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Continued from Page IAformer police chief.Under the terms of the charge given to the jury earlier by Judge Spears, the ju y had the option of finding Hayes gmlty only on violating Morales' civil rights and accepting his plea of accidental death.If the jury hud elected to convict Hayes of the lesser offense, it would have been a misdemeanor and Hayes could have received a maximum sentence of only one year in prison.When he dismissed the jury, Judge Spears thanked the panel members and said, “1 personally feel the verdicts you have rendered are right.In his final argument to the jury, Special Asst. U.S. Atty. Dan Rinzel attacked the defense contention Morales’death was an accident caused when he and Hayes wrestled for possession of the 12-gauge shotgun.“This Is hot a murder case,” he told the jury. “It’s the government’s contention Hayes’ violated Richard Morales’ civil rights by depriving him of his constitutional rights to equal protection under the law.“This violation led to the death of Richard Morales.“You have heard a lot about accidental death in this case,” he continued.‘Intimidate’“Frank Hayes has admitted he had no right to take Richard Morales out on that road. I say his purpose was to coerce, intimidate and scare a confession out of him, all violations of his right to equal protection.“The self-defense claim is ridiculous. If anyone had a right to defend himself, it was Richard Morales. 1 think Frank Hayes fully intended to pull the trigger.Rinzel accused Mrs. Hayes of lying on the witness stand and “denying Richard Morales the right to a Christian burial.”Lied'He also said Mrs. Baldwin lied to her employer about why she couldn't get back to San Antonio from East Texas for work.“There's no doubt she lied then and there’s no doubt she lied on the witnessstand.Defense attorney Charles MacDonald of Waco told the jury “you are reasonable people.If you have any doubt about the guilt of these defendants, then that doubt must be a reasonable one and grounds for acquittal.Reasonable“The government, I submit, has not proven their guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.”By far the longest closing argument was delivered by Marvin Miller of San Antonio, lead attorney for the defense.In it, Miller continually reminded the jury. “You have civil rights, too.You have the civil right to the protection of your lives and property, and that is provided by the law enforcement people of this state.”He referred to Hayes’ severe wound-ings in a 1973 shooting while attempting to break up a liquor store robbery in Castroville.‘Terrible wounds’Doctors have testified here to the terrible wounds this man suffered while protecting his community. How much more do we want from this man?” he asked.“There is no civil rights violation if a policeman asks a few questions of a man, especially if that man is a known crook.”Miller continued, “The government is not satisfied with trying Frank Hayes. They want to convict a whole. God-fearing family. They want this jury to be their hatchet-man.Mere shell’Finally, pointing to Hayes, Miller made an impassioned plea: “What you see there is the mere shell of a man. I hope you won’t destroy what’s left of him.”Before resting its case at It) a.m.. the defense recalled Mrs. Hayes to the stand as well as the final defendant in the case, Mrs. Baldwin.RiotMrs. Hayes, under examination by attorney Charles McDonald of Waco, testified she didn’t take the body of Richard Morales to the county offices in Hondo because a riot was under way in the city on the night of Sept. 14, 1975.She said the riot was instigated by Ra/.a Unida, a Mexican-American political party “and there were threats to tear the county jail down.“That’s why I was afraid to take the body there.Summing up the events Mrs. Hayes said, “It was a very horrible experience. I just wanted to scream and scream. There was nobody to turn to . . . I don't even like to think about ittoday.No helpShe also repeated her earlier testimony no one helped her in digging the *rave. taking the body from the cartrunk and burying it.Mrs. Baldwin’s testimony corroborated her sister’s, which she said was“true as I heard it.”For her part, Mrs. Baldwin said she was unaware of any of the events on the night of Sept. 14, until her sister arrived at her San Antonio home about 4a.m.“She (Mrs. Hayes) woke me up and told me there had been an accident, a man was dead and she thought Frank had done it. She asked me to go with her to East Texas and help keep her awake on the drive.“1 never questioned her . . I wentvoluntarily.”Couldn’t help“Did you assist in any way in the burial of Richard Morales’ body? McDonald asked her.“No. 1 did not. I couldn't. My health wouldn't allow it. I just sat off at a distance in the pasture.Mrs. Baldwin also testified she wasn't aware Morales’ body was in the trunk of car. but assumed it was.Mrs. Baldwin told of returning from Panola County to her home at Lake Travis where both she and Mrs. Hayes were subsequently arrested.Clean trunkShe admitted to helping Mrs. Hayes clean out the trunk of the car “because of the strong odor” as well as disposing of the two shovels and a hoe in a vacant lot near her Sunrise Beach home.She said when police arrived to make the arrest “they handcuffed us with pistols drawn. I was frightened.”Asked if she made any statements to police at the time of the arrest. Mrs. Baldwin said she was “too scared to say anything at the time.”Under cross examination by Ms. Moore, the defendant admitted calling her employer — a banker in San Antonio — on Monday morning and telling him she had been in East Texas to visit friends, her.car had broken down, and she would not be in to work.Repeated storyShe also said she repeated the storythe next day to the bank’s president,giving the name of the person she was supposed to have been with in East Texas — not Mrs. Hayes.“In other words you lied to your employers,” Ms. Moore challenged.“Yes. I did,” was the reply.Ms. Moore also challenged Mrs. Baldw in for not trying to talk her sister out of making the trip to East Texas with the body.“Since you believed it was an accident why didn’t you try and persuadeMrs. Hayes to contact law enforcement right then and there?”, she asked.‘Don’t think’“At a time like that you don't think clearly,” Mrs. Baldwin said.The final witnesses for the government were A.E. Ramon Jr., criminal investigator for the Bexar County Sheriff’s Department, and Dr. Richard Coons, an Austin psychiatrist.Ramon testified Frank Hayes had a bad reputation for treatment of Mexi-can-Americans.ExaminingDr. Coons, a forensic psychiatrist, testified to examining Frank Hayes for the government following his arrest for the Morales killing in 1975.He said Frank Hayes was sane at the-time of the killing and any drugs he was taking at the time had no effect on his ability to determine right from wrong.In all. a total of 32 witnesses testified. 16 for each side.Legionnaires disease kills in VermontATLANTA (AP) — Two cases o Legionnaires disease, both resulting ir death, have been reported at i Vermont hospital and three more ease* were confirmed at a Tennessee hospi tal, the national Center for Disease Control said.The CDC said Wednesday that three of 21 persons being treated for atypical pneumonia at Holston Vallej Community Hospital in Tennessee have the disease.Seven of the 21 did not have the ailment, the CDC said, and blood tests for the others were sent to the Atlanta center Thursday. The center said the results were not yet available.The two Vermont easels, at the Medical Center of Vermont in Burlington, bring to six the number of Legionnaires disease victims reported there since July. Three have died.Legionnaires disease takes its name bom an outbreak in Philadelphia atthe time of an American Legion convention in the summer of 1976. Twenty-nine persons died during that out-break. A bacterial agent was later isolated as the cause, and a number ofscattered cases have been reported in other locations since then.
Newspaper Details
San Antonio Express
San Antonio, Texas, US
Fri, Sep 30, 1977
Page 10
Full Page
Clipped by
Jared T.
NA, NA 29 May 2023
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