It would seem that the tribunals sometimes chafed under these rules and asserted discretion to disregard them for, in the case of the priest, Diego García, in 1488, when he was told to select an advocate and a procurator, the fiscal refused consent, and he had to conduct his own defence, though, at a subsequent stage of the trial, Diego Tellez appeared for him.[117] It was possibly in consequence of such cases and of other impediments to the defence, that the Suprema issued a provision that all prisoners should be allowed to take a procurator and advocate, provided they were fitting persons. Also that the children and kindred of the accused should not be prohibited from consulting as freely as they pleased with the counsel, and that he should have copies of the accusation, the depositions of the witnesses and other papers in conformity with the Instructions.[118] All this, which was demanded by the simplest demands of justice, became, as we shall see, a dead letter.
That the danger awaiting a too zealous advocate was not purely hypothetical is seen in the case of Casafranca, deputy of Ferdinand's treasurer-general of Catalonia, who was burnt in the auto de fe of January 17, 1505, and his wife in that of June 23d; his father-in-law had been reconciled and his mother, after condemnation, died in the secret prison. Francisco Franch, the royal advocate-fiscal, had defended Casafranca, and the Inquisition prosecuted him for his unsuccessful attempt to avert his client's fate, although at that time he had risen to the position of Regent of the royal Chancellery. Ferdinand, who felt much interest in his behalf, made Inquisitor-general Deza write in his favor to Francisco Pays de Sotomayor, an inquisitor specially deputed to hear the case, but this did not save him from bitter humiliation and dishonor. February 28, 1505, Sotomayor pronounced sentence in which his offence was described as endeavoring to induce a witness to revoke his testimony, and as impeding the Inquisition by useless and procrastinating delays, by which he had incurred excommunication, and moreover he was guilty of perjury by asserting a false and erroneous conclusion, for all of which he had humbly begged pardon and mercy. After obtaining absolution from a priest he was to stand the next day before the high altar of Santa María de Jesu during mass, with a lighted candle, in penitential guise, and forfeit all payment for his services--which would have come out of Casafranca's confiscated estate. Both he and the fiscal accepted the sentence, but there was delay in his public penance, for he refused to utter certain words interlined in the sentence, which he asserted had been inserted since it was read to him. The fiscal threatened to appeal to the inquisitor-general and demanded that Franch be detained in prison until the appeal was decided, whereupon he yielded and the ceremony was performed on March 1st.[119]