The Augusta Courier

FROM THE PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER

Judge Saves Fugitive From 'Georgia Justice'

PITTSBURGH Dec. 18 Allegheny County Common Pleas Court Judge Samuel Weiss today loosed a verbal blast at "Georgia Justice" and refused to extradite a 26-year-old escaped convict on the grounds that it would be "signing his death warrant."

The case involved James Moreland, alias Jacob Head, of Butts county, Ga., who fled Greenville Penitentiary Hospital, Cairo, Ga., in the spring of 1946 after serving three years of a 12-year term for a $20 burglary.

Moreland was arrested here in June and held as a fugitive.

Judge Weiss, who gained prominence as a national professional football league referee, freed Moreland, a Negro, in a burning 51-page opinion.

"Until the time comes . . . when all men are considered equal .. . regardless of race, color or creed," the opinion said, "this court cannot come to any conclusion but that James Moreland will suffer death by torture, lynching or murder upon his return to Georgia."

Judge Weiss pointed out in his opinion that Moreland's testimony in a hearing here last June was uncontested by Georgia authorities. At the hearing, Moreland testified that he was "framed" by the sheriff of Butts county for accusing the sheriff in a case involving illegal possession of whiskey.

"We cannot with a clear conscience blindly ignore the overwhelming weight of national public opinion against Georgia justice . . . or should I say injustice? . . so evident and uncontradicted in this case."

Judge Weiss pointed out that he would not apply the "same yardstick" if the request for extradition had come from New York, Ohio, Virginia, Michigan, Illinois or other States.