A Murder Case Cleared in Hours: Peter Brickley Sentenced to Life
In a swift Prosser court session, Brickley was tried and sentenced for the June killing of Charles Rasmussen, while other defendants pleaded or were acquitted.
Quick work was made of the grist of jury cases in Superior Judge O. R. Holcomb’s court in Prosser this week. Monday Peter Brickley, who murdered Charles Rasmussen June 23, was arraigned, tried and convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in the state penitentiary all within a few hours.
J. K. Hawkins, who was held on a charge of first-degree assault on the person of Kemp Dawson, was tried and acquitted Tuesday.
The case of the State of Washington vs. F. B. Smith, of White Bluffs, charged with the illicit sale of liquor, was called Tuesday. The defendant entered a plea of guilty and was fined $200 and costs, $100 of which was remitted.
Clarence Martin, alias Joe Martin, and Don Spear, alias Jack James, who were arrested in Pendleton last week on a charge of having forged the name of F. M. Headlee in this city, pleaded guilty.
The jury cases were concluded Wednesday and the jurors were dismissed from further duty.
“Monday Peter Brickley, who murdered Charles Rasmussen June 23, was arraigned, tried and convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in the state penitentiary all within a few hours.”
Arraignment, trial, conviction and sentencing in a single day is hard to imagine in a modern court, where such a case would take months. The story is also a caution that “quick justice” can be a boast and a warning at the same time.
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