Post #7: We, the Jury

                                       Montana Vs. Rehburg - A 19th Century Murder Mystery
     
         In the Montana case State vs. Edward Rehburg, the petit jury of Group 3 found Mr. Rehburg not guilty on one count of murder in the second-degree. According to laws in the United States, one must be proven guilty beyond reasonable doubt in order to be found guilty of a crime. A murder in the 19th century was not easily solved, as forensic science was limited at the time. This made jury decisions much more difficult because if no one saw the event occur, it was very hard to put the accused at the scene of the crime. There was not ample evidence to support a conviction in this case; on the contrary, the testimonies in the courtroom, including that of the victim herself, support Mr. Rehburg verdict as not guilty.
         
         During this time period, testimonies made by women were not typically taken as seriously as those made by men. Despite this fact, both Emma and Bertha Rehburg proposed evidence placing Edward away from any possible opportunity to beat his daughter during the day, making it less likely for him to commit the crime. Additionally, Joe Tiebow, a worker for Mr. Rehburg, also supported the statements made by the girls. The prosecutor questioned Mr.Tiebow with simple queries. This might suggest a discrimination against his social classification. First, he states that Clara came out of the house when she first appeared hurt, which helps the defense as he was supposedly on the haystack all day. He also mentions that as soon as Mr. Rehburg saw his daughter’s condition, he asked her about her wounds and took her into town to see a doctor 10 minutes later. This particular deposition shifts a huge amount of blame away from the accused, and also places the inside of the house as the most probable crime scene.

        The majority of the doctor’s statements simply mentioned Clara’s physical condition as being poor. However, those of Dr. Weed and Dr. Steele bring to light the declaration made by the victim on her deathbed. There is a hearsay rule in the procedure of law, which states that a testimony from what one heard will be discounted from the case and will not be used by the jury to apply in their decided verdict. There is an exception to this and that is the death bed declaration, this can be used in the case as concrete evidence. Clara stated that her step mother abused her, and not her father. This clearly shuts out any verdict of Mr. Rehburg being the guilty suspect.

         The statements made by the three Rehburg daughters, Joe Tiebow, and the doctors provide plenty of evidence for a 19th or 20th century jury to find Mr. Rehburg not guilty, despite any generational differences between the two time periods. Clara’s deathbed declaration was particularly important to the defense because not only did she state the abuser was not her father, but she specifically mentioned that it was her ste-pmother Louisa. Along with the depositions from the others involved, it would not be plausible for a panel to find Edward Rehburg guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.