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ran? nuti-mi, mm, n.M.—rn. me. a, lm— rage i*Suit in Aftermath ofMurder Case SettledFinal determination was made this week in federal district court in Roswell in a $35fl,bM damage suit filed by a Hobbs woman against a group of peace orfieers as an aftermath of a pcnsallonal Hobbs murder case.A Jury look about 3II minutes in amvc at a verdict freeing Urn only remaining defendant in the action, A. L, Mitchell of any financial responsibility.The suit wns filed in December of 1(172 by Nelrla Jacoby Wallace, ivim munccJ as defendants, along wilh Mitchell, Stale Police IX J.B. £lt;isa of Albuquerque, Hie late Joe Price* sheriff of Lea County at the time the hcIIcjii was Instituted, and Terry Criswell nf Hobbs, who wnr, a deputy sheriff at Ihu lime of the events about wlm'b Mrs. Wallace complained.Mrs. Wallace, then 23 years old, and Tommy Earl Barton, (lieu 32 yenrs old, were charged with murder in connection with the brutal slaying nf Phillip Vcner, 72-year-old' Hobbs business man, who'ms killed in his home Nov. 17, 19fi7.Tins charge against Mrs, Wallace was dismissed in January of 1070 on moLion uf Hie late Patrick Ir. Itanagan, district attorney at that time, whn said informal ion lie received the day before a preliminary hearing Jan, 13, 1970, revealed he did not have stiff Id cut evidence on which to convict her.At the time of Mrs. Wallace's arrest, Mitchell was a special invwdjgalur for Uie Stale Police Dept, lie now is a Texas Ranger stationed al Midland.Mrs, Wallace charged in her suit thaL she was .jailed wilhmil .sufficient reason.The case luid been dismissed us to all of the oilier defendants in the action except Mitchell and Sosa before it went to Irial in Roswell, and was dismissed us to Sosa in the course of I he trial before Judge Howard Bratton, so the jury’s verdict applied only to Mitchell.Cecil Ray Rinehart, the first defendant eh urged with murder in the Vcner case, pleaded guilty in district court in Loving Ion Dec. B, KHIO, and was sentenced to serve a life fernt in prison.Barton, charged at the same lime as Mrs. Wallace, was found Innocent in SepLeniber, IflTO, after a trial In district court in Carlsbad, where Hie case was taken on a change of venue.N1
Newspaper Details
Hobbs Daily News Sun
Hobbs, New Mexico, US
Fri, Dec 06, 1974
Page 5
Full Page
Clipped by
Myrna A.
USA 12 Sep 2020
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