247 F. 124 | D. Maryland | 1917
On Ruling upon Admissibility of Testimony.
I might as well make perfectly clear what I understand to be the issue in the case.
At Conclusion of the Government’s Case.
The Court: I do not think there is anything to go to the jury in this case.
There is a very lurid description of the horrors of war in that circular—-some of it well written; some of it not so well written. But, after all, there is no difference of opinion that war is a terrible catastrophe, and involves many terrible things. The circular develops some sort of a theory, not very clearly argued out, that if everybody had voted the Socialist ticket there would have been no war. The circular
Mr. Datane: The side of it that appealed to the government was this, your honor. Of course, we are perfectly satisfied with your hon- or’s determination of the matter; but, just in explanation, it starts out with the words, “Conscription is upon us and the draft law is a fact.”
The Court: That I understand to be a fair and reasonable deduction that from their point of view it all could have been avoided if the people earlier had taken this Socialist paper and had voted the Socialist ticket.
Mr. Datane: The point that occurred to the government is this: These people are too clever to directly, in print, to attack the draft law; so, under guise of advocating the principles of the Socialist party, they give the whole draft proposition a very raw deal.
The Court: That is possible, but you must prove the intent beyond the possibility of a reasonable doubt.
Mr. Datane: All we want is to get some judicial determination of the matter.
The Court: The judicial determination of the matter is that in whatever form they put what they say or do, whether that of advocating the principles of any political party, Republican, Democratic, Prohibitionist, Socialist, or under any other guise whatsoever, it is an offense to do anything with the intent of bringing about a violation of the law; but the commission of that offense must be proved, the intent must be established b*y evidence which will justify a jury in holding that it was made out beyond a reasonable doubt, and in this case there is no such evidence.
Gentlemen of the jury, you have the instructions of the court to return a verdict of not guilty.