Law and Justice
DON’T know whether the +44 series, "Prisoner at the Bar," is supposed to be based on true stories, but as the Lizzie Borden case was one of them, possibly the others, too, are factual cases, The case of Max Becker dealt with a murder trial which, if true as portrayed, had a rather astonishing result, Max Becker, convict, was tried for the murder of a warden during a wholesale riot and attempted prison-break from, if I remember rightly, Auburn prison. The
facts here given were that he told his counsel he was innocent, that the counsel was a famous but dubious criminal lawyer, the prosecution relied on the fact that Becker’s only witnesses were also convicts, but that
the jury refused to be swayed by prejudice and accepted the convicts’ word against that of the State’s witnesses. Becker was acquitted. Maybe this did happen. All I can add is that I and two friends, listening to this play, decided privately that the verdict would ~ be "guilty" and were somewhat surprised to find we had been backing the wrong horse. Was there something wrong with the manner in which the facts were presented to us, or was the infamous counsel a better pleader before his actual jury than was his radio p, Repracentasive?
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/periodicals/NZLIST19450615.2.22.1
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New Zealand Listener, Volume 12, Issue 312, 15 June 1945, Page 12
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215Law and Justice New Zealand Listener, Volume 12, Issue 312, 15 June 1945, Page 12
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Copyright in the work University Entrance by Janet Frame (credited as J.F., 22 March 1946, page 18), is owned by the Janet Frame Literary Trust. The National Library has been granted permission to digitise this article and make it available online as part of this digitised version of the New Zealand Listener. You can search, browse, and print this article for research and personal study only. Permission must be obtained from the Janet Frame Literary Trust for any other use.
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