Show i i r Imprisoning an Angel j i iS BELDON CLARK who beat th the head ot or S O Don int into a pulp robbed him of his money and left him dying at the roadside is is sch scheduled for a brief sojourn in th the state prison on Charged with first degree degre murder murd r he escaped being doomed to execution when a aI I Ij jury j ry of his peers peer returned the hearted half-hearted verdict of voluntary manslaughter And so it will pot not be many years until Clark the slayer is is free i Sheldon Clark doubtlessly is thanking the c- c lawyer 1 who called calle him an angel Th The trial was a example of how a clever de defense de- de tense attorney c can n bend a jury to his will Throughout the trial the slain man seemed to be the one on trial Don was was was' pictured as as' as a blackmailer and a moral pervert pervert per- per p. p yen vert while the defense dwelt on the record of the innocent and unsuspecting Sheldon n. n The defense reached the h height ight of its subtle fight when Clarks Clark's lawyer awyer intimated that fate or divine Providence had determined d S to to visit destruction on Don with the defendant as destroying angel The jury seemed undecided as asto to to whether Clark actually was an angel who ought to be vindicated and thanked for the slaying or whether he le was one of the most cold blooded of murd murderers ers Was Vas it ai a crime or a good deed to kill The j jurys jury's rys ry's verdict was a compromise But anything short of the noose o or firing squad must be counted a victory for the defense and so the v verdict pf voluntary manslaughter is proclaimed a distinct achievement This is justice under the jury system This I is the Remus and Sinclair style of justice modified so as to require Clark to pay a little something as the price of his crime |