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indifference, because while nothing is funny, nei- ' ‘ ,tlicr can yon cry. MARKETS ON PAGES B-2 B-3SURPRISE CONFESSIONCafe Manager Acquitted of MuBILLY LEE McHENRYSuperior Court Judge Allen Miller Tuesday will consider Dorothy Morgan’s surprise “confession0 that she fatally shot her son-in-law, when he rules on the guilt or innocence of her husband in the July 2 slaying.Friday, Miller found Billy I.ee McHenry, 41, of 2533 Pine Ave., manager of the Orbit Restaurant in Long Beach, not guilty of killing James Gilbert Frutehey, 40, of 19 N. Middleridge Lane, Rolling Hills Estates.McHenry accompanied Mrs. Morgan's husband, Arthur Virgil, to Frutchey’s §75,000 home the morning of the slaying.. .Doth men were on trial for murder.Miller Friday interrupted defense attorney Douglas Ddtoti as he started his final argument and said, 'Tve made up my mind on your client. I feel there is insufficient evidence to find Mr. McHenry guilty.” .MEANWHILE, THE prose c u t i o n attacked Mrs. Morgan’s “confession/* introduced Thursday by defense attorneys Joseph Dali and Dalton.devise? Is she not more defensible, by her own statement, than her husband?”In the statement which Ball said Mrs, Morgan made Nov. 17, the womansaid she shut Frutehey to defend her 65-ycar-old husband, as the older man was being beaten at Frutchey’s home,Mrs. Morgan said in the statement she recalled “pointing the gun at Jim and firing, but-added she could not remember how many shots she fired.In final argument Friday, Deputy Dist. Atly. Robert Burnett attacked the woman's statement, calling it “absolutely unbelievable.”“Do we have to believe this extra-j u d i c i a I document?” he asked Judge Miller.“Is this the truth or some sort of 'arranged' statement put forth in the best light she and her attorney could“Linda's (Fruthchey’s 11-ycar-old daughter) testimu-ny puts her grandmother in the house at the time of the s h o o t i n g/' Burnett said. “Charleen’s (Fruthchey's wife) testimony puts Mrs. Morgan in the hallway of the house at the time of theshooting.”“ARE WE TO GIVE less credence to the testimony of these people who tookan oath and underwent cross-examination than to Mrs. Morgan who icfuscd an oath and submitted a statement that is protected by the attomey-client relationship?”R. Farrington, of the sheriff’s homicide detail, challenged Mrs. Morgan’s statement.“In the darkness of the yard that morning. It was physically impossible for Mrs. Morgan to have fired the four shots that hit Jim Frutehey as she says she fired them/’ Burnett said. Earlier, Deputy WilliamHe testified the woman told him twice she did not leave the house during the backyard shooting of Frutehey, former Los Angeles lumberyard owner.Under cross-examination by Ball, Farrington admitted there was no written report made in Mrs. Morgan’s allegation that she was inside the house when the fatal shots were fired.Ball, in his final argument, said the prosecution must prove its case beyond a reasonable doubt, “and this they have nut done.”•f“MR. BURNETT has not told you what happened that night in the Frutehey backvard b-cause he obviously doesn't know/’ Ball tolrl Miller.“Mr. Morgan went to 1 hat house that night mil to kill Fmtchey, but to help his wife.“Mr. many as Morgan’s would lil nett two “Who; ITutchey Morgan’*think IV Frutchej who dids- “The thing ir said, is gun, wh had onlyTHEcouldn’t was dai:person was Mr.Police slaying and Fir in the h gumenl claimed treated lene Jt wife.Mrs. been ch
Newspaper Details
Independent Press Telegram
Long Beach, California, US
Sat, Dec 30, 1967
Page 19
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USA 01 Jul 2019
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