 Briggs ' argument was used in the 1849 trial of Washington Goode , a black <unk> accused of killing a rival for the affections of a lady . The case against Goode was essentially circumstantial , but the jury <unk> the district attorney 's call for assertive punishment of " crimes of violence " and convicted him . There were calls for Briggs to commute Goode 's capital sentence , but he refused , writing " A pardon here would tend toward the utter subversion of the law . " 
