A Violent Encounter Ends in a Courtroom Technicality
After stabbing a man multiple times, Fagan Scott dodges a serious felony conviction through a judicial error.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
Fagan Scott, who stabbed George Ortell several weeks ago, inflicting 13 knife wounds in the body of the latter, was sentenced this morning by Judge Brents in the superior court to pay a fine of $400 and the costs of the prosecution. When the sentence had been passed, Scott informed the court that he would not pay the fine, but would serve it out in jail, and he was immediately taken to a cell and locked up. Scott was originally charged with assault to commit murder, but the jury returned a verdict of 'assault with intent to inflict a bodily injury,' which Judge Brents rejected for lacking a specific legal element. The jury was sent back to deliberate and returned a verdict for 'assault with a deadly weapon.' However, the defendant’s attorney, Oscar Cain, objected, arguing the first verdict was a valid conviction for simple assault and that the court lacked jurisdiction to proceed further. The judge ultimately agreed and imposed only a fine for simple assault.
“The court ordered the verdict received and filed, when Oscar Cain, attorney for Scott, objected to the verdict, claiming that the first verdict returned by the jury was a valid conviction of simple assault.”
This case highlights the archaic and often frustrating nature of judicial procedures where technicalities could override violent acts. Even in 1903, the tension between what a community perceived as justice and what a court could procedurally deliver was a source of significant public debate.
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