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University Daily Kansan, April 21, 1983
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6 days of testimony come to a conclusion Jury begins deliberations in Chavez trial
ByDON HENRY Staff Reporter
The jury began its deliberations yesterday afternoon at the end of the skim' day of testimony in the trial of Stainley W. Chavez, who is accused of killing a 2-year-old Lawrence boy Dec. 9, 1982.
The jury deliberated from about 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. but did not reach a verdict. District Court Judge Mike Malone told the jury that this morning to reiterate their deliberation.
James Bridges, a pathologist from the Siwaukee Mission Medical Center, testified last week that the boy, Pratt White, died of bleeding in the skull that resulted from head injuries he had received.
IN TESTIMONY YESTERDAY morning, Barbara Sulta, Lawrence police officer, said that Sabrina White, the victim's mother, told Sulta that she had become angry and struck the boy during the afternoon of Dec. 8.
"Sufft testified that White told her she "went off" on Pratt White after the boy had gotten into lipstick and marked himself and her car while he was alone
Sett said White told her she picked the boy up and struck him twice and pushed him across the car. She said White told her the boy then fell to the other side of the car and his head leaved out of the window.
'The volunteered the information,' she said.
White said she could not remember whether she struck Pratt with an open or closed hand, Sull said. She also said White could not remember whether she had anything in her hand when she struck Pratt.
WHITE TOLD HER THAT PRATT had cried after she had pushed him across the seat of the car.
Sult said she first saw White at Lawrence Memorial Hospital at about 8:30 a.m. Dec 9, slightly more than an hour after the boy was pronounced dead at 7:14.
"I was there mainly to try to calm her," Sult said. "She went from hysterical to calm. I held her in my arms to comfort her."
Later that day White came to the police station voluntarily to talk to police about Pratt's death, Sult said.
White also testified yesterday. She told the jury that she and Chavez had argued on the night of Dec. 8, before she left in Chavez's care while she kept on work.
Chavez testified Tuesday that he and White had been living together intermittently.
WHITE SAID THAT PRATT had been fussy and seemed scared that night.
"It it became obvious that Pratt was afraid of Stanley," she said. "He wanted to be with me. He wanted me to hold him."
John Nitcher, the defense attorney,
asked what he said about what he said
He read some of her testimony from the preliminary hearing in which she said she did not know why Pratt was upset on the night of Dec. 8. In that testimony, White did not mention that though the boy was afraid of Chavez.
discernables between her testimony yesterday and her testimony at the hearing.
In testimony at the preliminary hearing she said, "I didn't know why he had gone."
In cross-examination by Craig Stanciffe, assistant district attorney, White said that she figured out later that Pratt had been afraid of Stanley.
"I trusted Stanley," White said.
"That's why I left him with Stan."
Malone then read the jury the instructions they were to use in reaching a verdict.
AFTER WHITE'S TESTIMONY, the defense rested its case.
He told them that they were to use only the evidence presented in the trial to reach a verdict. He told them not to rely on any other evidence and have been warned on the night of Dec. 8.
To reach a verdict of guilty, the jury must decide beyond a reasonable doubt that Chavez had killed Pratt during the act of child abuse, which is the underlying felony that the state alleges in the felony murder charge. Malone
He also told the jury that if they did not find the defendant guilty of felony murder, they could find him guilty of second degree murder, voluntary
STANCLIFFE BEGAN HIS CLOSING statement by saying, "This is a tragedy for everyone.
manslaughter, _involuntary_ manslaughter or battery
White then left the courtroom crying. In earlier testimony, the defense had called witnesses, including Chavez, who said that Pratt fell and hit his head while playing with a friend, Justin Daney, on Dec. 8.
Stancliffe also said in his closing argument, "To say Justin Daney killed him, or that Sabrina White killed him in the car or that she snuck into the room where he was sitting and to death without anyone hearing is completely beyond reason."
Stancilife also questioned discrepancies between Chavez's testimony during interviews with the police and his testimony on the stand Monday.
"How many times did he lie?" Stancile said.
IN NITCHER'S CLOSING argument, he urged the jury to draw on their common experience in reaching a verdict.
"Between you," he told the jury, "you have 400 years of life experiences to draw on, 244 of those years as an amateur, and 86 as a canyone, you are now almost all-nowerful.
"The worst thing that the state has against Stanley is merely that he is accused. The facts just aren't there. Based on the evidence, you have to find Stan not guilty. I ask you to do that and let Stan get on with his life."
Williard Mauer of Topeka cut braces recently for the piers that will be part of the structure for the Haworth Hall addition. Mauer works for R.D. Andersen Construction Company.
Danny Biehler/KANSAN
THE "SOVIET-AMERICAN WEEK OF UNDERSTANDING": A GROSS MISNOMER
The City Commission recently declared the week of April 17-24 to be the "Soviet-American Week of Understanding." To understand, the dictionary tells us is "to grasp the meaning of, (to) comprehend." My guess is that the end of this grossly misnamed week will find the Soviet contingent as unwilling to discuss or ignorant of Soviet activity in Africa, the Middle East, Southeast Asia, Eastern Europe, and Afghanistan as they were at its beginning.
Will this concern any of the local gentry or smiling sophisticates of Sports Illustrated, People magazine and the various television networks hovering nearby? As all the hoop-la will probably preclude any such consideration, one can ony wonder why the sponsors of this "Historic Week In Lawrence Kansas . . . believe it may mark the beginning of better Soviet-American relations."
William Dann
2702 W. 24th St. Terr.
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© 1983 Bear Brewed in U'S A. bv. Miller Brewing Co., Milwaukee, WI
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