favour of his client. He may proceed to call witnesses to disprove the
facts adduced on the other side, or to show that the character of the
accused stands too high for even a suspicion of the alleged clime; he
has the utmost liberty of speech and action He may indefinitely
protract the proceedings, and there seems to be scarcely any limit, in
point of law, beyond which the ultimate event of the trial may not be,
by these means, deferred. Whenever the defence closes, in those cases
in which the government is the real prosecutor, the representative of
the crown has the general reply; at the close of which the presiding
judge sums up the evidence to the jury, and informs them of the legal
bearing of the facts, on the effect and existence of which the jury
has to decide. This having been accomplished, it becomes the duty of
the jury to deliberate, decide, and pronounce their verdict. If the
verdict be "Not guilty," the accused is for ever quit and discharged
of the accusation; but if the jury pronounce him guilty, he stands
convicted of the crime which has been thus charged and proved against
him, and awaits the judgment of the court. In felonies and ordinary
misdemeanours, judgment is generally pronounced immediately upon, or
soon after, the delivery of the verdict; in other cases, when the
trial has been had before the Queen's Bench, the judgment may, in
England, be pronounced either immediately or during the ensuing term.
But whenever this event occurs, the prisoner has still one chance more
for escape: he can move an arrest of judgment, on the grounds either
that the indictment is substantially defective, or that he has already
been pardoned or punished for the same offense. These objections, if
successful, will, even at this late stage of the proceedings, save the
defendant from the consequences of his crime. But if these last
resources fail, the court must give the judgment, or pronounce the
measure of that punishment, which the law annexes to the crime of
which the prisoner has been convicted.