FULL TEXT: Governor Markham has pardoned Albert Heuek, who was sentenced in the Superior Court of San Diego County in October, 1889, to seven years at Folsom for an assault to rape. He gives the following reasons for his action:
From
written evidence produced by Walter Ferral and M. L. Ward, District Attorney of
San Diego, it was shown that Heuck was convicted on the testimony of the
complaining witness, who swore positively that at the time of the alleged
assault she had never had intercourse with another person. Since his
conviction, however, it is proved that before that time she was living with
another man.
It further
appears that at the time of the trial her true character was not known, nor was
the fact known that she was living as a kept mistress of the man spoken of and
the associate of persons of questionable morality.
Farther,
it appears that since Heuck’s incarceration she has brought suit for damages
against another party with whom she claimed to have been criminally intimate
prior to the time of the alleged assault by Heuck, and as the District Attorney found her testimony in the two cases did
not agree, he refused to have anything to do with the last case.
The
State Board of Prison Directors being satisfied that Heuck had been unjustly condemned
on perjured testimony, recommended his pardon, which is granted, and he is
restored to citizenship.
He
has also pardoned Marcus Cesena, sentenced by the Superior Court of Monterey County
in September, 1889, to six years' imprisonment at San Quentin for an attempt at
rape.
The
State Board of Prison Directors, alter careful investigation of the case, have recommended
that the sentence be commuted to four years on the grounds that from the
testimony submitted there seems to be grave doubts of his guilt.
It is
shown by letters from many prominent citizens that the prisoner had an excellent
reputation prior to his conviction, and the petition is signed by the majority of
the jury that convicted him, the Sheriff and District Attorney of the county
and many prominent citizens and county officials.
It also
appears from the papers on file that it is the general impression among the
better class of people in the county that the defendant was innocent of the crime,
and the party on whom the assault was claimed to have been committed has at
different times and to different people acknowledged that her testimony was false,
lie is therefore pardoned and restored to citizenship.
He
has also commuted the sentence of Henry Hunt, who was sentenced in March, 1882,
by the Superior Court of Los Angeles County to imprisonment for life for murder
in the first degree, to twenty-one years.
The
Prison Directors have recommended the commutation for the reason that the
murder was not a cold-blooded, deliberate one, the man killed having interfered
while defendant was trying to shoot another man, and the killing being apparently
accidental.
Although
the prisoner was an old man at the time of the murder, he had always borne a
good reputation as a peaceable man, and was not a bad man, a ruffian or a
desperado. In the opinion of ex-Sheriff W. B. Rowland and a number of other prominent
citizens, the punishment was an excessive one under the circumstances and the
prisoner was guilty of no higher crime than manslaughter, and is a lit subject
for executive clemency. His conduct has been uniformly good since his
imprisonment, and Warden Aull and Captain Murphy unite in recommending him to
clemency. He is now old and feeble and has now been incarcerated for nearly
thirteen years, and it is the opinion of the board that he has been
sufficiently punished.
His
sentence will expire in February, 1895.
The
sentence of Henry L. Azbill (Lilburn Azbill) who was sentenced by the Superior
Court of Ventura County in to four years' imprisonment for assault to rape, has
been commuted to two and one-sixth years, to expire next month.
Hon.
B. T. Williams, Superior Judge of Ventura County, who sentenced Azbill, says that
the boy was beyond the age when he could be sent to the Reform School, where he
should have been sent rather than to San Quentin. The girl's father and mother
have since related facts raise a doubt as to whether the offense was actually
committed, and the boy and his parents were densely ignorant. His father has
died and his mother and her children are county pensioners. He has always
behaved well and complied with all rules of the prison, and the directors think
that the ends of justice have been attained.
[“Pardons And Commutations. - Governor Markham Records Four
in One Day. - Two Men Sentenced on Perjured Evidence of Women – An Excessive Sentence.”
The Record-Union (Sacramento, Ca.), Mar. 1, 1894, p. 4]
No comments:
Post a Comment