ASKING FOR THE DEATH SENTENCE

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 276, 18 May 1912, Page 1 (Supplement)

ASKING FOR THE DEATH SENTENCE

STARRING- THE JUDGES OX THJ BENCH. At the Xorwidi Assizes a month or two ago a prisoner, accused of the murder of his child, bluntly asked Jfr. Justice < 'hannell to pass the sentence of death upon him without a trial. The man pleaded guilty, and refused the Judge's ' ofl'er for counsel to defend him. Naturally, both the Judge and the jury, and not less the crowd in Court, were as* 1 lounded at such a request from the dock; vet the man was firm in his desire to be at once sentenced to the direst penalty known to the law. , In these rare cast's a certain course is i taken, and this course .Mr. Justice Clianneil took. Medical witnesses were summoned to testify as to the, condition of the prisoner's mind. Tliflllgi! there was ft conflict in that evidence, it was found that the Accused was in a At slate of mind to plead, and' on that finding the only course open to the Judge was to pass the sentence which the man himself had asked for. Though extremely unusual, it is hot unprecedented for a man to comport himself in the dock as this man. At Liverpool Assizes in the summer of last year a man accused of a sordid crime faced the Judge with a very determined request, often repeated, to be at once sentenced to death without the long ordeal of a trial. He refused to be con- >, sidered otherwise than as guilty, or to set up any defence or extenuation of his deed. Yet the doctor specially summoned to assist the Judge with his expert testimony assured his lordship that the rationality of the man was beyond question. Ultimately the Judge bad to do as the prisoner had requested.

One of the most sensational of these cases, which could never be forgotten by anyone who was in court at the time,' occurred five years ago, and by a strange coincidence the Judge on that occasion was Mr. Justice Channel], whoso painful duty it was to hear the case at» Norwich this year. The scene on this occasion j was the Liverpool Assizes, as in the second case mentioned above. The prisoner was a powerfully-built - man named Charles Patterson, and his crime was the murder of a woman at Manchester. He walked boldly to the front of the dock when brought from the cells, and looked round the court at the tea of faces with indifference. Then he gazed firmly at the Judge. The Clerk of Assize read over ■ the terrible indictment, to which Patterson listened with attention, and then uttered the words, "Guilty! I ask you, my lord, to accept that plea," with distinct? ness and without a tremor in his voice. With great surprise on his features, Mr. Justice Channell asked Patterson if he rightly understood what he was say J ing, and whether he was aware that, if the court accepted a plea of that nature when the charge was the capital one, there was only the jjne dread sentence. His lordship at the same time made it clear to the accused that the law of the | country always enabled any prisoner to put forward his defence in the fullest manner. '< Almost nonchalantly, Patterson told : the Judge that he fully understood the consequences of his plea, making it clear that he was determined to persist in it, and that he saw no reason for a trial. At that time Mr. Justice Channel! had apparently not had before him such a case, and he expressed his dismay at the !j extraordinary position taken up by the j. prisoner. After the most careful enhquiry from the prison doctor as to the 11 sanity of the accused, which led to his I jbeing informed that Patterson was quite (|an intelligent man, his lordship assumed < | the black cap, and it was with as little emotion as if lie were listening to a lecture that Patterson received the sentence rind heard the Judge's prayer in his behalf. With the same unconcern and Coolness he paid the extreme penalty three weeks later. j Almost as surprising, if not in exactly the same category., was the staggering Request made to the late Mr. Justice (Iranthani at the Central Criminal Court last year. A man named Charles Arthur actually asked the Judge to order him what- even the most hardened of cirimiiials dread—the "cat." Notwithstanding that this request was made |o escape some of the sentence of imprisonment for life passed upon him for shooting at a police constable—lie asked - the Judge to give him a short term of Imprisonment and liberal punishment with the "cat," in preference to the life sentence—it was a most surprising request and has probably not been paralleled in an English court of law. It was not granted.