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Show Girl Was Sentenced; But Who Was Guilty? By STEPHEN W. GIBSON Church News Staff Writer v - uilty of juvenile and neglected delinquency, ruled the jury. Sentence: detention for one year in a juveBountiful resinile home for Jane De Witt, dent. Sound serious? It was when Federal Judge A. Sherman Christensen pronounced the sentence. Then for the first time during the trial, Janes parents showed some content for her future. The whole activity was a moot court trial, held in the North Weber Stake Center, and presented by a group of professionals who banded together to present a program about parent and youth relationships. The first trial was held in Bountiful for the Bountiful South Stake MIA. Since then they have been invittheir trial for several other stake MIAs. ed to Because of heavy demands on their time, the cast limited their performances to seven. The seventh was held here in Ogden. The roles of judge, attorneys, court reporter and police officer werent strange to the actors. They were playing the parts they do every day in helping to maintain law and order in Utah. According to Judge Christensen, each court trial was very close to being authentic. It is a lot closer to the real thing than Perry Mason's court, the judge said. Jane De Witt, the defendent, played by Retta Standing, was on trial for running away from home and being ungovernable. Due to many disagreements with her mother she decided to leave home. She was gone only one night, but when the arresting officer, Dan Waters University of Utah Security Force, found her she was staying with a hippy friend, portrayed by Christine Ingleby. The pungent smell of marijuana was evident in the hippys apartment, testified the officer. When Jane came to me she was very unhappy. the hippy testified. She needed someone to talk to so I listened. The jury, which was selected only moments before the court session, listened carefully to the testimonies thought-provokin- v 5? IS j mpm 4 XT & h t -- X vxv X VX: , 4 J i I" ' S' . X OGDEN, UTAH j X A f "a K x x y a a! r g ct bead-wearin- Judge A. Sherman Christensen, jury listen to testimony of officer, Dan Waters. g Retta Standing hears sentence from Judge after being found guilty of delinquency by jury. of Jane, her paients, the hippy, the police officer and Dr. Carl R. Peterson, a psychiatrist. y As the testimonies were heard, a pattern of parents, who expected more respect from their daughter, than they themselves were willing to give their leaders, began to unfold. of Mrs. Julia De Witt, Under played by Ann Lalli, defense attorneys, Barrie G. McKay and Keith E. Taylor, brought out the fact that Janes mother didnt follow the counsel of the leaders of the Church she professed to believe in. We try to follow their counsel, but Mr. De Witt is gone a lot so we havent been able to have Family Home Evening regularly, Ms. De Wit declared. . too-bus- cross-examinati- Mr. De Witt, said the defense attorney, you have been characterized as a busy man, what do you do to Continurd on Page 12 Ann Lalli and J. Golden Barton appear distressed at testimony of Jane De Witt, charged with being ungovernable and runaway. WEEK ENDING MAY i7, 1969 CHURCH- -5 |
