Charles Becker Trials: 1912-14

On October 7, 1912, Becker's trial opened, with Judge John W. Goff presiding. Like Whitman, Judge Goff had no tolerance for corruption and had earned a reputation for being one of the toughest judges to sit on the New York bench. Whitman and his assistant prosecutor, Frank Moss, therefore had the advantage over Becker's defense attorneys, John F. McIntyre, Lloyd B. Stryker, and George W. Whiteside. The prosecution lost no time in bringing Rose to the stand and asking him what Becker had said with respect to Rosenthal. Rose replied:

Becker said to me: "There is only one thing to do with a fellow like Rosenthal—just stop him so that he will not bother anybody any more for all time." I said: "What do you mean?" He said: "Well, there is a fellow that ought to be put off the earth." "Why," I says, "I agree with you. He is no account." He said: "Well, no use saying he is no account, and all of that, but the idea is now to do something to him." I says: "What do you mean?" and he said: "There is a fellow I would like to have croaked."

Rose went on to relate how Becker gave the order to murder Rosenthal:

And Becker said: "I don't want him beat up. I could do that myself. I could have a warrant for any gambling house that he frequents and make a raid on that place and beat him up for resisting arrest or anything else. No beating up will fix that fellow, a dog in the eyes of myself, you, and everybody else. Nothing for that man but taken off this earth. Have him murdered, cut his throat, dynamited, or anything."

McIntyre, Becker's lead counsel, was frustrated in his efforts to crossexamine Rose and the other prosecution witnesses by Judge Goff. Goff repeatedly cut McIntyre's questioning short and denied his motions for more time. In their private conferences during breaks in the trial, Becker railed at McIntyre for his seeming ineffectiveness, but McIntyre's strategy was to lay the groundwork for a successful appeal. Goff obliged him, giving final instructions to the jury that went overboard in their bias against Becker:

If it be true that Becker instructed Rose to kill Rosenthal, I instruct you that Becker constituted Rose his agent and instrument in the carrying out of the design; whatever Rose did, Becker in the eyes of the law did.…

It is apparent from this testimony that the main witnesses against the defendant Becker are what are called accomplices. There is no doubt that Rose, Webber, and Vallon are accomplices.

The jury found Becker guilty on October 30, 1912. As McIntyre predicted, the Court of Appeals overturned the conviction and ordered a new trial, ruling that Goff committed "gross misconduct" and that Whitman's witnesses were "dangerous and degenerate."