Many a man makes excuses for his errors that are no more reasonable
than those of the lawyer whose client was sentenced by Judge Kent, the
well-known jurist:
A man was indicted for burglary, and the evidence showed that
his burglary consisted in cutting a hole through a tent in
which several persons were sleeping and then projecting his
head and arm through the hole and abstracting various articles
of value. It was claimed by his counsel that, inasmuch as he
did not actually enter the tent with his whole body, he had
not committed the offense charged, and must, therefore, be
discharged. Judge Kent, in reply to this plea, told the jury
that if they were not satisfied that the whole man was involved
in the crime, they might bring in a verdict of guilty against
so much of him as was thus involved. The jury, after a brief
consultation, found the right arm, the right shoulder and the
head of the prisoner guilty of the offense of burglary. The
judge sentenced the right arm, the right shoulder and head to
imprisonment with hard labor in the State prison for two years,
remarking that as to the rest of his body he might do with it
what he pleased. (Text.)
(2601)