Grand Jury Indictments of Two Presidential Assassins
FDR Assassination Attempt by Giuseppe Zangara (Joseph Zangara) & the Florida Dade [1] County Grand Jury Indictment
In Miami Florida (Baymont Park area), on February 13th, 1933, Giuseppe Zangara shot five times attempting to kill President-Elect Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR). Five people were hit: [8] Mrs. Joseph H. Gill (seriously wounded in the abdomen); [9] Miss Margaret Kruis of Newark, New Jersey, (minor wound in hand and a scalp wound); [10][11][12] New York detective/bodyguard William Sinnott (superficial head wound); Russell Caldwell of Miami (flesh wound on the forehead); [13] and Chicago Mayor Anton Cermak. [2] Of the five injured, none died instantly. Then, the Dade County [3] Solicitor (District Attorney) Chas A. Moorhead filed charges via “information” for the attempted murder of the five mentioned above. A trial for attempted murder was held on February 20th, and Zangara was convicted of four counts, and sentence to 80 years in prison.
“[Anton] Cermak died at 6:57 A.M. on March 6. An autopsy was held at 8:30. This report was sent to the coroner at 1 P.M. where a jury [not a petit jury] [4] confirmed the report in 18 minutes. The coroner’s report was then sent to the [Dade County] grand jury which indicted Zangara for the murder of Cermak and had its report and indictment in the clerk of court’s office at 5 P.M.” [5] The second trial for murder was held on March 9th, 1933, at the Dade County Circuit Court, with Judge Uly O. Thompson presiding. Zangara was found guilty, and executed on the morning of March 20th, 1933. [6] The execution was 35 days after the assassination attempt.
1 Dade County was established in 1836, then in 1997 had a name change, by the voters to Miami-Dade County.
2 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giuseppe_Zangara
3 https://www.floridamemory.com/items/show/334330
4 Petit Juries cannot do this. Petit juries are restrained to legal actions contained within a courtroom. Only a grand jury is free to roam, and investigate anywhere they choose. They can, and do send out a committee of 2 to 5 jurors.
5 https://stars.library.ucf.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2673&context=fhq, Florida Historical Quarterly Florida Historical Quarterly, Volume 37, Number 2, Florida Historical Quarterly, Vol 37, Issue 2 Article 3, 1958 Zangara’s Attempted Assassination of Franklin D. Roosevelt Zangara’s Attempted Assassination of Franklin D. Roosevelt by Nathan D. Shappee, “Zangara’s Attempted Assassination of Franklin D. Roosevelt,” Page 9
6 Ibid: https://stars.library.ucf.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2673&context=fhq, Page 9
Leon Czolgosz Assassination of President William McKinley, Grand Jury Indictment, Trial and Execution
On Friday, September 6th, 1901 @ 4:07 PM, Leon Czolgosz (Polish descent) shot President William McKinley twice with a pistol at point blank range in a presidential greeting line. This at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo New York, in the Music Temple. Leon Czolgosz was immediately subdued, arrested, and jailed. Then, President McKinley died on September 14 th , 1901, due to his wounds and/or infection. Two days later, on September 16 th , 1901, the Erie County Grand Jury indicted Leon Czolgosz for murder. The Grand Jury vote for indictment was unanimous, and only 10 days after the assassination. The murder trial in Buffalo started on September 23rd, & ended on the 24th. Trial Jury (or petit jury) deliberation was only a half-hour for a unanimous “guilty” verdict for 1st degree murder. (This was a two-day trial, and a verdict given 18 days after the assassination attempt.) Leon Czolgosz was executed on October 29th, 1901, by electrocution. This was 53 days after the assassination. V.P. Theodore Roosevelt was sworn in as president on September 14th, 1901. He served two full terms.