438 Sheet – American State Trials 1918 Volume X Leo Frank Document

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Here is the translated text as follows:

406 XY. AMERICAN STATE TRIALS.

If you believe from the evidence as a whole that the defendant is guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, you would be authorized to convict him.

If you believe beyond a reasonable doubt from the evidence in this case that this defendant is guilty of murder, then you would be authorized in that event to say, "We, the jury, find the defendant guilty." Should you go no further, gentlemen, and say nothing else in your verdict, the Court would have to sentence the defendant to the extreme penalty for murder, to wit: to be hanged by the neck until he is dead. But should you see fit to do so, in the event you arrive at the conclusion and belief beyond a reasonable doubt from the evidence that this defendant is guilty, then, gentlemen, you would be authorized in that event, if you saw fit to do so, to say: "We, the jury, find the defendant guilty, and we recommend that he be imprisoned in the penitentiary for life." In the event you should make such a verdict as that, then the Court, under the law, would have to sentence the defendant to the penitentiary for life.

You have heard the defendant make his statement. He had the right to make it under the law. It is not made under oath, and he is not subject to examination or cross-examination. It is up to you to decide how much of it you will believe or how little of it. You may go to the extent, if you see fit, of believing it in preference to the sworn testimony in the case.

In the event, gentlemen, you have a reasonable doubt from the evidence, or the evidence and the statement together, or either, as to the defendant's guilt as charged, then give the prisoner the benefit of that doubt and acquit him; and in the event you do acquit him, the form of your verdict would be: "We, the jury, find the defendant not guilty." As honest jurors, do your utmost to reach the truth from the evidence and statement as you have heard it here, then let your verdict speak it.

At 12:45, the jury retired.

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