A JURY'S DILEMMA..

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXIX, Issue 11854, 4 January 1902, Page 2 (Supplement)

A JURY'S DILEMMA..

RELUCTANT verdict in the Motel LOVE TRAGEDY. Tire iriqliJfy into the death of Armand Justin Quittelier, aged 26, formerly a hotel secretary in Paris, who was found shot in his, .; bedroom '. at the ■; Queen's Hotel, Leicester j Square, was resumed on November 20 at the : ;Yv estminster Coroner's Court. 1 The inquest, had been adjourned in order that the young Frenchwoman, Elise Renaud, i who was found lying on the bed with a billlot wound in her breast, might give evidence. The coroner now paid that he had received a report- from the house-surgeon at Charing Cross Hospital stating that although at first, the young woman made satisfactory- progress she had now developed inflammation r os, the lungs. As the physician was unable to specify » date on which she could appear to give ; evidence the coroner said he should close the .case without calling her. ■ In summing ; up. Mr. Troutbeck said: If the deceased and Elise Renaud agreed to die together; then the woman would be guilty of murder."The:'letters; found pointed to an agreement betwen the parties to die together. It was possible that the letters had no direct bearing on the tragedy, but that was a matter for the jury to consider. What motive there could have been for the tragedy he failed to see, but whatever the motive was the law was clear. ]v The jury deliberated for a few moments without leaving the box, and then returned a verdict: That the deceased and Renaud agreed to commit suicide, and that in pursuance of that agreement Quittelier did commit suicide. * • • The Coroner: That, in effect, is a verdict of murder against the woman. A Juror VI cannot agree to that. The jury then retired and returned at the end of a quarter of an hour with a verdict: That the man and woman agreed to die together,' and that the man shot himself first and the woman herself afterwards. y. The coroner pointed out that this too was a verdict of murder against the woman. The foreman said that some of the jury were reluctant to agree to the verdict on account of the charge of murder hanging over the woman. The Coroner: I quite agree with that myself, and I feel the same reluctance. / The Foreman: We all think it is a most unjust law to indict the woman for murder in a case of this kind. ': The Coroner: You might add a rider to . that effect, but I might tell you that no rider will prevent her being committed for 'trial., ''■-:The jury added the following rider to their :—" Notwithstanding that the jury feel compelled by the evidence to return this verdict they also feel strongly that there was no moral guilt on the part of the woman such as is associated with the term ' murder.' " - , ' K V; Mile. Renaud was then committed for trial on the coroner's warrant.