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HAVE BEEN GIVEN TO THE POSSIBILITY THAT HE WAS OBLIGED TO DEFEND HIMSELF AGAINST A SERIOUS ATTACK. PRESUMBALY IT WAS BECAUSE THE PLEAS OF SELF-DEFENCE WAS SO WEAK IT APPLIED TO A STRUGGLE WITH A SINGLE AND OLDER PURSUER THAT THE DEFENCE TRIED TO SHOW THAT THE PRISONER HAD BEEN DEFENDING HIMSELF AGAINST A CONCERTED AND POTENTIALLY SERIOUS ATTACK BY ALL THE PURSUERS SIMULTANEOUSLY. BUT THE JURY CLEARLY DID NOT BELIEVE THIS STORY AND ACCEPTED THE CROWN EVIDENCE OF TWO SEPARATE CONFRONTATIONS, THE FIRST OF WHICH (BY THE TWO PURSUERS) THE PRISONER ROUTED, AND THE SECOND AND FATAL ONE WITH THE DECEASED ALONE.
(C) THE LAW CERTAINLY DOES NOT PERMIT A FUGITIVE TO USE A LETHAL WEAPON IN ODREER TO ESCAPE ARREST, FAR LESS TO DO SO MURDEROUSLY. THAT IS PRECISELY, WHAT THE PRISONER DID. WHEN CALLED ON TO DROP HIS WEAPON AND SURRENDER BY THE TWO PURSUERS HE THREATED TO KILL THEN ANDD CHHASED THEM WITH HIS WEAPON: WHEN GRAPPLED BY DECEASED HE KILLED-RATHER THAN SURRENDER OR EVEN RUN AWAY (UNLESS HE WAS TOO EXHAUSTED TO DO SO). ON EITHER OF THESE OCCASIONS HE COULD HAVE GIVEN HIMSELF UP.
4. FOR ALL THESE REASONS I DO NOT THINK THERE ARE ANY GROUNDS WHICH ARE REALISTIC THAT CAN BE ADVANCED AS A BASIS FOR COMMUTATION ON THE THEORY THAT A DIFFERENT LINE OF DEFENCE OR SUMMING UP BY THE JUDGE MIGHT HAVE PRODUCED A VERDICT OF MANSLAUGHTER ALONG THE LINES
YOU SUGGEST.
DESPERATION DUE TO EXTREME POVERTY.
5. YOUR TELEGRAM NO 106 PARA 2 AND YOUR TELEGRAM NO 135 PARA 2, LAST SENTENCE. SOCIAL WELFARE AND OTHER REPORTS ON THE PRISONER SHOW NO EVIDENCE OF DIRE POVERTY, EVEN IF POVERTY COULD BE SAID TO BE A MITIGATING FACTOR OF REAL IMPORTANCE IN A SAVAGE MURDER OF THIS NATURE. LIU HAS BEEN IN FAIRLY REGULAR EMPLOYMENT SINCE HE CAME HERE IN 1951, BEING HELPED FOR SOME YEARS BY DISTANT RELATIVES UNTIL ABOUT 8 YEARS AGO WHEN HE BEGAN WORKING IN GAMBLING STALLS AND OCCASIONALLY IN DRUG DIVANS. HE HAS ALSO BEEN HELPED FINANCIALLY
BY THOSE RELATIVES AND LIU HIMSELF SAID THAT HE SHOULD HAVE GONE. TO THEM FOR FUNDS ON THIS OCCASION INSTEAD OF ROBBING. HIS LANDLADY
SAID HE PAID HIS RENT REGULARLY.
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/ DESPERATION