Show remarkable proceedings IN THE HOPT CASE thecae THE case of the murderer frederick hopt aile ahm alm W welcome elcome will be celebrated in the judicial annals of this territory three times has the accused been convicted of the wilful murder ra er of john P F turner son of sheriff turner upon evidence that has thoroughly convinced the public as well as the juries that tried the case that the thel def des defendant bendan t was guilty without a shadow of a doubt yet so far ll 11 he has been able to evade the legal penalty of his hig crime this has occurred through no flaw in the ev evidence idenie but in consequence of er errors rord in the proceedings on appeals I 1 to ta the su supreme preme court of the knitel states the judgment of the lower courts has been set aside on technicalities and now h a third appeal is taken and and aud the prisoners life is spared a little longer laager this time the delay in the execution of justice is effected through the cil cie clemency ency of the acting governor it is done as an act of grace instead ot of a matter of right in order to judge this case tase intelligently it will bk be necessary to explain the law and the situation the congress of bf the united states in the so called poland law of june 1874 provided that akrit A writ of error from the supreme court of the united states to the supreme court of af the territory shall lie in criminal cases where the accused shall have been sentenced to capital punishment or convicted of bigamy or polygamy lp in mhd act on criminal procedure passed by the utah lep Leo legislature slature in ia js it is provided that sec an appeal to the supreme co court from a judgment of conviction stays the execution of the judgment upon filing with the clerk of the court in which ile fae the conviction was had bad a ce certificate of the judge of such court or ofa of a justice of tile the supreme court that in his opinion there is probable cause for the appeal and not otherwise 11 when the third trial of hopt resulted in conviction application was made macle to judge hunter for a certificate such as is described in the utah statute but this was denied A little out much legal learning will show that in alte pite of tre the local law the right of appeal is secured to a defendant in the cases named the sup superior brior law the law of congress says the appeal or writ of error isaiall Is liall lie in cases of contic conviction tion for bigamy or polygamy or in which the accused has been sentenced to capital punishment the appeal a eal eai then is made madli by the higher highe r law a matter of right v and it cannot be lawfully denied den let iet A person convicted Q of f bigamy or polygamy or sentenced to death by a district court in utah has the undisputable right ta appeal al until his bis case cage reaches the court of last ast resort The justice or good reason for the provision in our statute does not appe anin a very avery strong light for if an appeal should bdale be allowed from a district court to the sui preme court of the territory in any siny C case the power to prevent ought not S to be vested in a judge 3 adge who maybe prejudiced against the accused but however however this point may be view edit is clear that an appeal in those cases pro vided aided for tor in the poland law cannot be denied or prevented by 11 failure to obtain the berti certificate of a I 1 in judge dg e the case of hopt was taken beform before the supreme court of the territory rj and a stay of proceedings deman demanded dei deJ while an appeal was taken to the supreme court of the united states nut but this was denied on the ground that the application was possibly not made in ia good faith and that an appeal nam not be taken at all ala A writ of error toto the supreme court couet of the united states was vien vlen sued out and an aepli app i i cation made to the supreme court of the territory fqy for a stay of execution while the appeal was pending but this was denied olf on the ground that the matter had passed out of the jurisdiction of the court A telegram was sent to justice milter miller of the supreme court of nf the united states and he replied relied th that he had no jurisdiction in tiie tile case the acting governor was appealed to for a reprieve but in vain the matter was again brought drought before the attention of tiie tue supreme court colnot of the territory Terri territory tor y by several leading attorneys of this his city who considered that under the circumstances the execution of the prisoner would be bio bho nothing thing less than judicial murder but the court still claiming they had no jurisdiction iris inis diction I 1 denied the application for a stay of execution and recommended that the executive grant a reprieve these are most remarkable proceedings the prisoner stands in risk of his life because of the course of the territorial supreme court thesues the question of guilt should not figure at all in this atlon A principle is involved apart from any feeling for or against the Indr murderer derer it can be made as applicable to an innocent person as to a guilty one supposing an innocent man has been convicted and takes an appeal but the court will not grant rant a stay of execution pending theia thela appeal e 1 and the man is put to death p pending I 1 1 I proceedings that might have eared cleared him would not that be judicial murder well the same principle Is involved in any ans case I 1 and antl it seems absurd to a i common mind that an appeal should bo be ranted granted and the appellant be punished punished for the off offense offence ence with which lie he is charged before he can obtain the benefit of the appeal the course of the tiie court is the more extraordinary from the fact that in two instances before in the same case a stay of execution had been actually issued and the prisoner kept in custody until the appeal was heard and determined if the court had power ower in the two previous instances wry why not in the third we do not think there was ever such an absurdity practised practiced la in a court before belora it was clearly shown by several members of the bar that the court had control of its process and thattie night right of a stay of proceedings ce in the cases for which con lon congress had provided an appeal had hadl never been denied till nov noi now V of ourse course there are two sides to this question fuestion ue stion it is argued that the lawis law is 1 defective defective that while white it provides for the appeal it does not directly provide for the stay of execution pending the appeal but the power Is undoubtedly in the cohrt court to grant the stay for it has been exercised many times and there is ample indirect authority for it in the laws of the united states it is not denied that a stay of proceedings may issue pending anai an appell appeal peul peal in civil cases and by parity anay 0 reasoning the rule will X apply ph ly in criminal cases section 1049 of t the e Revised Statutes of the united states provides that gew whenever chenever a judgment of death is rendered in any court of the united states and the case is carried to the supreme court in pursuance of law the court rendering such judgment shall by its order postpone the execution thereof from time timo to time and from term to term u until gitil the mandate of ithe S supreme court in the case is received and entered upon the records of such lower court in case of by the supreme court the court rendering the original judgment shall appoint a day for the execution thereof appoint 0 and in case of reversal such f urther further proceedings shall be had in the lower court as the supreme court may d direct ire lre ct this does not directly govern courts in the territories but the organic act has the following t as its closing clause and be it further enacted that the constitution and laws of the united states are hereby extended over and declared to be in force in said territory of utah so far as the same or any provision thereof may be jye applicable but putting aside all these consider athons and citations which of course admit of dispute what what is the plain and evident intent of the law providing for appeals to the supreme court in cases of bigamy polygamy gamy and death sentences polygamy roly Is it t not to save the accused from punishment until the court of last resort has reviewed the case surely no one can deny this proposition Ilow how absurd then and w wicked and destructive ot of natural and legal rights to deny the only means by which the law can be made to have effect Is not such denlar denial to use a favorite expression with a certain class nullification of the law f ull full and complete the shifting of the responsibility upon governor we view as a piece riece of cowardice that is in the highest degree censurable it was a matter for the court and the court alone to determine it was a judicial proceeding ce eding it was nota cotla case for the ex judicial clemency it was a matter M i kight loht innocent or guilty the prisoner ilott nad llad the right to all the safeguards which the law provides in such cases and to every legal reme dy the law places tile the power to stay execution in cases of appeal if at all in judi judicial dial hands bands and it Is something foreign foreha a to the duties of the executive but we q consider that acting governor go vernor Thomas thomss 1 uld auld did exactly right night g under the circumstances it if he had haci not interposed ased the responsibility would have teen been thrown upon the mars Marb marshal marshai who being duly duty notified of the appeal to th the tho 0 supreme courton court of the united states would have bean placed in a very trying in position ion lon the responsibility for lor hops hopps death being I 1 forced upon him the question here arises what could have been the motives governing the curt court in this extraordinary course can it be if there had not been an intense popular I 1 feeling eeling in favor of the execution the stay would have been granted as in n former cases pandering to popular passion is execrable in a court the judicial mind should be lifted far above the clamors of a crowd no considerations but those ot of law and justice and d duty ut should influence the bench almost everybody desires that hopt should suffer the extreme penalty but he should not be slain from revenge or any malicious motive ile he must roust be executed lawfully or not atall at all ali ile he deserves an am ignominious death but he is sti still 11 in the hands of the lawi law and the law must be vind vindicated in every particular or his killing will be murder the demands of the populace should make no mark on the minds of the judges another reason that it is thought had an effect upon the decision decision of the court was the possibility of another reversal of its rulings by far the great majority of cases that have been appealed to the supreme court of the united states from this territory have been reversed this does not speak very highly for the learning and judgment ot the judiciary of utah the possibility of another proof of their may have had some sonie effect in the decision to prevent any further investigations in the hopt case where so much feeling and prejudice and bias exist as have been ideen exhibited in utah courts it is not at all mav ellous that errors prevail and we may not reasonably expect that the deci decisions lions gions of our Federal judges will stand the test of the higher court while such antagonisms as exist here are permitted to weigh upon the judicial ludi ludl cial clai mind the action at the thu mass meeting today daywan was in our opinion characterized more by unreasonable sentiment than cool and consistent argumenti argument particulars will be found in our local loca col coi column it was way claimed that a stay oi execution ution would encourage mob violence 0 1 I ex ene that that there was boreal no real cause of appeal in the hopt ilott case and that the law should take its course without any reprieve the fallacy of all ali this ia perceptible at a glance eor hor fear ot df mob violence a judicial murder is to be committed if there is no real cause of appeal then hoats doom is certain in a short time and how can the law which provides for appeals take its course it you kill the appellant we hope there thee will be no more excitement cit ement over this affair we are arc surprised that public men should take part in any proceedings looking to the destruction of that protte protection tion which all accused persons persona have the right to demand we believe in hofts guilt we loin join in the wish that he may be made to buffer suffer death for his crime but we do not imbibe the spirit of vengeance which prompts the passionate cry for his execution while one legal n ight 1 ht is left to him unexercised we vye a ask I the public to remember that if his right of appeal maybe may be rendered abortive on such flimsy pretexts as have been advanced the life of an innocent man may next be sacrificed or some person accused of crime by a packed grand jury and convicted by a packed petit atit jury lila liia may be slain or i imprisoned pending an ap appeal eal eai which the la law provides for but wit wil which ich a prejudiced judge may completely nullify Is it not better a guilty person shall evade for a time the just penalties of the law he has broken broke nthan than that a principle shall be e vio violated latea which may involve and liberties of many innocent persons and does not common sense declare that if hopt has the right of appeal which no one can deny he has the le legal leal al right to live until that appeal can be IY adjudicated to 1 irant frant grant a convict an appeal and kill him before the appeal can be determined would be a travesty on law and a mockery of justice which we hope no person outside of the supreme court of utah territory will have the adlo idiocy Y to advocate or defend let lot hopt linger on till his bis caso is ully fully f decided and let no mob feeling eeling f be encouraged among the usually law abiding people e pie of utah ile he will surely suffer for r his crime and vengeance is mine is the declaration of deity let patience and common sense prevail |