Show ESCAPE ON technicalities butto inter mountain the general i public not versed in the law and more interested in the execution of justice than in nice points of distinction will view with extreme chagrin the decision ot the california appellate court releasing arid ruef to tho layman a new trial it would seem was the beat the accused could hop for it will bo noted that in the decision reversing the judgment of the lower court no doubt is thrown on tha guil of tho drafters grafters gr but irregularities in the proceedings cause the reversal the upper court while tacitly acknowledging that cheso human hyenas arc what they are un blushingly trees them because in some tr ining details KIT trial was not in accordance with accepted procedure under alrh decisions justice becomes a farce and the successful politician might rape burn or steal with impunity among the points noted in the sev oral decisions aro these that abo court under the defendants tion allowed the prosecution to peremptorily emptor ily challenge two jurors after they had been accepted and sworn without any proper cause being shown or even stated that alie court per matted the filing of affidavits If ying the sheriff and coroner as officers to take charge of the jury and appointed an elisor for that purpose before the affidavits were first served on the defendant and refused to allow tho defense to file counter affidavits showing the elisor named by the court was prejudiced biased and a personal enemy of the defendant that admission by the court of hearsay evidence of five witnesses that the court admitted the testimony of ruet in rebuttal when it did not constitute rebuttal and upheld the prosecution in improper cross exam of the defendant and that the court erred in overruling the defendants demurrer to the indictment the decision knocks out all the restaurant cases as the court holds no crime was committed on tho ground says the dispatch that the indictment did nol show a public of tense was committed because it did not allege any threat to injure property tho court holding that a liquor license was not property but mere permission that a threat to prevent the obtaining of a liquor license by one who had no authority in tho premises did not constitute a threat against property tho appellate court held that the indictment was invalid judge dunne who tried the cases is by no means mealy mouthed in hla emment he said to abo associated press on being told of tho decision it la to bo regretted that the hearing of this appeal came up before a court whose members have relatives and intimate friends against whom many indictments were returned by tho federal grand jury that returned these bills in view of these facts I 1 do not believe that the court was in the proper frame of mind to give this matter an impartial consideration and decide it strictly on its merits I 1 m satisfied that the evidence and the law sustained the judgment of the verdict I 1 will further say that the jury chico returned this v in accordance with the evidence and tho jaw will be remembered respect and honor in the community long after the court which bet aside the has been forgotten declares that other indictments can be proven hut ruef it is liln ted will sen the prosecution no longer in the end it is more than probable that one of the most disgraceful gangs in our humiliating municipal history will go scot free technically ni if the appellate court Is to be credited they have committed no crime but morally they have com matted many at a period when the entire nation was contributing aid to the earthquake sufferers great smug disappeared what sort of cattle from the starving mother and the dying babe |