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About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (April 17, 1958)
What Is The Law? This column is prepared as a public service by Ihe College of Law. Willamette University, Salem, to explain basic legal principles, not to provide legal advice. The reader is cautioned not lo apply these cases lo his own problems without an attorney's advice, for differing facts may change the outcome. Editor's note: Because of the timliness of the Cheryl Crane case, the Willamette University law school decided to do a special interpretative column this week. The article attempts to explain "justifiable homicide." "Justifiable Homicide" Explained in Turner Case The "justifiable homicide" verdict of the coroner's jury at the inquest in Los Angeles in regard to the killing of Johnny Stompanato by Lana Turner's daughter, 14-year-old . Cheryl Crane, leads many of our readers to ask, "To what extent may such a killing be justifiable homicide?" According to the transcript of testimony taken at the in quest, Cheryl had been told of the past threats and vio lence of Stompanato. She was present at the beginning of the quarrel the day of the homicide and, when Lana re treated to her bedroom, fol lowed by Stompanato, Cheryl also followed. What happened there apparently led Charyl to believe her mother was in danger of grievous bodily j harm or death. Cheryl . was told to go to her room and Lana Turner closed the bedroom door in an attempt to shield the daughter from the quarrel. Cheryl got a kitchen knife, returned, and was outside the bedroom door when the moth er ordered Stompanato to leave and then opened the door. Then Cheryl stabbed him in the abdomen. He fell and died within minutes. Common Law Explained It has long been the com mon law that a person may justifiably kill an assailant to save his own life or to pro tect himself from serious physical injury. Gradually this rule has been broadened. First it was extended so that one might justifiably kill to protect a relative from death or from grievous physical harm. Then this protection by the law was extended further to apply to those who kill to pro tect anyone for whom he is responsible, or to apply to one who finds it necessary to kill in acting to preserve the peace, to prevent crimes or to make an arrest particu larly when it is his official duty to act under these cir cumstances. Regardless of what the ac tual facts may be concerning the danger, reasonable moti vation is determined by what the facts appear to be to the killer. Hence the emphasis, in deciding this type of case, should be upon the know ledge and thoughts of the one who commits the homicide. Whether the actual danger existed is not essential to know as long as Stompanato gave cause for fear of vio lence. From Cheryl's Viewpoint Let us consider the case from Cheryl's viewpoint. After she was told by her mother about Stompanato's former threats and that Lana Optometrist Talk Set On Reading Dr. Steve Dipple, Grants Pass optometrist, will be one of the featured speakers at the April meeting of the Southern Oregon Optometric Society at 6:45 p.m., today at the Elks club in Ashland. Dr. Dipple will present a clinical analysis of the visual aspects of retarded readers. Appearing on the same pro gram also will be Dr. William . J. Tnompson, Medford, with a report on the optometric extension program for post graduate education Qf prac ticing optometrists. Hosts will be Dr. Glenn Revel, Ashland, Dr. T. Win ston Smith, Grants Pass, is in charge of arrangements. Wives of members of the society have been invited to the dinner meeting to discuss the re-activation of the auxil iary section. was afraid of him, Cheryl naturally would believe he was dangerous. As Cheryl stood in the doorway to the bedroom, before she was told to go to her room, she heard Stompanato threaten not only her mother, but herself and grandmother. When she returned with a knife, although the door to ner motner s Dearoom was closed, she could hear enough to know the situation had not changed. It is possible that it might not have been the words she heard then as much as the desperate tone of her mother's voice that fright ened Cheryl into final action. She knew that her mother did not have the comparative physical strength to win in combat with StomDanato. She Could Have Believed Therefore, we see that Cheryl could have believed that it was necessary to act quickly to protect her mother and perhaps herself from death or grievous physical harm. At least this is the view the coroner's jury seemed to take at the inquest. Although the findings made at the in quest are hot final, it is not probable that Cheryl will have to stand trial for this homicide. There is a report now that an effort may be made to take Cheryl from her mother and make her a ward of the juvenile court. Of course, the wardship is under the juris diction of the juvenile court. "Justifiable homicide," where it is proved that she acted within her lawful rights, is not in itself cause for change of wardship. There would have to be other reasons for such change, apart from the homicide, although the emo tional tensions resulting from the incident may be ' consid ered in determining the wardship- 53 rd Yea? M EDFORD Price 10 Cents Tribune 2nd SECTION MEDFORD, OREGON, THURSDAY, APRIL 17, 1958 Pages 1-12 3- If TO BE FREED? Ezra Pound, America's most con troversial poet, and an ac cused traitor, may soon be released from the mental hospital in Washington, D. C, that has been his prison for the past 12 years, it has been disclosed. Cosmic Uay Study One off Chieff Satellite Functions The Family Council Editor's note: The Family Council consists of a Judge, a psychiatrist, three clergymen, a newspaper editor, a women's editor and two writers Each article is a summary ot an actual report. The Family Council does not give advice; it merely reports on problems that have been dealt with by responsible agencies and counselors. Raymond F. She says she's my fiancee. 'Flora ring. M. I have the Editor's note: Much of the re search being conducted through in struments aDoard the United States satellites deals with cosmic rays. Dr. James Van Allen of the Uni versity of Iowa, who heads up the scientists lir charge of the research, was asked to explain why so much expense and time is being spent studying cosmic rays. This is his explanation. By Dr. JAMES VAN ALLEN Written for United Press Iowa City (IPI Like early experimenters in other fields, the upper air and space the scientists don't know . now what 'practical applications their findings will have. Such predicting would be something like Benjamin Franklin offering the world the telegraph and telephone immediately after his explor ations of lightning. Michael Faraday, British pioneer in the physics of elec tricity, had an answer for a member of Parliament who came to his laboratory to find out what was "practical" about his work. . Jayne Mansfield Wins Court Ruling Hollywood (IP) Blonde Jayne Mansfield had cburt permission today to. take her 7 -year -old daughter, Jayne Marie, with her this summer when she goes to Europe to make' the film, "The Sheriff of Fractured Jaw." Superior Judge Elmer D. Doyle approved the trip after Miss Mansfield, wife of for mer Mr. Universe," Mickey Hargitay, assured him Jayne Marie would have a governess and tutor for the trip "It's always in a child's best interest for her to be with her mother," the glamor ous actress said in presenting her case. She assured Judge Doyle that Hargitay would be along to help the girl with her les sons. Miss Mansfield's request to take Jayne Marie to Europe was opposed by her former husband, Paul.. J. Mansfield, who wanted to keep the little girl with him while the ac tress was away. Salem (IP) The Legisla time Interim Education Com mittee will meet in Eugene April 25-26 on the University of Oregon campus. "I can't tell you what it will be good for," Faraday said. "But I'll tell you this. One. of these days .you'll be taxing it." In 1831, Faraday discover ed how to generate electricity by rotating a coil of wire within the field of a magnet. His discovery became "prac tical" 40 years later with the development of the arc-light dynamo, and machines to con vert mechanical energy into electrical energy became ma jor investments of taxable en terprises. It wasn't long ago' that many people wondered why physicists were spending, so much time and energy try ing to split up those tiny at oms, things too small even to be seen in a microscope. Now, of course, atom-splitting is one of our major businesses, for peace as well as for war. In lis Infancy Cosmic ray and other up per atmospheric and space re search is now in its infancy, like electro-magnetism in Faraday's days of the 1830s and nuclear physics in the 1930s. We are now "crash programming" our efforts to grow in knowledge through several International Geo physical Year projects, using balloons, rockets and the Ex plorer satellites. Cosmic rays possess enor mous energy. They speed to ward the earth with more zip than man has been able to generate in his most power ful cyclotron. Cosmic rays, spawned both in the sun and in interstellar space, are ' natural "atom smashers," shattering both themselves and atoms of nit rogen and oxygen when they crash into the earth's atmos phere. Because of their energy, cosmic rays have already taught physical scientists things which they could have learned in no other way. Some atomic particles, me sons, for instance, first identi fied about 20 years ago, were discovered when cosmic rays blasted them out of atmos pheric atoms. Cosmic rays at full strength can pierce several feet of lead or a hundred feet of water. But their energy is largely dissipated when they hit the atmosphere. Satellites Serve Purpose Therefore, we must send our detecting and measuring instruments up high enough to meet them before they are broken down from primary into secondary rays. Rocket flights are useful for quick vertical studies of these particles, but satellites pro vide a broad sweep of infor mation over a long period of time. Outer space is a vast area of human ignorance. The his tory of the world proves ample evidence that attacking ignorance is fruitful. For once you start dispelling ig norance, you start finding things that are useful. Today we are on the track of cosmic rays. What we find out about this puzzling "rain" of invisible radiation should pave the way to further know ledge of what comes out of space to affect the earth's atmosphere and even life itself on our home planet. Raymond F. Boy, am I in hot water! I just don't see my way out of this one. I was going with a girl back home and we were ro mancing around. She talked about marriage, but I never really asked her. Well, fi nally I got into the Army and was I glad! I figured that once I got away this girl would find someone else. Well, she kept sending me letters telling me how much she loved me and all that sort of thing and I never answered them. Finally, she came down here to stay near the base where I am stationed. She introduced herself as my fiancee. I didn't have a chance to say anything. Whenever I get time off, she's right there, waiting for me. She keeps talking about our com ing marriage and I just don't see myself getting married yet. Flora M. Raymond sure has one big fat . case of am nesia. He certainly did ask me to marry him not just onoe either, but dozens of times! My parents even ob jected to his hanging around so much and taking up so much of my time. The trouble must be that he always had a few too many beers when he asked me to marry him. He also had a few too many when he gave me a ring not an expensive one, it's true, but he said it was the best he could afford and it would have to do for the time being. My parents were against my running after Raymond, but I feel sure that he is the one for me. At times he has admitted that he would really like to marry me, but gets cold feet when he thinks about it. I'm sure we could be happy together if he would just get over those silly fears. The Council Well, some body sure has the wires twisted! We suspect, however, that there is a good deal of truth in both statements. Raymond likes Flora and thinks of mar riage when beer helps him get over some of his fears. Then he forgets what he has said and is amazed at the long, loving letters that reach him. We take a rather dim view of the prospects of a marriage in which a girl has to take the initiative to such an extent, but if she is determined, we suggest that Flora encourage Raymond to talk over the problem with his chaplain and the doctor on his base. In the future, we'd advise Flora to ignore proposals and ring presentations made under the influence of liquor. (Copyright 1958, General Features Corp.) The Pentagon building has a cubic volume of 90,746,000 feet and occupies a square mile of land. It is said to con tain about 16V2 miles of halls and corridors. The Health News Institute reports that modern drugs and improved sanitation and bet ter medical care have added . 23 years to the American life span since the urn of the cen tury. Our life expectancy now stands at nearly 70 years. In the crater of Mt. Ruapehu, a 9,175 foot peak in North Is land, New Zealand, is a lake of hot water surrounded by ice and drifted snow. BUSINESS TRAINING is a lifetime investment Start pours CA J-J137 O SPECIAL O FOR LIMITED TIME ONLY 16-inch Dry Body Fir Wood 16 00 Per Cord Green Body Fir Log Ends 14 50 Big Double Load MEDFORD PRICES TIMBER PRODUCTS COMPANY PHONE SP 2-8086 Basket SORRY, WE RAN OUT LAST WEEK! We Also Ha v6 Daisies Same Fine Stock Same Low Price Full Doz. Count fflttrr ISMiflUS 2 n 25' Peas ? 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