Judge Peckham Jury Charge Concerning Military Commission

[Steve]

Since the Grand Jury had nothing to do with anything related to Peckham's speech, I don't think it really mattered anything. Since Peckham had been a former Democratic Congressman, I suspect the speech was really intended for the newspapers rather than the Grand Jury. A September Arugus article lists the Grand Jury indicting people for crimes like larceny, assault, attempted rape, and attempted murder (although I don't know enough about the New York court system at the time if those were indicted during the May term Grand Jury).

Interestingly, the one follow-up I could find was a condemnation of Judge Peckham for making a "stump speech" before the Grand Jury in the 16 May 1865 edition of the Albany Evening Journal. I can post a copy of the columm if you're interested.