Jasper County Democrat, Volume 22, Number 89, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 4 February 1920 — GENERAL AND STATE NEWS [ARTICLE]

GENERAL AND STATE NEWS

Telegraphic Reports From Many Paris ot the Country. SHORT BITS OF THE UNUSUAL Happenings in the Nearby Cities and Towns —Matters of Minor Mention From Many Localities. MURDER DECISION IS REVERSED Ijake County Court Did Not Permit Bandits to Change Plea. The Indiana supreme court Friday reversed the. Lake county criminal court’s action In refusing to permit the four bandits, charged with the murder of the earthier of the First State Bank at Tolleston, to withdraw their pleas of guilty and enter pleas of not guilty after they had been sentenced to death. The four bandits, Thomas M. Batchelor, Albert C. Batchelor, J. H. Parker and Dan Irkulpa, were convicted of killing the earthier when trying to rob the bank, and were sentenced to death by the judge ot the Lake county criminal court. Later they asked to withdraw their pleas of guilty and enter pleas of not guilty on the ground that they were ftot represented by counsel when they appeared before the judge and entered their pleas of guilty. This was refused. The Indiana supreme court, in its decision in the case, holds that the right of representation by counsel is a constitutional right, and where the defendant is not represented by counsel a conviction is not proper unless the accused has waived his right to be so represented. The supreme court holds that the lecal courts "should make sure that the defendant has full knowledge of his rights and fully comprehends and appreciates fully the serious consequences of the. plea which he la proposing to entei.’*