The final
conclusion drawn from these various reflections is, that the court
confirms the judgment of the Perugian tribunal, in every respect.
The rejection of the appeal is not communicated for two months more, that
is, not till the 22nd of April, to the prisoner, who at once appeals
again against the execution of the verdict to the Upper Court of the
Supreme Tribunal. On the 13th of May the case comes on for its third and
last trial. The court is again composed of six ecclesiastics of high
rank, assisted by the same official counsel as before; the same course of
proceeding is adopted, except that the prisoner is not brought into court
or examined. Again, after "invoking the most holy name of God," the
tribunal pronounces, not its sentence this time, but its judgment. This
judgment alludes only to the two grounds on which the appeal is based.
The first is the question of paternity, which is at once dismissed, as
being a matter of evidence that has been already decided. The second
ground of appeal is a technical and a legal one. The defence appears to
have pleaded, that the original arrest was illegal, and that, by this
fact, the whole trial was vitiated. On both sides it was admitted that
the prisoner was arrested without a warrant, and not in "flagrante
delicto," and that therefore the arrest was, strictly speaking, illegal.
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