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Show - j - . ... Condit Convicted On Murder Count; Entails Execution A Fifth district court jury Tuesday Tues-day evening at Parowan found Donald Law ton Condit, Los Angelesx ex-convict, guilty of the I March 20 murder of Harold Ar-j Ar-j thur Thorne, Salt Lake City grocery gro-cery salesman, according Jo the Salt Lake Tribune. The jury de- j liberated four hours and 45 min-' utes before returning the verdict, 1 which failed to carry any recommendation recom-mendation for mercy and thereby makes the death senttaice mandatory. man-datory. Judge Will H. Hoyt of Nephi, who presided at the trial, set June 20 as the date for passing pass-ing sentence. John Moore Williams Wil-liams of Milford and Orville Isom of Hurricane, two promising young southern Utah attorneys, served as counsel for the defendant defend-ant bv appointment of Judge Hoyt. Members of the jury included James A. Tweedie, Arthur Gardner, Gard-ner, Clair Piatt, John Maxwell and Richard Williams of Cedar City; Ray Adams, Woodruff Pendleton of Parowan; Frank Matheson of Enoch, Joseph Banta, William Flintspach of Modena; H. Launestin of Beryl, and Harojd Smith of Summit. This became the first murder conviction of record in Iron county. coun-ty. Only two other murder cases have? reached the district court there since 1900, and both previous previ-ous defendants were acquitted on self-defense pleas. In his opening statement to the jury, Mr. Shay reviewed the evidence evi-dence in the case as presented in court and stressed the point that Condit had admitted four violations viola-tions of California law and patrol regulations during the short period immediately preceding Mr. Thome's death. "'He first violated his parole by getting married", which might be forgiven, Mr. Shay pointed out. "He next left the state without permission; he purchased a gun in violation of law, and admitted stealing a car in San Bernardino, California, which he drove to Las Vegas. After registering undet an assumed name in the Nevada city and staying overnight, . he hitchhiked a ride with Mr. (Continued or. last page) M Condit Convicted (Continued from first page) Thorne, with the result that he shot the salesman, dragged his body off the highway and left in Thome's car". "It is not pleasant to think of terminating a man's career, but Mrs. Thorne and these five babies had committed no crime. If you bring in a recommendation for leniency and this defendant should ' go free again to make other widows and orphans, then that responsibility re-sponsibility will be upon your shoukkrs", the courujy attorney ; concluded. 1 Summarizing their defense solely sole-ly in a plea for mercy. Defense De-fense Attorneys Isom and Williams Wil-liams based their arguments on "defects in the state's evidence, one of which was the lack of any direct testimony showing that Condit had killed Thorne with the rock alleged to have been used, and the other was the "state's evidence that Thorne- did not die from the bullet wound", which jCrndit testified was accidental, during a scuffle. I A scathing denunciation of cap I ital punishment as a deterrent to crime was delivered to the jury by Mr. Williams as the defense ! ch sed its case. 1 'Society is to blame for the re-1 re-1 sentful attitude of this boy, who j was left without a mother or 'father at the age of 7", Mr. Wil-1 Wil-1 liams declared. "Capital punish-I punish-I merit is society's weakest answer 1 to its responsibility in solving the ' crime problem". j "Society now asks you 12 men 'ti overlook God's law and im-j im-j pose man's judgment instead. I 'an ui lterably opposed to capita! 1 punishment because it has not solved the crime problem", Mr. 1 Williams declared, j "We are now asking only that j you consider extenuating circum-i circum-i ' stances in this boy's case, and ! bring out a verdict recommending leniency. If you do this you will have taken another step in ultimately ulti-mately removing this type of punishment from the statute books of this state", he concluded. Condit was w-eeping and Mrs. Condit, bride of only a few weeks when the crime was committed, had disappeared from her usual place in the doorway to the judge's chambers when Mr. Williams Wil-liams completed his plea. |