The Case of Green Smith

Here is another murder case in which John W. Thompson was the court-ordered attorney for the accused defendant.  Thompson wrote this letter to Mississippi Governor John J. Pettus on August 29th of 1861.  Mr. Green Smith was convicted of murder.  Apparently, Smith and some of the other people involved in the incident were drunk at the time.

This particular letter is wordy and long-winded.  Getting to the point, Thompson is arguing that there is reasonable doubt whether or not Green Smith committed the murder.  There was another man involved, and Thompson argued that the murder may have been committed by this other man instead of Green.  Thompson argued that due to the uncertainty, there was not a preponderance of evidence sufficient to convict Smith beyond a reasonable doubt.  He conceded that the killer might have been Smith, or it may have been the other man, but that the evidence is unclear and insufficient to have convicted Green Smith conclusively of committing the murder.  Thompson considered it an unlawful conviction. 

Thompson requested that Gov. Pettus pardon Green Smith.  Thompson also stated that Smith's family were honorable people of high standing in Georgia.  Additionally, several prominent citizens also apparently supported Smith, including a lawyer named N.G. Harris and a Senator W.R. Buchman.  Smith himself, according to his lawyer, has remained free of intoxication.  Thompson also suggested that Smith might enroll in military service, another method often employed for the convicted to alter their imprisonment or execution status.