Show JURY REFORM THE hopt alias welcome case Is once more before the third district court the third time of its prosecution through technicalities which have no beann bean ngon on the merits ot the case a murderer about whose guilt there herease her eare are no no doubts in the public mind for he 4 has been twice convicted on the clearest kindo kind kinq 0 f evidence is still able to evade punishment the chief diall i culty in this third trial will be the em cm pan van nelling of a jury there are arc so few jf men in the community who have not h heard eard the particulars of the case and I 1 ormed formed an opinion upon it that an unbiased b jury constituted as the law and in modern usage require cannot be obtained ta tried without a great deal of trouble this brings up a ques question which is now being agitated throughout the country countr yi the singular verdicts brou brought lit in by juries in different places and the ile miscarriage d of justice which has been so often the consequence have caused serious doubts in many minds as to the much vaunted benefits of the jury s system ton in and to brin bring forward same strong advocates advocat es for 0 r its abolition the cincinnati riots and other similar deeds of lawlessness are cited as the consequences of improper verdicts and the results of decisions by luries juries u r les ies swayed by ulterior influences and n d it is argued that as a rule it would be safer to do away with juries alto gether and leave decisions ito to judges learned reamed in the law and better able to determine facts and evidence as well as legal points than the kind of persons are who iho make up the avera average ge juries A jury as ordinarily constituted nowadays now a days for the trial of the most it important cases cannot contain the best minds nor even the ordinarily intelligent tell igent and well informed of the community tor for these are arc reading thinking men who inform themselves in regard to current events and not oni onix only read the public journals and take an interest interest in what is going on amon among their fellows but form opinions 1 of I their own and ana reach conclusions inde and these are almost sure to be excluded from a I 1 jury ury in any important case cas j for the very reasons that would best qualify them for the task of investigation of course no one ought to sit on the hopt 1 case as a juror who is convinced before 31 hand band that the accused is guilty but some familiarity with the facts as published in the papers ought not to be a disqualification to trying bryin the case on 11 its merits and here is where we think that k reform is needed and is possible we p see no reason for the abolition of the jurs iury system but ive we dosee dosed do see the nee need d of a change changela chan gein geln fht Ift the practice which so often excludes intelligent thoughtful and well informed men from the jury box information in regard to a case on trial reading the opinions of the f press conversing on the known cir cum stances and ant expressing views regarding incidental facts should no not t in our opinion be allowed allowed to work as a bar to service bula jury unless the s mind mind ml of the juror jurai is made up nip or so influenced as to td affect his judgment an and d determine his lopint opinion on for fon or or against the accused his familiarity with the case and the views and i sentiments of other people ought not to disqualify him to sit in judgment u upon on tiie tile cause cl pa we cannot endorse the view that the lives and liberties and fortunes of cit citi zeng zens should id be placed in jeopardy sub eject to the dictum of one or three judges on the bench JV we believe that the jury is one of the essential fea tures tunes of proper criminal crim inal inai j prudence jurisprudence urns unis and trial by jury juri should be conducted according to the spirit and meaning of th the e term an impartial jury of the I 1 V vicinage lcona e must be had not a packed or i f favorable avora le or unfavorable body but f it welve twelve men ready to receive and we weigh h testimony and decide ac according accordia cordin to the ilaw i liaw law and the evidence as presented present bd to them what a mockery of justice it if would be to put the liberty of a mori 1 l nion mon at the mercy of twelve men chosen purposely for their antl anti mor mon proclivities it would be lust just iw 1 as imp improper roper as to place a pronounced hater of the Mor mormons cormons imons mons I 1 in the hands of twelve enthusiasts selected anten tlona tiona lly liy because of their animosity to ormon eaters e in our opinion the present method of em panelling juries can ean be reformed b by y 0 statute so as to render an impartial te arl trial by a jury of his peers a s 7 ty to every person accused of a grave crime there is no need to abolish yta iti tho the jury system its abolition would be running to a danger dangerous extreme enact laws that would permit thought gul gui minds men inen having opinions persons of individuality research research and lodgment ito tto to take part in jury trials providing ng they are not at so affected by actual bias as to inal influence clience their powers rowers of I 1 0 ii and much of tee tze the nonsense hup huf and folly and infamy now complained of woold would be ef cf f actually swept away |