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VOL.101, No.144
KANSAN
KANSAS STATE HISTORICAL
SOCIETY
TOPEKA, KS 66412
THE STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS
THURSDAY, MAY 2, 1991
ADVERTISING: 864-4358
(USPS 650-640)
NEWS:864-4810
Inquest jury finds shooting was justifiable
Parents of victim say their struggle for justice in case is only beginning
By Patricia Roias
Kansan staff writer
A coroner's ingest into the shooting death of Greg Sevier ended yesterday with a jury decision that the homicide was justifiable, but Sevier's parents say their struggle for justice has just begun.
"This is only the end of the first part," Greg Sevier's father, Willie Sevier, said after the inquest.
Greg Sievier, 22, was shot and killed April 21 by two Lawrence police officers who were sent to his residence. The attackers were at Terrace at the request of his brother.
Yesterday's ruling came after a little more than one day of testimony from 18 witnesses, including Sevier's son and two officers involved in the shooting.
The six-member jury deliberated for a little more than two hours yesterday morning before reaching a decision.
The jury rued that Sevier died from two bullet wounds to his heart. The wounds resulted from shots fired by a gunman in the back and James Phillips, the jury decided.
During testimony Tuesday, Carol Moddrell, Douglas County coroner, presented the autopsy report on the death of Sevier Kris Sperry, a foreign pathologist from Atlanta, assisted Moddrell with the autopsy.
Moddrell said that Sperry concluded in his report that Sevier was struck by six bullets.
She said that two bullets penetrated his heart, causing him to die within seconds.
The Sevier family said in a prepared statement yesterday that they did not believe justice had been served at the inquest.
"We are greatly disheartened but not surprised at the conclusion reached by those persons associated with the inquest." they said.
Lance Burr, the Sevier family's attorney, said that before the inquest, the family asked Moddrell whether she had someone else besides Jim Flory, Douglas County Attorney, assist her during the inquest.
Because Flory is a former law enforcement officer and works with Lawrence police officers on a daily basis, his participation in the inquest constituted a conflict of interest, Burr said.
Flory was not available for comment yesterday but will hold a news conference at 10 a.m. today.
He said that the family had not yet mentioned to him the possibility of a
lawsuit.
"We are going to wait for a little while to see the nature of the federal investigation." Burr said, referring to U.S. Attorney Lee Thompson's announcement Tuesday that the Fed's investigation would try to determine whether civil war were violated in the case of Sevier's shooting death.
Orene Sevier said yesterday that she thought police officers had violated her rights, as well as those of her husband and son.
"I felt like they just came in and just executed my son," she said.
Tolly Wildcat, assistant professor of English, said she and her husband had opened a savings account in the name of the Sevier family at the Douglas County Bank, Ninth and Kentucky streets.
Wildcat said people who wanted to contribute could mail checks written to Wille or Orene Sevier to the Douglas County Bank
Orene and Willie Sevier listen as the inquest jury rules that the shooting of their son, Greg Sevier, was justifiable.
Commission looks to cut tension between police force and public
By Vanessa Furhmans
Kansan staff writer
Community outrage about the recent fatal shooting of an American Indian by Lawrence police has prompted city commissioners to attempt to ease tensions between the police force and the public.
"Obviously, there is a lot of frustration out there," said Commissioner Shirley Martin-Smith. "We need to listen, and people need to tell us what is going on. We need public input."
City officials were criticized publicly Sunday night during a forum at Haskell Indian Junior College for their lack of interest in the April 21 shooting death of 22-year-old Gregory Seyler.
Charging that city officials were apathetic toward the death of Sevier and five other American Indians in the last two years, several audience members and panelists called for the resignation of Ron Holin. Lawrence police chief, and the dismissal of Jim Garrison, from the coroner's inquest.
the inquest, said that he empathized with the Sevier family but that he thought the inquest had been conducted in a fair manner.
Mayor Bob Walters, who attended
"I thought Mr. Flory was very methodical and very patient," he said. I didn't think he was very cooperative in his line of questioning.
Commissioner John Nallbandian, who also attended the inquest, said the commission might consider calling outside experts to give police officers specialized training, such as disarming people with weapons.
Martin-Simill said that tension created by Sevier's shooting, as well as the publication of a controversial comment by a Lawrence police rep, was recent. American indian deaths, was eroding the city's sense of community.
"That’s not a good reflection on the community," she said. "But we can help as a commission We’ve got five missionaries who are very concerned."
In response to the publication of the controversial comment in a professional-journal article by Chris
Mulvenon, then Lawrence police representative, the commission decided to initiate cultural diversity work in city employee and commissioners.
Rod Brebny, assistant city manager, said the next session would be May 14
But Martin-Smith said she was disappointed that racial tensions had worsened instead of improved since the March incident.
"I'm discouraged that things aren't moving faster," she said. "But it's taken a lot of time for the task force on racism report come out."
The City Commission will receive the report from the Mayor's Task Force on Racism and Discrimination against civil rights and discrimination
The task force, spurred by public unrest about the unsolved deaths of five American Indians, will recommit to training in combating racism, Walters said.
"They have been very deliberate." he said "The report will be very thorough, and they're going to offer some helpful suggestions."
Mourners honor seven dead with tepee, meditation vigil
Kansan staff writer
Bv Lara Gold
Lawrence residents are erecting a tepee in South Park in remembrance of the seven local American victims who have been killed in the last 14 years.
A vigil will be conducted at the tepee today and tomorrow in the park, 13th and Massachusetts streets. The tepee will move to Haskell Cemetery, on the Haskell Indian Junior College campus, Saturday and the vigil will continue there.
The vigil has been organized a week and half after the most recent
Victor Clark, a Lawrence resident, said the memorial was a way for the Lawrence community to pray and meditate together. He said son Chris was killed in March 1980.
"In a son who has died, understanding a mother's sorrow is something common for everyone," he said.
Other Lawrence American Indians killed in the last fourteen years include:
Greg Sevier, 22, was shot fatally by two Lawrence police officers in his home April 24.
The first, in March 1977, when Laurence Picotte, a Haskell Indian Junior College student, was shot by three Lawrence Police officers
of seven American Indian deaths.
John Sandoval, 19, was found drowned in the Kansas River in April 1889.
Cecil Dawes Jr., 21, was found drowned in the Kansas River in October 1969.
Harry Oliver, 72, was killed in a hit-and-run accident in December 1989.
Four-year-old Kitley Jewell kicks a ball past his father, Jim Jewell. The Jewells were enjoying yesterday's sunny afternoon while they waited for Kitley's gymnastics class to begin at Robinson Center.
Chris Bread, 19, was found dead in a ditch a mile and a half east of Lawrence on 15th Street in March 1990.
- Freeman Edwards, 6, was struck and killed by a 115-car Union Pacific train in August.
Clark said other Lawrence residents wanted to participate when they heard about the vigil.
He said people who wanted to understand each other's experiences had the opportunity to take part in meditation and the prayer at the vika.
Marilyn Bread said the vigil was primarily a prayer of healing.
She said that the vigil's start today coincided with the National Day of Prayer, when all denominations pray together and states pray together for everybody.
Hymer said that the vigil was meant to help heal the wounds caused by the seven deaths and the symbol of worship for unity in sorrow.
Marcia Hymer, a Lawrence resident involved with the vigil, said community participation was vital.
"It is a spiritual focus on the seven Native Americans that have been killed here in Lawrence," she said. "It is a living memorial for them."
In for the goal
Criticism of Soviet leaders marks May Day ceremony
Red Square restricted to all but guests;
marches cause dismay in France, Israel
The Associated Press
MOSCOW — Police and troops barred all but invited guests from the city center during May Day ceremonies on Red Square, but that did not save President Mikhail Gorbachev from stinging criticism.
Some of the carefully screened guests yesterday carried photographs of dictator Jozef Stalin, and others bore anti-Semitic placards — items that for many years would not be seen at a May Day celebration.
Speaking from Gorbachev's side atop the Lenin mausoleum, the head of the official union demanded that all foreign powers be disastrous state of the country.
Gorbachev looked somber; in keeping with the mood of the crowd. He waved at protesters and left.
A year ago, tens of thousands of citizens humiliated Gorbachev and other Soviet leaders atop the mausoleum when they streamed into Red Square at the end of the official parade shouting "Resign! Resign!"
The customary huge portrait of Soviet founder Vladimir Lenin was missing from Red Square, replaced by rainbow-colored billboards extolling "Peace and Happiness" and "Success in Labor."
celebrations was the lowest in decades, with only 50,000 people holding special passes allowed into Red Square. For the first time, the rally was organized by trade unions rather than a communist Party and the government.
Elsewhere, events marking the international workers' holiday included:
Turnout this year for the May Day
■ In Paris, Jean-Marie Le Pen, the leader of France's extreme right, led thousands of supporters on a march through the capital to the dismay of the left, which claims May Day as its own. Traditional marches were conducted by trade unionists and Comisars where in Paris and across France.
About 15,000 marchers at a rally in Nazareth, Israel, called for separate Jewish and Palestinian states. Arab marcheurs chanted, "Put as much money as you want into the settlement in Palestinian state is still going to emerge."
Russian leader Boris Yeltsin, Gorbachev's chief rival, was invited to the Red Square festivities, but he was 1,800 miles away in Novokuznetsk, a city addressed a May Day rally and negotiated with striking coal miners.
German May Day turns violent as leftists fight police The Associated Press
BERLIN — Radical leftists battled police throughout Berlin yesterday during the first May Day celebrations conducted in a united Germany in six decades. It was the worst street violence in Berlin this year, resulting in at least 130 arrests and 14 injured police officers.
Police used tear gas against militants who threw rockets, firebreakers and firebombs during a "Revolutionary May Day" march that drew about 8,000 people in eastern Berlin.
The violence moved to western Berlin's Kreuzberg section, where masked militants hurled stones and firebombs at police at the end of a street party.
In Hanover, Germany, 2,000 police fought about 300 soccer hooligans who went on a window-breaking rampage before a Germany-Belgium soccer match. More than 200 arrests were reported and four police were hurt.
Bv Katie Chipman
Commencement Committee devises new bad-weather plan
Kansan staff writer
KU's inclement weather plan for commencement 1991, which included conducting three separate ceremonies, has proved to be too complicated to carry out.
Steve Grabow, professor of architecture and a member of the Commencement Committee, said that if it was raining lightly, the ceremony would still be conducted in Memorial Stadium but that if it was still raining heavily, the ceremony would be moved indoors to Allen Field House.
According to the final inclement weather plan for commencement 1991, formulated by the Commencement Committee yesterday, graduates will be split into two groups in case of an indoor ceremony. One group will assemble at 5 p.m.; the other at 7 p.m.
Grabow said the first group to assemble
Graduates from all the other schools will assemble at 7 p.m. at the field house.
would be the graduates from the College of
Arts and Sciences and the Graduate School
Grabow said the changes were made because of the many complications that having commencement in different buildings produced.
"Commencement is like putting on an
Grabow also said the changes were made because of safety factors.
opera without a rehearsal and with a cast of 25,000 people" he said.
If it is raining heavily the morning of commencement, an announcement will be made at 1 p.m. to postpone the ceremony until later in the afternoon. Two blasts of the University whistle at that time will indicate postponement.
At 4 p.m., the location of the postponed ceremony will be announced by the radio stations and the University Information Center. A student whistle will indicate an indoor ceremony.
But if the weather has cleared enough to allow for an outdoor ceremony, graduates will assemble along Memorial Drive at 5 a.m. a 5:30 procession into Memorial Stadium.