makes no difference, since the State has no appeal from an
acquittal in a criminal case, no matter how much the judge has
erred. In the same way, but not in quite the same fashion,
the district attorney prepares "requests to charge," but his
desire for favorable instructions should be, and generally is,
curbed by the consideration that if the judge makes any
mistake in the law and the defendant is convicted he can
appeal and upset the case. Of course, some prosecutors are so
anxious to convict that they will wheedle or deceive a judge
into giving charges which are not only most inimical to the
prisoner, but so utterly unsound that a reversal is sure to
follow; but when one of these professional bloodhounds is
baying upon the trail all he thinks of is a conviction--that
is all he wants, all the public will remember; to him will be
the glory; and when the case is finally reversed he will
probably be out of office. These "requests" cover pages, and
touch upon every phase of law applicable or inapplicable to
the case. Frequently they number as many as fifty, sometimes
many more. It is "up to" the judge to decide "off the bat"
which are right and which are wrong. If he guesses that the
right one is wrong or the wrong one right the defendant gets a
new trial.




CHAPTER III

Sensationalism and Jury Trials