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Jaw to deal with stray dogs.Fred Osborn, assistant county attor-p.m. / a,m.According lo county police figures, there are now 11 officers in the patrolever, inai uu* omeer lormeny assigned to the dog truck is now a liaison officer.William Howard found not guilty; jury calls slaying self-defenseBy SHARON STAHLAfter nearly seven hours of deliberation Monday, a Howard Circuit Court jury returned a verdict of not guilty by reason of self defense in the first degree murder trial of William Howard Jr., 21.John B. Wilkins, jury foreman, announced the verdict at 6:45 p.m. Monday. Judge Robert Kinsey ordered Howard released from custody at the Howard County Jail where he had been held since the shooting death of Paul David Hart, 19, last Nov. 9 on a parking lot at the Kokomo Mall.Judge Kinsey instructed jury members Monday morning that if they found the defendant guilty, they couldconvict him of the first degree charge or any of the lesser offenses including second degree murder, voluntary or involuntary manslaughter.In final arguments Monday morning, Prosecutor Ronald Smith and Charles Scruggs, defense attorney, tried to convince the jury of the merits of their sides of the case.Smith said there was no doubt Howard had killed Hart, the husband of Howard’s ex-wife, because several witnesses had testified to that effect. He tried to illustrate premeditation by reminding the jury of the testimony of Kermit Schmid, 30, 517 Somerset Drive, who said he and Howard had purchased a gun together about aCourt here begins impanelingjury for venued murder trialA first degree murder trial vcnucd to Howard Superior Court from Grant Circuit Court began Tuesday with attempt to impanel a jury.Jesse Nash, 27, Marion, is charged in the slaying of Otis L. Anderson, 2{i, Marion, on April 20.A Grant County grand jury brought the first degree murder charge against Nash in a affidavit filed May 17. Anderson allegedly was shot by Nash with a M revolver outside a bar in Marion during an argument over gambling debts.The change of venue motion staled that Nash could not receive a fair trial because of newspaper, radio and television accounts of the incident. Themotion claimed that members of the Grant County community would be biased and prejudiced as a result of publicity.The motion further claimed that published accounts of the shooting linked it with the shooting death of a 14-year-old black youth May 14, with racial unrest in the city and with a planned Ku Klux Klan rally on a Grant County farm May 19. Nash is black and the man he is accused of killing was also black.Cha.!es h. Scruggs, Kokomo attorney, is to serve as defense counsel. Nash is being held in Howard County Jail,Beg your pardonIMHCY 9i'A-4 i lt;rNUCA Due to incorrect information sup-hditonals, slocks ....................1 p]icd lo The Tribune from WesternI* imiily News .................... .6 nigh School, Allen Milburn was idea-hporis - w-H tified as president of the WesternHospitals, Births 5 Booster Club In the Family News see-Theaters ....................tion of the Sunday Tribune. MilburnComics, Bridge, Horoscope, is past president nf the club, andTelevision ...........................Ik Charles Catron Is the current nrcsi-Clnssificd arts ...... 19-23 dent.week before the shooting. He further stated the two of them had gone to a shooting range where Howard practiced using the weapon.Testimony differed greatly as to placement of Hart and Howard during the shooting which occurred after a chance meeting at the mall. Patricia Hart, Howard’s cx-wife, testified Howard shot Hart while the latter was trying to run away from Howard who was in a crouching position firing the gun with both hands. Prosecutor Smith attempted to prove - this by calling policemen who testified the empty shell cases were about 30 feet lt;from the body.Scruggs told the jury he believed the shooting look place at close range, bolstering the case for self-defense. Schmid had testified that Howard said he was hit in the back by Hart at the shopping center as Howard attempted to get into his car to leave,Scruggs reminded the jury of the threat Hart had made to Schmid that he was going to kill Howard and about the shotgun which Hart told Schmid he had in his car.Scruggs said powder burns, on Hart’s body also Indicated the shooting was done at close range.Scruggs asked Who was after whom in this case?1' And he raised a question as to why the Harts parked directly behind Howard’s car when they arrived at the mall.Scruggs said, In his final summation, that If Hart had been running when he was shot, as . Hart testified, the bullet would have entered his back not his side.The defense attorney closed his argument by telling the jury not to compound the tragedy of last November with another now. *Jurors who brought in the unanimous verdict were Ronald W. Caiter, Lydia A. Allen, Katherine Northcutl, Mary A. Trapp, Anne M. Knudscn, Joyce Hensley, Robin Longwith, Margaret A. Pickett, Mary II. Christie, Rula M. Kersey, Jane Catron and Wilkins. Cecelia A. Smith was the alternate.
Newspaper Details
Kokomo Tribune
Kokomo, Indiana, US
Tue, Oct 16, 1973
Page 2
Full Page
Clipped by
Rhiannon H.
NA, 15 Sep 2024
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