Viewing Criminal Law & Crime Category (22) found:Darwin S. Hall: "The First Lawsuit in Birch Cooley Township." (1916)The first trial in Birch Cooley Township in Renville County was held in 1868 in the small house of Willard Drury, Justice of the Peace. John Tracy was prosecuted for cruelty to his neighbor's cattle when they strayed over the property line onto his land. He was tried before a conscientio... "Murder Most Foul!" -- The Lynching of John W. Kelliher (1886).John W. Kelliher was taken from his jail cell in Detroit, Minnesota, and lynched on the night of June 23, 1886, by a mob outraged by his murder of John Convay, the village marshall. A long, eye-witness account of the events was published in the "Detroit Record" on June 25. The lynching was also t... Douglas A. Hedin, "The Emergence of a Criminal Defendant's Right to Testify at Trial."Until 1868, a defendant in a criminal trial in Minnesota could not testify in his own defense. Like other states, Minnesota adhered to the common law rule that barred a criminal defendant from testifying because he had an "interest" in the outcome of the trial. The parallel common law prohibition ... Lincoln Steffens: "The Shame of Minneapolis." (1903)In January 1903, "McClure's Magazine" carried an exposé by Lincoln Steffens, a young journalist, of the corrupt reign of Minneapolis Mayor Albert Alonzo ("Doc") Ames. Steffens described how theft, gambling and prostitution flourished during the Ames administration in 1901-2. In a scoop, he publishe... Hastings H. Hart: "The Jail System of Minnesota" (1885).In 1885 the Board of Corrections and Charities submitted its First Biennial Report to the Legislature. It was compiled and written by Hastings Hornell Hart, the secretary of the Board. After his appointment in 1883, Hart inspected each of Minnesota's 55 jails and even toured public facilities in oth... Hastings H. Hart: "The County Jails, 1888-1890" (1891).In 1891, the State Board of Corrections and Charities published its Fourth Biennial Report to the Legislature, covering the years 1888-1890. As usual, it included a report from its meticulous, reform-minded secretary, Hastings Hornell Hart, on the conditions of each jail he had inspected during thi... Hastings H. Hart: "The County Jails, 1892-1894" (1895).In April 1893, the state legislature passed a law that transformed control and management of the county jail, an important segment of the criminal justice system. Because the elected county board was frequently reluctant to use public funds for necessary repairs and upkeep of the jail, the reform a... "Inside the Jury Room During the Kelly-Lamb Murder Trial" (1875)On August 5, 1874, Michael Kelly killed Barney Lamb. Nine months later he was tried in Ramsey County District Court for first degree murder.
Samuel W. Eaton: "Murder of Warren Youmans and Others." (1883)Samuel Eaton, a minister, farmer, newspaper editor and state representative in Rochester, wrote vignettes of five murders committed in Olmsted County between 1865 and 1880. For each, he describes the events preceding the crime, the apprehension of suspects, their court appearances, and sentences. ... James Redman: "The Killing and Transfiguration of Harry Morris." (2001)In mid-August 1931, a gangland-style murder was committed on a two-lane road south of Red Wing, Minnesota. The victim was Harry Morris, a career bank robber, well known to police in St. Paul and Minneapolis. The killer was never apprehended, though he almost certainly was James Allen Camden, a bootl... Magdalene R. Sparrow: "Legal History and Law Enforcement in Big Stone County." (1981)Big Stone County was established by the legislature on February 20, 1862. In 1981, Magdalene R. Sparrow published a history of the county. She included a short chapter on lawyers who had practiced in the county, several of whom practiced more than a half-century. She also related several anecdotes ... Wayne E. Webb & J. I. Swedberg: "The Lawbreakers of Redwood County." (1964)Numerous crimes committed in Redwood County from the 1860s through the 1950s are described in this article, which originally was a chapter in a history of the county published in 1964.
Crime in Goodhue County, 1854-1877 (1878).A history of Goodhue County published in 1878 contained short descriptions of several murders and criminal prosecutions between 1854, when the first district court session was held, and 1877. ... "Justice Court in Houston County" (1882)A history of Houston County published in 1882 repeated several anecdotes about cases tried or attempted to be tried in justice court in the 1850s. ... "The First Lawsuit in Becker County" (1907).The first trial in Becker County, Minnesota, was held about November, 1871. Harvey Jones was prosecuted for domestic assault. He was tried before a jury, which found him guilty. He was sentenced to 30 days in jail. As Jones was being transported to jail, he received some shrewd legal a... "Murders and Outrages Committed in Watonwan County." (1916)Several murders committed in Watonwan County from 1872 to 1916 are described in this chapter from a joint history of Watonwan and Cottonwood Counties published in 1916. About two-thirds of the chapter is an excerpt from a first person narrative of the Northfield Bank robbery in 1876 by Cole Younger... Patrick B. Nolan: "The Waseca County Horse Thief Detective Society." (1971)Vigilantes, popularly thought to be a phenomenon of the far western frontier, were active in several communities Minnesota and other states in the Midwest in the nineteenth century, long after the frontier had passed. Vigilance committees emerged to combat acts of lawlessness that could not be cont... "The Celebrated Kate Noonan Case." (1877)On February 16, 1877, Kate Noonan shot and killed William Sidle outside the Nicollet House in Minneapolis. She was tried in June, but the jury deadlocked. When the judge dismissed the jury, Noonan was in her cell. Her attorneys sought to free her via a writ of habeas corpus on the ground that her... "The Patrick Noonan Case." (1912)This is a brief account of a murder that was committed in Fillmore County in October, 1874, but not resolved until November, 1902. It appeared in a history of the county published in 1912. ... "The Celebrated Paulson Case." (1916)Shortly after Paulson, a Scandinavian immigrant, disappeared after a night of drinking "frontier whisky" at a log inn in Douglas County, the wife of the innkeeper located the body in a small lake and collected a reward of $500. One of Paulson's compatriots was tried for his murder but acquitted. Ye... Edward H. Goodsell: "Harry Hayward" (1896).Harry Hayward's murder of Katherine ("Kitty") Ging on December 3, 1894, his sensational trial and execution on December 11, 1895, were the subjects of many newspaper articles and, much later, several history books (the most recent being Shawn Francis Peters, "The Infamous Harry Hayward" (Univ. of M... "A Lawyer's Story" (1869).In March 1868, Minnesota became the ninth state to enact legislation permitting a defendant in a criminal case to testify under oath at his own trial. This law abolished an old common law rule of evidence that barred a criminal defendant from testifying under oath because he had an "interest" in th... |