THE NYE MURDER CASE.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXI, Issue 471, 24 August 1909, Page 3

THE NYE MURDER CASE.

Hls Honour’s Charge to the Grand Jury.

A True Dili.

At the Supreme Court sittings at Palmerston yesterday, in presenting his charge to the Grand Jury, his Honour, Mr Justice Cooper, in referring to the Nye murder case, said the charge against Hedley Nye was a most serious one—the highest charge known to law. His Honour then related the facts of the case and said all the circumstances would justify the jury in returning a true bill. He stated that no doubt one of the defences would be insanity but the Grand Jury had nothing to do with that, at all. The defence of insanity as an excuse for crime was admissable if certain legal requisites were established. The law regarded every man as sane until he was proved insane, and the onus of proof lay with the defence. “No doubt,” continued His Honour, “you will feel the seriousness of the position in which you are placed, and naturally the question must arise in every juryman’s mind: Was the prisioner insane ? But that is not a question for your consideration at all. The common jury have to decide that point. Whether the act was one of impulsive homicide or insanity; or whether it Was the act of an afflicted youth who did not know the difference between right and wrong are not questions for you. All you have to decide is whether accused levelled the gun at his father, and leave the other questions to the common jury, who will have all the neccessary evidence which will enable them properly to consider the state of the boy’s mind.”, The Grand Jury returned a true bill against the accused.