People v. Clark

This appeal is by the defendant from a judgment convicting him of murder in the first degree, and adjudging him to suffer death.

Apparently, the appeal has been practically abandoned, since appellant’s counsel have filed no brief in its support, nor did *634 they appear on the day the cause was set for argument, to make an oral presentation, or offer any reason or suggestion against the affirmance of. the judgment. By reason of this fact," the cause was, on motion of the attorney general, ordered submitted on the transcript, and that alone is presented for our consideration, It is not an agreeable task for the court, in undertaking to review a case involving the gravity of capital punishment, to be compelled to resort to the naked record, wholly unaided by counsel, in the effort to determine whether a defendant has been accorded in all respects that fair and impartial hearing and protection in all his rights guaranteed him by the constitution and the law. Nevertheless, we have never been willing, as. in eases of lesser felonies, to affirm a judgment of death without looking into the record, by reason of the absence of such aid. We may safely assume, however, that the failure of…