Jesse L. Peake will enter at once on his sentence of 30 years at hard labor in the state prison for the murder of H.B. Ashburn in this city on the night of December 7, 1921.
The jury in the case returned its verdict before the court in a called session Friday night, declaring defendant guilty of murder in the second degree. Peake was brough into the court Saturday about 10:30 for final disposition of the case and Judge W.E. Brock, presiding, sentenced the prisoner, who stood erect and still unmoved so far as human eye could detect.
Ordering the prisoner tohis feet and the court spoke:
“The jury in the case has been very liberal with you,” declared Judge Brock, “and you should always feel very generous toward the jurors composing it. Do not consider my remarks as in any way criticizing the jurors, but they have been generous to you as the court sees the evidence in the case. It shall be my duty to give you the last day of the sentence provided as the penalty under the law.
“I believe that you are guilty,” the court declared in firm town, pausing a moment. “The court hoped that you may be able to appeal to that power which also is touched by generosity, tenderness and love, that he may reach down and in some way touch your soul with humility.
“Mr. Clerk, enter the record 30 years at hard labor in the state’s prison in the case against the defendant.”
The prisoner took his seat for a moment, to be ordered into the custody of the sheriff to be carried to the state penitentiary at Raleigh. He left the courthouse apparently unconcerned, entering no protest against the verdict of guilty, and apparently indifferent to the fact that he had 30 years of hard prison labor before him.
The courtroom was again packed upon the opening of the morning session, the court announcing after receiving the verdict last night, that the prisoner would be sentenced during the morning session today.
When the prisoner had taken his seat, by counsel about 10:30 o’clock the query from the court brought the statement from Attorney Camp that the prisoner had nothing to convey to the court. Counsel, however, a moment later moved that the verdict be set aside, which motion the court overruled, and the usual entry of “notice of appeal” was being attached when the counsel for the defendant stated that it is the desire of their client to abide by the judgement of the trial court at this term.
Upon announcement that an appeal would not be taken, however, the motion to set aside the verdict aside was stricken out and the prisoner was sentenced.
Brought to Court in Auto
The report that the jury had made up its verdict about 9:15 last night spread rapidly about the business district and the courthouse rapidly filled when it was further learned that an officer of the court had been sent to summon Judge Brock and counsel for the state and defense to the courthouse. The judge and counsel arrived about 10:15, and in a short time the prisoner appeared. The streets were lined with people by the time the prisoner started from the jail and the Sheriff and his deputies placed the defendant in the auto, driving into the parking area of the courthouse square and carried him into the presence of the court.
In receiving the verdict both the jury and the prisoner were standing. Juror York was spokesman for the jury and responded to the questions from the clerk and court.
“Mr. Clerk, take the verdict of the jury,” ordered Judge Brock.
“Gentlemen, have you agreed upon a verdict?” asked the clerk.
“We have!” responded J.R. York, foreman of the jury.
“And what is your verdict?”
“Guilty”—(There was a slight pause on the part of the foreman, a silence spread throughout the courtroom, the prisoner barely moving)--“of murder in the second degree.”
“So say you all, gentlemen?” asked the clerk.
The 12 men nodded their assent, the verdict was recorded, the trial was at an end. Judge Brock ordered the prisoner returned to his cell in the county jail to await his sentence.
Peake Accepts Verdict
It was evident that the audience had expected either acquittal or a verdict of murder in a lesser degree than that providing capital punishment, and when the spokesman for the jury faltered after saying guilty there seemed to settle upon the entire audience a deep silence, which tension was over in a moment when the speaker qualified the statement with the words “murder in the second degree.” The opinion was generally expressed that this was a fair conclusion on the part of the jury.
The case was given to the jury at 5:10 Friday evening, their verdict being ready for the court at 9:15 after four hours deliberation. It was showed a majority for acquittal, only one standing for murder in the first degree.
Judge Brock’s charge to the jury was one declared throro and impartial, he defining the evidence and instructing the jury very clearly as to the law in such cases. The jury deliberated for a period on their reflection of the evidence, later (word obscured) for the exhibition by the county for the state and the defendant (word obscured) the taking of evidence, and later reached their decision in the case.
Case Was Hard Fought
The trial, which began Monday afternoon, was one of the hardest fought and most complicated cases ever staged in this county. Many witnesses were examined for both sides. The crime has been generally regarded as one of the most heinous ever committed in this section, appearing to have been committed in cold blood after deliberate planning on the part of the murderer.
Mr. H.B. Ashburn was shot down in his hoffice of the Merchants Bank and Trust Company building in the heart of the city on the night of December 7. The body was not found until the morning of the 8th, when Mrs. Ashburn, becoming alarmed at his failure to return home during the night, having left home on the evening of the crime to fill a supposedly business appointment with the present of his company at his office, went to the office and found the dead body of Mr. Ashburn stretched upon the floor in a pool of blood.
Suspicion was at once directed to J.L. Jeake, former superintendent of a Greensboro life insurance company, whom Ashburn had succeeded as district manager about seven weeks before the fatal night.
Peake was located in Knoxville, Tenn., thru telegrams received by the Peoples National Bank in this city, with which Peake carried a checking account. He was arrested and his fight against extradition continued from the time of his arrest two days after the murder until March of this year, when the prisoner was ordered into the custody of Winston-Salem officers who had been sent three times to bring him back to answer to the charges.
A strong defense had been prepared by the defendant when his case was called Monday and both the state and counsel for the prisoner entered the trial with what has been conceded throughout the trial to a large degree unimpeachable testimony.
In presenting the case to the jury counsel for the state and defense made powerful pleas against and in behalf of the defendant, developing a situation which offered the most serious problem to the jury, making their task one of the hardest that has ever been imposed on a jury in this county.
The seriousness of the situation seemed to impress each member of the counsel and each spoke at length, revealing every phase of the case and the contention of each side. Thruout the argument the courtroom was packed, many taking quick lunch down town and retuning as quickly as possible to the courtroom during the recesses in order that they might retain seats of advantage in the building. Hundreds stook for hours listening to the speeches, among these being many women. The trial has been one of the most interesting in many years in this county, counsel on both sides being highly commended for their efforts in that connection. Each was pronounced a masterpiece, pointedly analyzing the evidence and citing conclusions and court rulings in a manner which held the interest and attention of every attendant.
Speaking for the defendant were Attorneys Z.C. Camp, J.J. Harris, Fred N. McMillan, and E. Garland Brown, and for the State, Attorneys John C. Wallace, L.M. Swink, Fred G. Hutchins and Solicitor S. Porter Graves.
From The Western Sentinel, Winston-Salem, N.C., August 8, 1922
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