Salt Lake Telegram | 1932-06-11 | Page 4 | Piffling Technicalities

I PIFFLING TECHNICALITIES T THE funny quirks that criminal law occasionally occasionally occasionally occa- occa takes takes to to the delight of the crook are are beautifully illustrated in an appeal that recently landed in the Illinois supreme court Eight men were convicted of a a. a man for ransom Their attorneys are askIng asking asking ask ask- ing for a reversal on the grounds that where a crime is a felony in common law as law as is the case with the the indictment must use the term feloniously And in the in indictment indictment in- in in this case that word was used in only one of the several counts Hence the lawyers want their clients turned loose I IThe The presence or absence of that word can have had nothing whatever to do with the fairness or unfairness of the trial those men got Their rights cannot in any real sense have been infringed by its omission And yet so so strange are the ways of the law such law such sucha a piffling t technicality I lI can be e the c basis for foran foran an n. n