especially espe-cially in view of the fact that the matter, mat-ter, while it involved, not the- slightest brea ch of conduct on his part, did involve in-volve a communication made to him by a friend of his." Reports Conversation. Following is a copy of the transcript of the testimony of Hennessy as to what occurred in the few minutes of the meeting meet-ing between himself and Attorney Chris-teuscn Chris-teuscn in the corridor: "Yesterday afternoon, just before en-tewng en-tewng the court room before the afternoon after-noon session, I was approached by Mr. Parley P. Chris tensen, an attorney of this city, a man whom I have known for years, and he said to me, "Who is on trial in this court?" And then he looked and saw Mr. Thonpson. 'Oh,' he said, , 'Thompson Is on trial.' I volunteered no- . thing. He said, 'I think a charge of that character is a great shame.' I said, 'yes.' I said, 'If a man is guilty It Is a shame, and if he is innocent, it' is a shame for him to be charged with the crime,' which is my own personal feeling. Informs Court. "Then ' he volunteered the information that he had known Mr. Thompson casually casu-ally for a great many years, and in his opinion, the prosecution was a matter of prejudicial spite. I told Mr. Christensen, 'On that I have no information and no opinion," and I came Into the jury box, and 1 sat in the jury box and 1 thought probably it was my duty to inform Judge Stephens of the matter, and I did." Questioned as to whether he was sure that Mr. Christensen knew he was talking talk-ing to a juror in the case, Mr. Hennessy said that he remembered Mr. Christen-sen's Christen-sen's having been in the court room and of his having remarked about hearing the testimony of a woman witness in the case. Retrial of the case will be begun as soon as other matters demanding attention on the criminal calendar have been disposed of. Attorney Explains. Last night Mr. Christensen made the following statement for publication: "I was not aware that Mr. Hennessy was a juror -when I passed him in the hallway near the courtroom. I had known him before, and, having just seen the defendant de-fendant enter the courtroom, made a casual remark to Mr. Hennessy to the effect that I did not believe that Thompson Thomp-son was guilty of the crime charged against him. "The action of tho judge in declaring mistrial of the case was entirely justifiable. justi-fiable. I would not have addressed Hennessy Hen-nessy in regard to the case had I known that he was serving as a juror. I am in no way connected with the case as an attorney or otherwise, and have no in- j terest in it save that of the general pub- I lie." I |