Soren X Christensen

Hellraisers Journal: Charges Against Joe Hill's Attorney Enumerated in Petition for Disbarment

The cause I stand for, that of a fair and honest trial,
is worth more than any human life-
much more than mine.
-Joe Hill

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Thursday January 6, 1916
Salt Lake City, Utah - Charges Against Judge Hilton Enumerated

The Ogden Standard of December 22nd, which announced that a disbarment complaint had been filed against Joe Hill's attorney, Judge Orrin N. Hilton, enumerated the charges filed against him:

HILTON DISBARMENT COMPLAINT HAS BEEN FILED
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Salt Lake, Dec. 22....
Orrin N Hilton.jpg

Charges Detailed.

In conclusion the petition for disbarment of Hilton says:

The grievance committee of the State Bar association of Utah accuses the said Orrin N. Hilton of having in all the premises failed in his duty, as prescribed by his oath of office.

1. To support the laws of the state of Utah, but, on the contrary, had falsely and maliciously imputed their origin, existence and administration to a power unacknowledged and unknown to the constitution, with the intent to bring them into disrepute and contempt in this and other states of the United States.

2. That he has failed to maintain the respect due to the courts of justice and judicial officers, in that he has denounced the courts and the judges thereof-speaking as one who had absolute knowledge in the premises to the people of this and other states-as being subservient to and controlled by a religious power foreign to the law and the constitution in the exercise of their judicial duties in the judgments pronounced in causes involving the lives and liberties of the people; and in exhibiting toward the judges and the courts a contemptuous disregard of their authority, and in imputing to them dishonorable and unlawful motives and acts, all tending to bring the administration of justice into disrepute, and tending to lessen the regard and the respect of the people for judicial tribunal.