100 years ago in Spokane: After days of acrimonious deliberations, jury acquits 5 in perjury trial, undecided on 8 others

The jury in the Maurice Codd subornation of perjury trial acquitted five of the defendants, but were unable to agree on eight of the others, including Maurice Codd himself.

The jury had leaned toward acquitting all of them, but one or two holdouts remained in the other cases.

Those acquitted were Ruth Fryett, James Fryett, Ed Stauffer, J.L. Cook and attorney Fred Robertson.

The jury was hung on James Codd, Joseph Codd, Ambrose Codd, Maurice Codd, Nellie Fryett, Fred Botts, attorney Lester Edge and attorney Ed Crandell.

Judge W.D. Askren did not ask the jury to continue deliberations on those cases, partly because one juror, Carrie Lamphear, was “suffering from a nervous attack” and also because it was clear, after record-setting deliberations, that a unanimous decision was hopeless.

One juror said, “I nearly came to blows twice.”

Another juror said that two other jurors “were pretty close to anger and I guess they would have fought, but we would not allow them to start.” He added that they changed foremen “because the first foreman did not like to talk.”

Another juror said “we did not believe Beatrice Sant’s story,” referring to the state’s star witness. That was why they acquitted the five, he said, but “on the others, “we lack unanimity because we did not credit the statements of the witness.”

Another juror said they did not believe that Codd “could have picked up and thrown bodily Frank P. Brinton over a three-foot railing.”

Did this mark the end of the long running Maurice Codd saga? Maybe not. Prosecutor Walter S. Fulton immediately began talks with his fellow prosecutors about a retrial of the eight remaining defendants.