THEIR VERDICT.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XV, Issue XXII, 30 November 1895, Page 694

THEIR VERDICT.

Many are the stories told of the remarkable verdicts brought in by inefficient juries, but there could scarcely be a better illustration of what a certain legal man calls * colossal inefficiency,’ than the story he tells of the verdict given by a jury in a Western city. The case under trial was that of a man who—accidentally, as almost everyone believed—had fatally shot a friend, while the two were off with a hunting party. The accused person was a prominent citizen of the place, and was greatly beloved as well as respected by everyone who knew him. As the trial proceeded, the faces of the jurymen were filled with anxiety. When they at last retired it became evident to them that the prisoner could not be acquitted of all blame, according to the evidence, but they decided that if he must be considered guilty of something they would make that something as light as possible. Accordingly the foreman gravely announced on the return to the court-room that they found the prisoner ‘guilty of drunkenness.' In spite of the gravity of the case a ripple of amusement ran over the court room at this verdict. The judge, with considerable severity and with great clearness, again charged the jury, and again they retired. A long interval elapsed. At last they came straggling in again. Once more the foreman confronted the judge and thus announced the verdict: * We find the prisoner guilty of manslaughter in the third degree, but’ —this in a tone of something like defiance— * we don't believe he did it !'