EDll’ORrnThomas FlemingrnMANAGING EDI’lORrn’i’heodore PappasrnSENIOR EDITOR, BOOKSrnChilton Williamson, ]r.rnEDITORIAL ASSISTANTrnChristine llaynesrnART DIRECT ORrnAnna Mycek-WodeckirnCONTRIBUTING EDITORSrnJohn W.Aldridge, Harold O.].rnBrown, Katherine Dalton, SamuelrnFrancis, Ceorge Carrett,rnE. Christian Kopff, Clyde WilsonrnCORRESPONDING EDITORSrnJanet Scott Barlow, ]ohnrnShelton ReedrnEDITORIAL SECRETARYrnLeann DobbsrnPUBLISHERrnAllan C. CarlsonrnPUBI -ICATION DIREC TORrnGuy C. ReffettrnCOMPOSIT’ION MANAGERrnAnita FedorarnCIRCULATION MANAGERrnRochelle FrankrnA publication of The Rockforcl Institute.rnEditorial and Advertising Offices:rn934 North Main Street, Rockford, IL 61103.rnEditorial Phone: (815)964-5054.rnAdvertising Phone: (815) 964-5811.rnSubscription Department: P. O. Box 800,rnMount Morris, IL 61054. Call 1-800-877-5459.rnFor infomiation on advertising in Chronicles,rnplease call Roehelle Frank at (815) 964-5811.rnU. S. A. Newsstand Distribution by Eastern NewsrnDistributors, Inc., I BO Cleveland Road.rnSandusky, OH 44870.rnCopyright © 1992 by The Rockford Institute.rnAll rights reserved.rnChronicles (ISSN 0887-5731) is publishedrnmonthly for S24 per year by I he RockfordrnInstitute, 934 North Main Street, Rockford.rnII. 61103-7061. Second-elass postage paidrnat Rockford, IL and additional mailing offices.rnPOSTMASTER: Send address changes tornChronicles, P. O Box 800, Mount Morris,rnIL 61054.rnThe views expressed in Chronicles arc thernauthors’ alone and do not nccessarilv reflectrnthe views of The Rockford Institute or of itsrndirectors. L^nsolicitcd manuseripts cannot bernreturned unless accompanied b’ a self-addressedrnstamped envelope.rnChroniclesrnVol. 17, Nd. 1 )aiiu,irv 19’«rnPOLEMICS & EXCHANGESrnOn ‘Crime and CourtrnCosts’rnI was disappointed to read Randy Salzman’srnantilawyer diatribe (“Letter FromrnGeorgia: The Price of Justice,” Mayrn1992) in your otherwise fine magazine.rnThe sum of $6,000 is a very smallrnamount to pay to insure that a manrncharged with a homicide receives a fairrntrial. I am sure that no nonindigent citizen,rna person who pays for his defensernout of his own pocket, has ever receivedrnsuch a fine bargain.rnThe right to a fair trial is one of thernnoblest gifts we possess from our Europeanrnheritage. To insure the exercise ofrnthat gift our Founding Fathers placedrnthe right to a jury trial and to a counselrnfor defense in the Bill of Rights. In orderrnto insure that right on a practicalrnbasis the states provide for either publicrndefenders or the payment of private attorneys.rnIf the lawyer is a private attorneyrnsuch as Mr. Plunkett, the fee he receivesrnpays not only his stenographer’srnfees, but his office overhead, his disabilityrnand medical insurance, his taxes, andrnfinally his salary. Nobody gets rich defendingrnthe poor.rnIt is pathetic that Lincoln County,rnGeorgia, is so poor and its officials sornstubborn and ignorant. The sum ofrn$6,000, plus whatever else the attorneyrnwill receive for his appeal, is small coinrnfor the assurance his work will give us.rnThe defendant could be executed forrnhis crimes. If that should occur, Mr.rnPlunkett would have proved that Jonesrnreceived a fair trial, that his executionrnwas not a lynching, and that justice wasrndone.rn—]ohn F. McKeownrnCanandaigua, NYrnMr. Salzman Replies:rnMr. McKeown has misread and misrepresentedrnthe facts of the Johnny DecrnJones murder trial. The $6,000 attorneyrnfee that Mr. McKeown believes isrn”a very small sum to pay to insure that arnman charged with a homicide receives arnfair trial” was not for Jones’s defense. Itrnwas the bill for the filing of Georgia’srnmandatory appeal in death penalty convictions.rnMr. Jones’s defense fee hadrnbeen paid the previous year when LincolnrnCounty increased taxes to cover thern$ J 25,000 trial.rnIn the specific sense, Lincoln commissionersrnprotested paying the $6,000rnbecause, under Georgia’s Indigent Defensernlaw, they were not allowed to scrutinizernthe attorney’s bill. They couldrntake no action to verify that he had actuallyrnworked the claimed 156 billingrnhours on the appeal. In the larger sense,rnhowever, the commissioners’ protestrnshould send a warning to courts acrossrnthe nation. We simply cannot afford tornbankrupt jurisdictions over men like Mr.rnJones, who three times—once in openrncourt—admitted to cold-blooded murder.rnMr. Jones has since been retried on arnchange of venue and again been convicted.rnHowever, the jury deadlockedrnin the punishment phase, and Mr.rnJones’s sentence is now life in prison.rnHe will be eligible for parole in 20 years,rnat age 47. Lincoln County, meanwhile,rnin spite of a $68,000 influx of staternfunds, is again facing a tax increase tornpay for the second trial.rnIn old westerns, the hero was the sheriffrnwho stood up to the lynch mob ofrnhis fellow citizens. If we fail to learnrnthe lessons of the Johnny Dee Jonesrncase, the hero may well become the sheriffrnwho takes a coffee break.rnLIBERAL ARTSrnDEADLY READINGrnPsychologist David Lester recentlyrnstudied the effects of women’srnliberation on suicide by using thernper capita circulation of Ms. magazinernas a measure of liberated attitudes.rnUsing multiple-regressionrnanalysis, he found that “the femalernsuicide rate was predicted b’rnthe divorce rate and the Ms. magazinernsubscription rate.”rn4/CHRONICLESrnrnrn