In the light of what has now happened, both the Soviet Union and the French Republic join in the position of the United States.
THE PRESIDENT: Then may I ask you how long [a] delay you suggest should be given, if your motion for the addition of Alfried Krupp were granted?
MR. JUSTICE JACKSON: Of course I hesitate to say what might be reasonable from the point of view of the defendants, but it would seem to me that in the first place, he might be willing to step into his father’s place without delay; but in any case that the delay should not postpone the commencement of this trial beyond the 2d day of December, which I think is Monday, which would enable him, it seems to me, with the work that has been done, to prepare adequately, and would enable us to serve immediately. If permission is granted, we can immediately make the service; and, of course, they have already had full information of the charges, and access to the documents.
THE PRESIDENT: Is he not entitled under the Charter and the rules of procedure to 30 days from the service of the Indictment upon him?
MR. JUSTICE JACKSON: I think the Charter makes no such requirement, and I understand that the rules of the Court are within the control of the Court itself.
THE PRESIDENT: Would you suggest that he should be given less time than the other defendants?
MR. JUSTICE JACKSON: I have no hesitation in sponsoring that suggestion, for the reason that the work that has already been done presumably would be available to him; and as I have suggested, of all the defendants, the Krupp family is in the best position to defend, from the point of view of resources, from the point of view of the reach of their organization; and, I am sure you will agree, they are not at all handicapped in the ability of counsel.
THE PRESIDENT: I have one last question to put to you: Can it be in the interest of justice to find a man guilty, who, owing to illness, is unable to make his defense properly?
MR. JUSTICE JACKSON: Assuming the hypothesis that Your Honor states, I should have no hesitation in saying that it would not be in the interests of justice to find a man guilty who cannot properly be defended. I do not think it follows that the character of charges that we have made in this case against Krupp, Gustav Krupp von Bohlen, cannot be properly tried in absentia. That is an arguable question; but it can be assumed that all of the acts which we charge him with are either documentary, or they were public acts. We are not charging him with the sort of thing for which one resorts to private sources. The one serious thing that seems to me, is that he would not be able to take the stand himself in his defense, and I am not altogether sure that he would want to do that, even if he were present.
THE PRESIDENT: But you have stated, have you not, and you would agree, that according to the Municipal Law of the United States of America, a man in the physical and mental condition of Krupp could not be tried.