University Daily Kansan, April 25, 1983
Page 3
Two jurors doubt testimony Chavez acquitted of murder
By DON HENRY Staff Reporter
Two members of a jury that found Stanley W. Chavez not guilty Friday of the murder of a 2-year-old Lawrence boy said yesterday that they voted to acquit Chavez because too many doubts remained in their minds about testimony from the boy's mother and from pathologists during the trial.
Chavez was released from jail Saturday morning on a recognition bond of $7,500. He will have to appear at a later date on a charge of possession of handgun by a convicted man. A bail for that charge has not yet been set.
SHIRRY KOFE, LAWRENCE junior and a member of the jury, said several doubts about evidence had caused her to vote for acquittal.
The jury heard testimony for six days and began its deliberations Wednesday to decide whether Chavez was guilty of murdering Pratt White, who was pronounced dead at Lawrence Memorial Hospital Dec. 9, 1982.
Pathologists testified during the trial that his death was caused by bleeding in the skull, a result of several head injuries and was reported on when he received those injuries.
One pathologist said the boy suffered fatal head injuries two to six hours
before his death at 7:14 a.m. Another said the injuries could have been inflicted any time within 24 hours before the boy died.
Kopf said, "Of course, I can only speak for myself, but I think there was somewhat contradictory evidence by the pathologists."
ROGER POWELL, ANOTHER juror,
said, "We had a lot of trouble with the
time frame of the pathologists."
The prosecution contended that Chavez had beaten Pratt to death during the night of Dec. 8, when he was caring for him while the boy's mother, Sabrina White, was at work at Haskell Indian Junior College.
Chavez had testified that he assumed he had pushed Pratt when the boy had disturbed his sleep. But Chavez said he had not known what did and did not know what he was doing.
When the boy began crying, Chavez said, he realized that he had done something wrong and got up to soothe him, vomited and wet his pants. Chavez said.
Kept she thought Pratt might have received the fatal injuries while he was playing during the day before he died.
STEVE DANEY, ONE OF Chavez's friends, testified that Pratt had fallen and hit his head while he was playing with Daney's son Justin at the Daney home.
Chavez confirmed Danyet's testimony when he said that Pratt had fallen into a coffee table Dec. 8 at the Danyet home. He said Pratt, whom he said was toilet trained, then wet his pants. A pathologist testified that a severe blow to the head could cause loss of bladder control.
Powell and Kopf said they had doubted some of the testimony from Pratit's mother.
h Barbara Sull, a Lawrence police officer, said that White had told her, in an interview on the afternoon of Pratt's death, that she "went off" on Pratt and struck him in her car Dec. 8, after she found he had marked up her car and himself with lipstick that he had found while alone in the car.
KOPF SAID, "PATRTS mother tended to contradict herself."
Powell said, "I guess for the most part we weren't sure of the mother's testimony. She changed her answers at times. She seemed contradictory."
Powell said it was difficult for the hurts to reach a consensus.
"We had some of the jurers who were positive that he didn't commit the crime at all," he said. "But several of the jurtors felt he was the only one that could have done it. So it took some discussion to reach a verdict.
"Since we were at opposite ends, it took some time."
By United Press International
Nepal avalanche kills one climber
KATMANDU, Nepal — An availance yesterday buried three Yugoslavs sealing Manaslu, the world's eightth highest killed a mountainous instructor, and left the missing and presumed dead.
A third climber was injured, but not seriously, the expedition's doctor said after the man was evacuated by helicopter from the team's base camp on the 26,760-foot Himalayan peak.
Zapoltnik, a student from Kranj,
Yugoslavia, and an instructor at a
mountaineering in Nepal, in 1979,
scaled Mount Everest in 1979.
The torrent of ice and rock plummeted down on the three climbers as they ascended from the first camp at 14,435 feet to the second at 17,388 feet, Nepal's ministry of tourism said.
THE DEAD CUMBER WAS identified as Jernej Zaptolnik, 31, who was a father of three and had been active on the day on the mountain last week.
The ministry said members of the expedition continued their search for Ante Bucan, 32, an electrical engineer from Solin, Yugoslavia, but had decided to abandon a final assault on Manusi's peak.
Roommate agreement form could eliminate trip to court
By SUSAN STANLEY
Staff Reporter
Debbie Smith has been in and out of small claims court five times in the past year trying to get a former tenant paid $1250 from rent from the tease they had signed.
One Saturday in December 1981,
Smith and her two roommates fought,
and within a week the roommates had
given up. The couple rent monthly rent payments and utility bills.
Because of a clause in the lease, Smith said, she was still responsible for the bill.
Smith took her roommates to court for payment of the rent. Although one roommate settled out of court, the other refused to pay.
"Because we technically did not have any document which legally bound her to pay rent for the term of the lease, we couldn't make her pay," she said.
A YEAR AFTER SHE FIRST went to court, Smith said the proceedings are finally over.
The roommate who did not settle out of court must now either pay part of the rent or do community service work.
Stories like Smith's are not uncommon.
Clyde Chapman, director of Consumer Affairs Association, said that he mediated many roommate disputes. Chapman said that many trips to
small claims court could be avoided if prospective roommates signed a "roommate agreement."
The roommate agreement form, which is available from the consumer affairs office, itemizes expenses that each roommate is responsible for paying, he said.
THE AGREEMENT ALSO CAN include such things as cooking and cleaning responsibilities, he said.
The form also lists who pays for damages to the apartment, requires that anyone who subleases the apartment is acceptable to the other party, and all damages from a roommate's pet are to be paid for by that roommate.
"You can think your friend would be a great person to live with but you often don't know if they pay their bills on time," he said. "Sometimes a roommate may have to leave for a legitimate reason and sometimes they just skip out. Either way you have to protect yourself."
CHAPMAN SAID ROOMMATES could write their own agreements and they would still be legally binding.
"As long as both parties understand what it is that they are signing and agree to it, it is a legally binding document," he said.
Smith said that she and her roommates did not sign any such agreement before moving in together.
Announcing:
The Singles Hill Championship
When: Saturday, April 30
Who can enter: Any person with an established average in a Jaybowl league or HPER bowling classes (minimum 18 games)
Time: 1pm, 3pm, 5pm
Entry deadline: Friday, April 29, by 10pm
$3.00 per 3 game series
Jay Bowl KANSAS UNION
For more info
CALL
864-3545
There will be a meeting held for men and women who are interested in being
Hosts or Hostesses for the Kansas University Athletic Department
on Sunday Evening, May 1 at 7:00 pm in Room 135 of Parrott Athletic Center
You must be a KU student in good standing during the 1983-1984 academic year.
10am to 4pm, April 25 (April 26, if it rains)
East of Kansas Union
super savings on books, clothing, school supplies and art supplies. Just two examples are:
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