If, then, we observe in any person before us the signs of resolution we
may certainly suppose that they indicate a turn in what he has said and
what he is going to say. If they be observed in the accused, then he has
certainly resolved to pass from denial to confession, or to stick to his
denial, or to confess or keep back the names of his accomplices, the
rendezvous, etc. Inasmuch as in action there is no other alternative
than saying or not saying so, it might be supposed that there is nothing
important in the foregoing statement; the point of importance lies,
however, in the fact that a _definite_ resolution has been reached of
which the court is aware and from which a departure will hardly be made.
Therefore, what follows upon the resolution so betrayed, we cannot
properly perceive; we know only that it in all likelihood consists of
what succeeds it, i.e. the accused either confesses to something, or has
resolved to say nothing. And that observation saves us additional labor,
for he will not easily depart from his resolution.
The case is analogous with regard to the witness who tells no truth or
only a part of the truth. He reveals the marks of resolution upon
deciding finally to tell the truth or to persist in his lying, and so,
whatever he does after the marks of resolution are noted, we are saved
unnecessary effort to make the man speak one way or another.
It is particularly interesting to watch for such expressions of
resolution in jurymen, especially when the decision of guilt or
innocence is as difficult as it is full of serious consequences. This
happens not rarely and means that the juryman observed is clear in his
own mind as to how he is going to vote. Whatever testimony may succeed
this resolution is then indifferent. The resolved juryman is so much the
less to be converted, as he usually either pays no more attention to the
subsequent testimony, or hears it in such prejudiced fashion that he
sees everything in his own way. In this case, however, it is not
difficult to tell what the person in question has decided upon. If the
action we now know follows a very damaging piece of testimony, the
defendant is condemned thereby; if it follows excusive testimony he is
declared innocent. Anybody who studies the matter may observe that these
manifestations are made by a very large number of jurymen with
sufficient clearness to make it possible to count the votes and predict
the verdict. I remember vividly in this regard a case that occurred many
years ago. Three men, a peasant and his two sons, were accused of having
killed an imbecile who was supposed to have boarded in their house. The
jury unanimously declared them guiltless, really because of failure, in
spite of much effort, to find the body of the victim. Later a new
witness appeared, the case was taken up again, and about a year after
the first trial, a second took place. The trial consumed a good many
days, in which the three defendants received a flood of anonymous
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