Native Son - Richard Wright [173]
“I’m very sorry, Your Honor,” Buckley said, going toward the railing and wiping his face with a handkerchief. “I was laboring under too much emotion. I merely wanted to impress the Court with the urgency of this situation….”
“The Court is waiting to hear your plea,” the judge said.
“Yes; of course, Your Honor,” Buckley said. “Now, what are the issues here? The indictment fully states the crime to which the defendant has entered a plea of guilty. The counsel for the defense claims, and would have this Court believe, that the mere act of entering a plea of guilty to this indictment should be accepted as evidence mitigating punishment.
“Speaking for the grief-stricken families of Mary Dalton and Bessie Mears, and for the People of the State of Illinois, thousands of whom are massed out beyond that window waiting for the law to take its course, I say that no such quibbling, no such trickery shall pervert this Court and cheat the law!
“A man commits two of the most horrible murders in the history of American civilization; he confesses; and his counsel would have us believe that because he pleads guilty after dodging the law, after attempting to murder the officers of the law, that his plea should be looked upon as evidence mitigating his punishment!
“I say, Your Honor, this is an insult to the Court and to the intelligent people of this state! If such crimes admit of such defense, if this fiend’s life is spared because of such a defense, I shall resign my office and tell those people out there in the streets that I can no longer protect their lives and property! I shall tell them that our courts, swamped with mawkish sentimentality, are no longer fit instruments to safeguard the public peace! I shall tell them that we have abandoned the fight for civilization!
“After entering such a plea, the counsel for the defense indicates that he shall ask this Court to believe that the mental and emotional life of the defendant are such that he does not bear full responsibility for these cowardly rapes and murders. He asks this Court to imagine a legendary No Man’s Land of human thought and feeling. He tells us that a man is sane enough to commit a crime, but is not sane enough to be tried for it! Never in my life have I heard such sheer legal cynicism, such a cold-blooded and calculated attempt to bedevil and evade the law in my life! I say that this shall not be!
“The State shall insist that this man be tried by jury, if the defense continues to say that he is insane. If his plea is simply guilty, then the State demands the death penalty for these black crimes.
“At such time as the Court may indicate, I shall offer evidence and put witnesses upon the stand to testify that this defendant is sane and is responsible for these bloody crimes….”
“Your Honor!” Max called.
“You shall have time to plead for your client!” Buckley shouted. “Let me finish!”
“Do you have an objection?” the judge asked, turning to Max.
“I do!” Max said. “I hesitate to interrupt the State’s Attorney, but the impression he is trying to make is that I claim that this boy is insane. That is not true. Your Honor, let me state once again that this poor boy, Bigger, enters a plea of guilty….”
“I object!” Buckley shouted. “I object to the counsel for the defendant speaking of this defendant before this Court by any name other than that written in the indictment. Such names as ‘Bigger’ and ‘this poor boy’ are used to arouse sympathy….”
“Sustained,” the judge said. “In the future, the defendant should be designated by the name under which the indictment was drawn. Mr. Max, I think you should allow the State’s Attorney to continue.”
“There’s nothing further I have to say, Your Honor,” Buckley said. “If it pleases the Court, I am ready to call my witnesses.”
“How many witnesses have you?” Max asked.
“Sixty,” Buckley said.
“Your Honor,” Max said. “Bigger Thomas has entered a plea of guilty. It seems to me that sixty witnesses are not needed.”
“I intend to prove that this defendant is sane, that he was and is responsible for these frightful crimes,