Manslaughter with recommendation for mercy was the verdict brought in by the Durham County jury in the case of Jesse H. Wyatt, former Raleigh police officer, Wednesday night at 11:19 after it had been out for two hours and 20 minutes.
Prayer for judgment was continued until the December term of Wake Superior Court by Judge Garland Midyette of Jackson, and also his bond of $10,000, which was given after the fatal shooting of Stephen S. Holt, Smithfield lawyer. The return of the verdict was witnessed by a small crowd that remained in the courtroom while the jury deliberated.
Judge Midyette, who for six days had presided over the trial with a patience that was equaled only by jurors. The judge went to Louisburg to open a term of Superior Court, which was due to begin Monday, but had to be postponed on account of the Wyatt trial.
The Durham County jury, which was impaneled on Tuesday afternoon of last week out of a special venire of 50 men, was composed of the following jurors: J.E. Conway, John H. Hays, R.E. Hurst, Pink H. Royster, Leno Harper, E.L. Husketh, D.R. Bruce, Lonnie O. Garrett, A.J. Tilley, J.B. Rich, Z.O. Barbour, J.E. Smith.
No more patient jury ever sat in the Wake County courthouse. For three days the jury listened to the evidence and for two days it listened to 11 lawyers, who talked for 14 hours. No case in Wake county was ever contested with more tenacity on both sides.
From the front page of The Zebulon Record, Friday, Nov. 20, 1925
newspapers.digitalnc.org/lccn/sn92073191/1925-11-20/ed-1/seq-1/
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