The trial of Mr. Jno. Wakefield, for the wilful murder of Richard Maddock, at Winnington : in the Assize court at Chester ... on Friday, April third, 1818 ... / Taken in court by the editor of the Chester Chronicle.

  • Wakefield, John
Date:
[1818?]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The trial of Mr. Jno. Wakefield, for the wilful murder of Richard Maddock, at Winnington : in the Assize court at Chester ... on Friday, April third, 1818 ... / Taken in court by the editor of the Chester Chronicle. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    corroborative of the statement? What are the cotempOraneous facts in elucidation of the assertion by the Prisoner? Why he returns home, without any marks of violence whatever appearing, nor does he make any complaint of having been hurt. Indeed he states, that he left the deceased totally unconscious of his having suffered more than he (the Prisoner) had done ; and it is pretty clear, the only exertion the deceased used, was to get away from the Prisoner.—Gentlemen, in the course of the defence, the Prisoner desires you to do, what I now request you will do, namely, not to suffer your judgment “ to be influenced by any of that pre¬ judice which he had reason to believe had been excited against him.” For God’s sake, Gentlemen, if you have heard any thing prejudicial to the Prisoner, forget it—steel yourself against its influence, and let it only have the effect of constraining you to inquire with still greater minute¬ ness into the true bearings of the evidence. You have heard something said as to the state of the Moon’s age, on the night of the melancholy event ; this is of no importance : the night might be comparatively light from the influence of the stars, and from other causes- In support of the asserted darkness of the night, Mr. Worthington is called ; but I can¬ not think it is of the consequence which it is cloathed in. It might be —’it might be foggy at one place, arid not at another two miles distant: and we all know this very well.—The character which has been given of the prisoner, is certainly high ; and in most cases, character is of the first importance. But if you are of opinion, that the Prisoner caused the death of Maddock, influenced by motives of Jealousy, character must not protect crime, and your duty will be to find him guilty.— Indeed, in such lamen¬ table cases, character serves rather to illustrate the observation, that even a good man may err from the paths of virtue, and stray into the labyrinth of vice. [Here again, the Chief Justice adverted to the leading features of the evidence, and observed, that notwithstanding a close cross-examina¬ tion of the several witnesses, nothing was elicited tending to shake their tes¬ timony.] It is, Gentlemen, in some degree manifest, that the Prisoner had conceived a passion for the witness Woodward, and it may be inferred, that he looked upon the deceased in the way of a rival. By this jealousy might be produced.—If, therefore, acting under the influence of such jea¬ lousy, the Prisoner gave the deceased the wound of which he died, the offence is clearly murder, and I am bound to tell you so—and the other cir¬ cumstances proved by the several witnesses, must not be forgotten. There cannot be a question, but what the deceased received his death in the strug¬ gle near the gate.—If, however, you think no jealousy existed at the time, the crime is manslaughter.—I must, by the way, observe, that if the ob¬ ject of the Prisoner was merely to take the deceased into custody, for com¬ mitting a trespass, that he acted at once rashly and illegally.—Gentlemen, you cannot, perhaps, consider the matter better, than by placing yourselves in the situation of the Prisoner, and inquire of your consciences, whether
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