The People of the State of New York v. Thomas Morrison and James Durkin

This is the case of the people of the state of New York against Thomas Morrison and James Durkin where the witness testifies against their offense at the club with the case ID 3073. The crime date was on Monday, November 28, 1921, and the hearing date was on Wednesday, December 21, 1921. The case was led by judge Otto A. Rosalsky, and the prosecuting attorney was Theodore L Waugh. The crime location was at Manhattan, New York, and the defense attorney was James D.C Murray. Mr. Waugh opened the case for the hearing in court, and a witness was called on behalf of the people to testify the actions of these two men that seemed to be a great threat to the existence of businesses in the area and the people's security. The indictment for Thomas Morrison and James Durkin were robbery charged in the first degree, grand larceny that was charged in the second degree, assaulate in the first degree and there were also issues of criminally indictment field. At the hearing, the representatives of the state of the New York gang up against the two defendants stating their crimes that the court was supposed to consider.

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The crime in the trial for the Thomas Morrison and James Durkin included the robbery that was charged in the first degree. The witness testifies that in the club, these two men that he had been seeing in the club knock at the door and when he goes to open, they put up two revolvers against his head and he was told to back up into the rear room of the club. At the rear room, he was made to face the wall, and they robbed him of his $200 from the pocket, a ring that belonged to him and also a stickpin from his tie. They then tied his arms behind my back, around the wrists and the ankles as well. Robbery in the first degree was charged with violence. This led to the men being charged with grand larceny in the second degree for theft of personal property which in this case was the issue of the stickpin and the ring because they belonged to him. They were also charged with assaulate in the first degree because of the threat in using revolvers to threaten the witness and tying him up in the rear room of the social club with two small pieces of thick twine.

The defense argued that the defense attorney denied the claims of the court because he said that there was no enough evidence to convict Thomas Morrison and James Durkin of these claims. Mr. Murray says that the witnesses had failed to make out a case on the entire case since they did not provide evidence to show that these two defendants were the people they had seen earlier in the club. Mr. Murray keeps objecting to the things that the clients say because he states that there is not such a testimony to convict the defendants against these crimes. The defendants also objected being involved in such crimes, and at one time, the court also strikes out the pieces of evidence from the witnesses as asked by defense attorney Mr. Murray giving the reason that the witness could not characterize the testimony of another witness.

The court, in this case, does not come to a conclusion and there is no stand stated for the prosecution of Thomas Morrison and James Durkin. All through the case, the court describes the roles of the witnesses and what they are supposed to do ensuring that they stated the facts of the case in a proper manner. In the end, the court denies the motion of the defense attorney, and he is summed up to the jury. However, the court takes a break to resume later at 2 o'clock where they also state that there should not be any discussion between the people being involved, whether the witnesses or the defendants nor were they supposed to discuss it with anyone. Additionally, they were restricted from forming or expressing their opinions as to the guilt or the innocence of the defendants. This was until the case was finally submitted.

Conclusion

The three main themes addressed in the trial include the power of justice as it is seen in the way the prosecuting attorney tries to gather information to know the scope of the trial and what crimes to convict Thomas and James for during the whole trial. There is the theme of social problems as seen in the way the witness describes that the social club has been brought down because of issues of robbery and larceny as seen from the case. There is also the theme of humanity vs. nature seen in the way the witnesses describe how they were handled at the court. Generally, the court trial shows the issues encountered in the day to day lives of people.