In a case where insanity is the defence, the State must dig up
and have at hand every person it can find who knew the accused
at any period of his career. He will probably claim that in
his youth he was kicked in a game of foot-ball and fractured
his skull, that later he fell into an elevator shaft and had
concussion of the brain, or that he was hit on the head by a
burglar. It is usually difficult, if not impossible, to
disprove such assertions, but the prosecutor must be ready, if
he can, to show that foot-ball was not invented until after
the defendant had attained maturity, that it was some other
man who fell down the elevator shaft, and to produce the
burglar to deny that the assault occurred. Naturally,
complete preparation for an important trial demands the
presence of many witnesses who ultimately are not needed and
who are never called. Probably in most such cases about half
the witnesses do not testify at all. Most of what has been
said relates to the preparation for trial of cases where the
accused is already under arrest when the district attorney is
called into the case.
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