Welcome to the Posey Circuit Court
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Welcome to the Posey Circuit Court
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE PERFIDIOUS PILFERERS PURLOIN POSEY’S PROPERTY AND PERSON!Gavel GamutMay 20, 2005, Mt. Vernon Indiana Jury VerdictSeptember 26, 1863Guilty! So say you one, so say you all, said the Posey Circuit Court Jury. After almost a year of pre-trial maneuvering by the Confederate Defendants and the Posey County authorities, a Jury found those Confederates guilty of kidnapping Dr. William Harris from his home in West Franklin and of stealing property from several citizens of our fair county. Each of the Defendants claimed to have been acting as soldiers in the Rebel Army when they invaded Posey County on November 08, 1862. They each immediately filed to appeal their two-year state prison sentences and one hundred dollar fines. However, our own Posey Circuit Court Judge, William F. Parrett, Jr., in pre-trial motions had carefully addressed the issue of whether Paul Manns, William Quinn, James Quinn, Charles Woods, Jonas Soakes, Frank DeChamps, Barnett Clay, John Gobin, George Finley and James Powell were acting legitimately as members of the Fourth Regiment of the Kentucky Calvary of the Confederate States of America or were simply common criminals. Then, after a Posey County Jury had found the men guilty, Judge Parrett reiterated his reasoning in denying the convicted felons a new trial. First, Judge Parrett defined the lines of authority separating state civil authority and martial law: “This Court cannot take cognizance of the question whether the defendants are or are not entitled to the protection afforded by the Laws of War to prisoners of War; that is a question solely between the Belligerents [the United States and the Confederate States].”
“If the defendants wish to assert a claim to be treated as prisoners of War they must do it not in this Court but through the Military authorities of the Belligerent under whose orders they assume to have acted.”
“This is the understanding of the Rebel authorities themselves on the subject as is manifest from the fact that they turn over certain of our captured officers to the State authorities of the insurrectionary states to be punished under the criminal codes of those states.” After pointing out that claims of Prisoner of War status must be addressed to the military authorities, Judge Parrett set forth the legal standard for determining the issue: “In a war in support of an insurrection against the established Government, it is optional with the government when it will commence or cease to treat traitors as prisoners of War and this being the case Civil Tribunals will not take cognizance of rules which are liable to fluctuate with the Contingencies of War.” Next our own Judge Parrett let the Defendants feel the whole weight of his reasoning: “As this is an indictment for a violation of the laws of Indiana pending in an Indiana Court and as Indiana is not a Belligerent, her Courts will see to the enforcement of her Laws and leave the question of Belligerent rights where they properly belong to the General Government. She will be especially careful not to seek to shield felons from the consequences of a violation of her Laws on the grounds that they have acted in obedience to the commands of greater felons against the General Government.” Lastly, Judge Parrett directed the convicted Confederates to the proper avenue for their appeal: “If the Defendants are entitled to be held as prisoners of War the Claims to have them so treated can be made as well before as after trial [Judge Parrett’s decision on jurisdiction was initially made pre-trial then reaffirmed by him after the guilty verdicts], and if the United States decide that they are prisoners of War the Governor of the State has full authority to release them and turn them over to Military Authorities.” Well, Gentle Readers, please “tune in” next week to see if the Rebels remained within our Indiana prison system or were declared Prisoners of War.
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