Death warrant

“ He was grave, and spoke with deliberate emphasis.
"Gentlemen of the jury," he said, "the rule of Lord Hale obtains in this State and is binding upon me. It is the law as stated by counsel for the prisoner: that to warrant conviction of murder there must be direct proof either of the death, as of the finding and identification of the corpse, or of criminal violence adequate to produce death, and exerted in such a manner as to account for the disappearance of the body; and it is only when there is direct proof of the one that the other can be established by circumstantial evidence. ”

“ I believe I am correct in stating that there never was, nor is there now (out of London) , such a thing as a warrant for the execution of a criminal. At the close of each Assize, a fair copy of the Calendar, with the sentences in the margin, is signed by the Judges, and left with the sheriff; this is the only authority he has given him; and in the event of a sentence of death, he has no alternative but carrying it into effect; unless he receives from the Crown a pardon, a reprieve, or a warrant commuting the sentence. ”

“ And when those officers have declared the character in which they appear, the persons within are bound to yield themselves in the same manner as if they had been met in the fields, or in the open street; and if any of these officers be killed when the arrest would have been lawful, then the party by whom the death-wound is inflicted becomes guilty of the crime of murder. The arrest of persons under the authority of a warrant from the magistrates is a lawful arrest. So also is the arrest by peace-officers, without a warrant, of persons supposed or reasonably alleged to have committed felony. ”

“ He was also indicted a second time on the Statute of Stabbing, and a third time upon the coroner's inquest for wilful murder. On all three of which, notwithstanding his defence, and the witnesses he called, he was found guilty; and although some honourable persons took a great deal of pains to procure a pardon or reprieve for him, yet it proved of no purpose, but he and the afore-mentioned malefactor were put into the death warrant and ordered for execution. ”

“ Said warrant shall be directed to the warden of the state penitentiary of this state, commanding said warden to do execution of the sentence imposed as aforesaid, upon some day within the week of time designated in said warrant, and shall be delivered to the sheriff of the county wherein such conviction is had, who shall within twenty-four hours thereafter after proceed to the said penitentiary and deliver such convicted person, together with the warrant as aforesaid, to the said warden, who shall keep such convict in solitary confinement until infliction of the death penalty ”

“ But as the warrant commanded the warden to cause the judgment and sentence to be executed and enforced, and the condemned to be put to death 'in the mode, manner, and way, and at the place, by law prescribed and provided,' this would seem to be ample authority to him for the confinement, as well as the infliction of the penalty of death, as prescribed by the statute; and, so far as the confinement had taken place under the first sentence and warrant, that resulted from the voluntary act of the petitioner in prosecuting an appeal. In People v. ”

“ Nor is there evidence from which the jury might infer that petitioner's failure to provide an additional guard or guards, was the proximate cause of decedent's death. Whether one or more additional guards would have prevented the killing is in the highest degree speculative. ”

“ When a witness, for example, swears, directly and unhesitatingly, that he saw the prisoner inflict a wound, with a deadly weapon, upon another person—that he saw that other person instantly fall, and die shortly after, this is positive evidence of something. Yet the act may be murder, or it may be manslaughter, or it may be justifiable homicide. Murder consists of three parts, the malice prepense, the blow inflicted or means employed, and the death ensuing, within a time prescribed by law. There can be no murder, if either of these parts be absent. ”

“ But, says the State's Attorney, you have got to sustain my theory. Now, I ask you gentlemen, as twelve law-abiding men, twelve men who look me straight in the face—you twelve men told me you would try my client according to the law and the evidence—if the Court tells you the cause of death must be proved beyond reasonable doubt, I ask you how on your consciences you can find these prisoners guilty, and even without the testimony of Drs. Andrews and Moyer? The God's truth is that no man can tell the cause of death. ”

“ Now, apart from the confessions of these men, extorted, so clearly, by the fear of death, and the hope of pardon, there was evidence enough to excite suspicion, and there was no more: but, the law of our country convicts no man of murder, or manslaughter, upon suspicion. ”

“ If any person is found guilty of murder or other homicide, the coroner shall commit him to prison for trial; he shall also certify the material evidence to the court, and bind over the proper persons to prosecute or to give evidence at the trial. He may in his discretion accept bail for a person found guilty of manslaughter. Since the abolition of public executions, the coroner is required to hold an inquest on the body of any criminal on whom sentence of death has been carried into effect. ”

“ For the purpose of any proceedings on or subsequent to a person's trial on a charge of capital murder, that charge and any plea or finding of guilty of capital murder shall be treated as being or having been a charge, or a plea or finding of guilty, of murder only; and if at the commencement of this Act a person is under sentence of death for murder, the sentence shall have effect as a sentence of imprisonment for life. ”

“ The statutory aggravating circumstances do perform the state-law function of determining who will be sentenced to death. But the aggravating factors also perform the distinct function of determining which murderers are eligible for the death penalty as a matter of federal law. ”

“ By the common law, a warrant for the arrest of a person charged with crime must truly name him, or describe him sufficiently to identify him. If it does not, the officer making the arrest is liable to an action for false imprisonment; and if, in attempting to make the arrest, the officer is killed, this is only manslaughter in the person whose liberty is invaded. ”

“ The possession of a legal warrant by a peace officer on arrest is of great importance in determining whether a person resisting apprehension is justified or not in his resistance. Should the officer attempt to apprehend him on a warrant manifestly illegal on its face, or without a warrant in a case where a warrant is necessary, and be killed in the attempt, the killing would probably be held to be manslaughter and not murder. ”

“ A State's definitions of its aggravating circumstances those circumstances that make a criminal defendant "eligible" for the death penalty-therefore play a significant role in channeling the sentencer's discretion. ”

“ It committed its basic error in resolving a factual dispute in favor of respondent that the shotgun would not fire unless someone or something pulled the triggers. Petitioner's evidence on this score, despite the 'tests' performed by the sheriff, could support a jury conclusion that the gun might have fired accidentally from other causes. Once an accidental discharge is possible, a jury could rationally conceive of a number of explanations of accidental death which were consistent with evidence which the jury might well have believed showed the overwhelming improbability of suicide. ”

“ Experience, however, has told us that the profoundest lawyers are not always the best administrators of the criminal law.
Practically there are now no criminal offences which can be visited with the penalty of death. Treason and murder still remain. For the latter offence the Judge is bound to pronounce sentence of death, which is imperatively fixed and ordained by Act of Parliament, and any other sentence would be illegal. ”

“ If the jury should find that murder or assault was committed on the deceased, and should charge any person with the crime, the coroner issues his warrant for the arrest of the person, and if found he is arrested and held in prison until he is tried by a judge and jury. ”

“ These excerpts, obviously taken out of context, were made as part of the prosecution's response to the defense claim that the murder of a police officer should not be an aggravating circumstance. When read in context they are fair response. Contrary to Appellant's intimations, these remarks did not improperly attempt to persuade the jurors to sentence Appellant to death on the basis of any fact other than that he killed an officer; a factor which has clearly been recognized as worthy of the imposition of the death penalty given its status as an aggravating circumstance. ”

“ I would not convey the idea that jurors should not in all cases weigh well the evidence which comes before them; but it is a fact, which we may not set aside in the consideration of this question, that the irremediable punishment of death is one which many men will not consent to inflict upon any human testimony; which proves the uncertainty of any punishment for the crime of murder. ”

“ If a person commit murder in the first degree, he shall, upon conviction, suffer the penalty of death; but if the evidence against him be insufficient, or if the killing be done in self-defence, the person doing the killing shall be released. ”

“ The effect of the decision here is to give the trial judge the right to decide when sufficient evidence has been introduced to take from the jury the right to find accidental death from proof of death by violent and external means. This inevitably follows if the presumption, or right of the jury to infer death by accident, 'disappears' whenever the judge believes sufficient evidence of suicide has been introduced. ”

“ When there is a dead body of a person lying within the area of his jurisdiction, and there is reasonable cause to suspect that such person died a violent or unnatural death, or a sudden death of which the cause is unknown, or has died in prison, the coroner is entitled to hold an inquest, and if the verdict or inquisition finds murder or manslaughter, it is followed by trial in the same way as if the person accused had been indicted. ”

“ Is the death penalty to be imposed for the identical cut or abrasion, whether minor or serious, inflicted during the act of taking the victim, merely because in one case the kidnapper releases or abandons him quickly, perhaps because forced to do so, but forbidden in another because he holds the victim until the injury heals? Is reward thus to be given for prolonging the agony?
Is the jury to range throughout the category of human ills, not only to find that injury has been inflicted but to evaluate whether those ills are 'injuries' within the meaning of the statute? ”

“ Provided also, that nothing herein contained shall prevent any Person from being tried in any Place out of this Kingdom for any Murder or Manslaughter committed out of this Kingdom, in the same manner as such Person might have been tried before the passing of this Act.
Provision for the Trial of Murder and Manslaughter, where the Death, or the Cause of Death only, happens in England. ”

“ By our Law all the Accessaries to a Murder are to be tried, and put to Death, as well as the Person who gave the deadly Wound. If they consented to it, encouraged it, or any ways assisted in it, they are to be put to Death, and it is just it should be so. ”

“ When a violent or sudden death, or a suicide occurs, be it in whatever class of society it may, there is no escaping the requirement of the law, however painful be the circumstances the inquiry evokes; the coroner must hold an inquest, and the whole matter be publicly investigated before a jury. ”

“ Until today our capital punishment jurisprudence has required that any decision to impose the death penalty be based solely on evidence that tends to inform the jury about the character of the offense and the character of the defendant. Evidence that serves no purpose other than to appeal to the sympathies or emotions of the jurors has never been considered admissible. ”

“ How can they tell the cause of death? I have heard of men giving extraordinary opinions, but their experts can tell you what killed the man, and still they can not find any evidence of it. If the public prosecutor had put in his indictment 'cause of death unknown,' it would not have been necessary for them to say he died from some kind of violence, but the jury is prejudiced against these men because they said the death is due to that particular thing. ”

“ And by the forty-fifth section of the criminal procedure act it is provided: 'In any indictment for murder or manslaughter it shall not be necessary to set forth the manner in which, or the means by which the death of the deceased was caused, but it shall be sufficient in every indictment for murder to charge that the defendant did willfully, feloniously, and of his malice aforethought kill and murder the deceased ”

“ And we cannot doubt that a kidnaper who violently struck the head of his victim with an iron bar, as evidence showed that this petitioner did, comes within the group Congress had in mind. This purpose to authorize a death penalty is clear even though Congress did not unmistakably mark some boundary between a pin prick and a permanently mutilated body. It is for Congress and not for us to decide whether it is wise public policy to inflict the death penalty at all. ”

“ An examination of State law shows that all but four States have abandoned the death sentence as a necessary consequence of the finding of guilt of murder in the first degree; that most of the States which have retained the death sentence have entrusted the jury with remission of the death sentence, although sentencing is traditionally the court's function, and this is true even in those States where the legislature has not in so many words put this power in the jury's keeping ”