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Alai |ii fry if iBY EVIL REPUTE OFVICTIM, IS RULINGsuilt of Accused Not to Be Measured by Deserts of Deceased, Decision Says.A plea of self defense offered by an ccused muiderer should be handled 11 iuch a manner by the trial court o as not to measure the guilt of the ccused with the deserts of the de-eased, Supreme Court Justice George Hlnmatt writes In an opinion hand* cl down last Monday tn Hartford thereby a life sentence imposed up-n Tony Padula of Norwalk was up* eldIn the February tcim of the Cilm* aft] Qupeiloi court Padula was found ullty by a jury of haying shot and tiled Genmio dementi also of Nor-'atk on August 8, 1926 on Lexington venue Norwalk Pndqlrc charged rUh murder In tlio second degree leaded that he shot Clementl when he latter attacked him with a large mLfe The state through Padula s onfeflslon proved to the Jurj that he •03 armed with both Jcnlfc and gun men he confronted Clementl on the treet Padula after the killing fled o Canada was recaptured and'while nioute o Norwalk in tlie custody of -ollce made a confession In which he eferred to the knife and gun as ' myeluded by JudgS Isaac Wolf# uitt th# appeal was bused primarily on thisexclusionmile and gun/* TotJudge Carl,Foster of this city, who Icfended Padula attempted to intro* luce testimony tending to show that ’aclula in diead of Clementl who it raa claimed carried a reputation of had man This testimony was exTrlcd To Sliow Reputation.In reference to this Justice Hlnman, in his opinion, in which the other Judges of the court concurred, writes 4 the defendant attempted to introduce evidence of the reputation of the deceased Clementl, for violence, and it Is contended that this evidence was admissible aa tending to show the state of mind of Intent of the defen* dant at the time of the shooting and that Its exclusion was erroneous ‘When a defendant charged with murder assert* that he killed In self defense, his state of mind—the existence and reasonableness of appre* hcnslon of such violence by the de* ceased as to Justify the defense mea-auies adopted—becomes material If the reputation of the deceased be that of a violent dangerous and turbulent character auch reputation. If known to the defendant may be a circumstance attiibutlng to a reasonable belief by the accused that his life is in per4! and his consequent state of mind as to the necessity of defending himself and the means Justifiably to be taken in so doing•Evidence of this kind, is therefore In propel cases, generally held to be admissible To render evidence of such chatacter admissible however theie must be some demonstration by the deceased which If considered Independently of his character would be regarded as sufficient to wairant extreme defense measures, but when observed and considered in comiectior wltli stich character may reasonably arouse a belief of Imminent peril The Justice then declares that there was no fiuch situation presented in Padula e caseAdmlPflUiiritY Is Restricted 'The appellant ’ the opinion H further written, 'also suggested that evidence of the reputation of Clementl was admissibly evidence as evidencing a probability that he would violently and dangerously attack the defendant pnd so tending to support the claim that the deceased was the aggressor Statements may be found In the books to the effect that when the claim of self defense Is interposed by a person accused of homicide and a•w-*flouw k MAM u U the iommi. **UJ«ac, attlon ox the deceased far aim31* r traits may be admitted purpose of indicating what wn-/ ceased probably did—and this without toe state of mind of the a outlaid and without proof that he had knowledge of eutfi reputation ’*Justice Hlnman in reference CD the above stated that a painstaking aw* vey cf the text books disctoaaa proponents few In number and lacking or unconvincing in reasoning Thu opinion conclude# -it will be seldom also, that in a case who* a claim of aelf defense Is interposed thequestion as to which patty was tin aggressor cannot be as much pUoei in Is die as the state of mind of tlN \ accused, and the result of an uni Unit-/ ed ajpllcaton of such a rule would be 1 to lr terject the character of the decease 1 with the ruling temptation to meas ire the guilt of the accused by' the desert* of the victim tn ah of? such cases ’NICHOLSI Nit HOLS July 2®—(By Special Coe* respo ndent Mra Frank Reed drove ft*: Cam]) Mohawk yesterday taking wllft’ her Miss Helen Reed who la to act ii _ camp leader and Miss Vera Johnsols,; who will stay at the camp for t*D I week tPlans are being made to hold the annual Sunday school picnic of Trinity Episcopal Sunday school at Puteaps Park on Tuesday August 2 Automobiles will leave the parish house at 10 ochxk returning from the park lata in the afternoon Tbo Misses Elsie and Florence Dawson cf Stratford were recent visiters at the 1 ome of their uncle. Howard CfrT-tonMx 4 Sydney stapler entertained at a birthday party in honor of her sister Mrs George McCullough *W. gather from the ads that w#U-bred guests alwajs guffaw with gist H j you cant' answer the hoatsaa Jw Pren-h
Newspaper Details
Bridgeport Telegram
Bridgeport, Connecticut, US
Sat, Jul 30, 1927
Page 11
Full Page
Clipped by
Anonymous
CT, USA 23 Jun 2019
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