1367 Sheet – Supreme Court Georgia Appeals of Leo Frank, 1913, 1914

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315

3. We are constrained to the conclusion that it is not the purpose for any reason to release this negro, but, by obtaining the order here sought, continue the present, illegal confinement.

4. But Frank is himself deeply interested in this proceeding. That the consent of the Solicitor and the will of the negro is all that is required to reverse the will of the law, is erroneous. The State has the right in the interest of justice to put a witness in custody, but where in custody and in whose custody is of the highest importance. The law has given such custody to the Sheriff and wisely so. The Sheriff is not a prosecutor; the jail itself is not usually a place of punishment, but a temporary place of detention. The Sheriff is supposed to stand impartially between the State and his prisoners, and may be trusted neither to cajole, threaten, nor suppress any testimony by third degree methods. The law never meant to place a witness, who, for lack of character, needs confinement under the control of a partisan prosecutor.

5. That the detectives should wish to keep Conley in custody and entertain him at the city's expense, is not at all surprising. They have already extracted from him extravagant, unthinkable confessions, three or four in number. To these statements they have given the widest publicity, and to the credibility of the last one they have staked their reputations and hope of place.

Upon the constancy and stability of this witness, they have staked their all. They would be less than human if they did not bend all their power and ingenuity in holding him to his present statement, adding to and taking therefrom only such things as will aid its credibility.

Can any fair-minded man believe that Lanford is a fair man to be the custodian of this ignorant negro? What chance would he have to retract any lies he may have told, or if in a repentant mood, he should wish to tell the truth? This negro in the city prison, in the power of Lanford, apart from all questions of truth, would be just as dangerous as Lanford would wish him to be. No one knows that better than Lanford, and no one would feel it as acutely as will this negro.

How well Lanford knows it, can be seen from his interview in the Atlanta Georgian of June 12th. In that interview he demonstrated that he thinks he has full, unrestricted ownership of this negro. He graciously expresses his willingness for this negro to go before the Grand Jury upon such terms as he suggests. Neither the negro, nor the negro's lawyer, nor the Grand Jury is considered. Nor was this court to be consulted—his will and not the order of this court was to determine when and under what circumstances the negro should leave the Police Station.

If Lanford vaunts in the face of jury and court, his power over this negro, what must be his bearing when he deals privately with the negro himself?