During
the Clancy murder trial each side exhausted its thirty
peremptory challenges and also the entire panel of jurors in
filling the box. At this stage of the case the foreman became
ill and had to be excused. No jurors were left except one who
had been excused by mutual consent for some trifling reason,
and who out of curiosity had remained in court. He rejoiced
in the name of Stone. Both sides then agreed to accept him as
foreman provided he was still willing to serve, and this
proving to be the case he triumphantly made his way towards
the box. As he did so, the defendant's counsel remarked: "The
Stone which the builders refused is become the head Stone of
the corner." The good-will generated by this meagre jest
stood him later in excellent stead.
In default of any other defence, some criminal attorneys have
been known to seek to excite sympathy for their helpless
clients by appearing in court so intoxicated as to be
manifestly unable to take care of the defendant's interests,
and prisoners have frequently been acquitted simply by virtue
of their lawyer's obvious incapacity.
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