Roy Falls at Norris' gravesite

Roy Falls at Norris' gravesite

Sunday, August 29, 2010

The Chipps Murder Trial

The prime example of poor research is the recent attempts to rehash the killing of D. E. Chipps in 1926.  The redundancy of the episode rings loud with a pure lack of knowledge of both facts and law.  Unsubstantiated statements are picked up by one critic and passed on with abandon.  Calling Norris "a killer of an unarmed man" was not the finding of the 12 man jury.  Acquittal was the verdict.

Acquittal means that the accused defendant has a constitutional right against double jeopardy.  If the prosecutors had hopes of finding some appealable error in 1927, they would have pursued it legally.  Neither do the latter day pundits have grounds for a would be appeal.  So they dredge up an emotional appeal.  And add extraneous factors as well as denigrating reputable people, long deceased and unable to respond.  If the Norris acquittal was a miscarriage of justice, then the critics recourse of blame is upon the state, not some nebulous unknown element, like "nagging at a gnat".  To call "Norris" a "killer" would likely be grounds for libelous slander if he were still living.  But, unfortunately, utterances of emotional irrelevancies are permissible in a free society.

Roy Falls

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