Bloodstained Louisiana by Alan G. Gauthreaux

Author:Alan G. Gauthreaux
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: McFarland
Published: 2017-10-20T04:00:00+00:00

On December 15, 1913, Dora Murff received a four-year sentence for the murder of J.M. Delhaye, and her stepfather received a ninety-nine-year sentence. Local media agreed that although Murff had suffered at the hands of her seducer, she aggravated her situation in enlisting her stepfather and stepbrother in the plot. Murff and her stepfather appealed the court’s decision in the hopes that the “unwritten law” would grant them freedom in the highest court of Louisiana.

In State of Louisiana v. Duvall, et al., counsel for the defendants averred that one of the jurors had attested he would not find the defendants guilty and concealed that fact from the court. The defense, at the time of the trial, objected to the “removal of the juror … the selection of another juror,” and pleaded double jeopardy. The court considered these arguments and ruled against the defense, affirming the lower court’s actions.77 As a result of the Supreme Court’s ruling, the jurists refused to grant Dora Murff and James Duvall a new trial.

Just when the convicted young woman and her stepfather believed that all legal remedies had been exhausted, on Monday, May 25, 1914, the Louisiana Supreme Court granted a rehearing on the case based upon the same arguments presented to the court two months before. Again, after careful consideration, the court ruled that the jurors at the trial had already been sworn and the motion “implied an acceptance of the eleven jurors and that swearing them over again to try the case would have been an idle and useless ceremony.”78 With this ruling, the Supreme Court dashed the hopes of the young woman and her stepfather. However, the defense refused to give up on their clients. After this ruling, in July of 1914, the defense counsel applied to the United States Supreme Court for a reconsideration of the lower court’s ruling. Appearing on the docket for the highest court in the country would take up to two years, and the prisoners’ complaints, attempts to make their plight less taxing and considerably more pleasant than the average condemned prisoner, were heard.

In an effort to improve the prisoners’ station, authorities moved Dora Murff and her stepfather from the Calcasieu Parish jail back to Opelousas. The defense maintained that the Calcasieu Parish jail had unsanitary and unsafe conditions that caused Ms. Murff to become ill. Moving Murff back to Opelousas would provide her with the necessary medical care she needed for her pregnancy. Judge Pavy, considering the humanitarian reasons, granted the defense request and allowed the young woman and her stepfather to be transferred to the Opelousas jail.79

It seemed that the confinement in Opelousas also proved detrimental to Murff’s health. She complained of stomach pains and delirium and, as a result, suffered a miscarriage. Most suspected that Murff conducted a ploy to be released from jail, but the authorities would have nothing to do with it. Duvall, on the other hand, contracted pneumonia and suffered under the care of the physicians near the jail. The defense team continued to fight for their clients’ freedom.

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