评论
打印
A new trial started in March 1928, but ended two weeks later when Hoffman's attorney collapsed with a heart attack. Six months later another jury disagreed. He had now served five of his twenty-year sentence. There didn't seem much hope in going on. But Hoffman refused to give up. There was still one card to play—Samuel Leibowitz, an attorney who had saved many innocent people from conviction. To him Hoffman appealed.
1928年3月法庭再次并庭进行了审理，但两周后，霍夫曼的律师因突发心脏病死了，审判也因此中断了。六个月后，另一个陪审团拒绝重新开庭。20年的有期徒刑，霍夫曼已经服刑了五年。看起来似乎没有什么希望存在了。但是霍夫曼仍不放弃。他还有一张牌可出——塞缪尔·莱博维茨。作为一名律师，莱博维茨已经挽救了许多无辜却被定罪的人。霍夫曼恳求他予以帮助。
Leibowitz came to see Hoffman. He was impressed by his determination to fight on for his innocence, and by the fact that Hoffman realized that, in demanding yet another trial, he was gambling with death. Leibowitz agreed to take the case. Straight away, District Attorney Fach offered to accept a plea of guilty of manslaughter. Hoffman rejected it, adding that he wanted complete vindication or nothing.
莱博维茨来见霍夫曼。他非常钦佩霍夫曼为了自己的清白而坚决斗争的决心。事实上，霍夫曼明白，如果要求再次审判，他将和死神赌博。莱博维茨同意接下这件案子。很快地，地区检察官法赫提出，可以改判其为过失杀人罪。但霍夫曼拒绝了。他说他要么证明自己彻底无罪，要么什么都别做。
Hoffman's fourth trial started on 6 May 1929. As with all great attorneys, Leibowitz's power lay in the meticulous preparation he gave each case. Carefully he studied the records of Hoffman's previous trials. Three pieces of evidence pointed to Hoffman's guilt: his identification at the scene of the crime in company with the dead woman, the opinion of an acknowledged expert that his revolver was the murder weapon, and the apparent "consciousness of guilt" in his attempts to fake an alibi.
1929年5月6日开始了对霍夫曼案的第四次审理。正如所有伟大的律师一样，莱博维茨的影响力在于他对每个案子的精心准备。他非常仔细地研究了霍夫曼以前的庭审记录。有三项证据表明霍夫曼有罪：他被指认在犯罪现场和受害者一同出现，他的手枪被资深专家鉴定为凶器，以及他企图伪造不在场证据体现出的明显的“负罪感”。
