The Dawson News

The Chapman Case.

Counsel for Gerald Chapman, notorious bandit and murderer recently found guilty and condemned to death in Connecticut, has raised the question whether the state has the right to execute him while he is under federal control. Chapman was sentenced to 25 years in the federal penitentiary at Atlanta for participating in a $2,000,000 mail robbery. Frederick J. Groehl, the murderer's attorney, declares the government sentence takes precedence over that imposed by the Connecticut court.

How the point of law will be settled remains to be seen. It might appear to the layman as the attorney makes the unusual plea that the counsel has attempted to establish his client's right to serve the sentence imposed upon him by a United States court, and that the argument undertakes to defend this as a privilege which the state is about to deny him. It is a naive contention, and in view of the fact that some queer things are done in interpreting law in this country, none could say conclusively that it will fail as a loophole of escape for this notorious thief and killer.

Mr. Groehl has failed utterly to deceive anyone by making this plea for his client. His representation to the court is of a piece with the fabric so frequently woven by attorneys for criminals to protect them from punishment under the law. In this case it is a poor protection against an aroused and outraged society. Yet there are the courts, many of which, it seems, are designed more for the purpose of giving the criminal every chance at escape than to provide law-abiding citizens with protection. Indeed, Gerald Chapman has not been hanged in Connecticut, and his doom will not be sealed until the trap falls beneath him.