state/nation/world 6
The Daily Collegian
Jury decides on Wood trial
Contract killer Harrelson found guilty of murdering judge
By MACK SISK
Associated Press Writer
SAN ANTONIO, Texas A jury found contract
killer Charles V. Harrelson guilty yesterday of
gunning down federal judge John H. Wood Jr. to
collect a $250,000 fee from a drug dealer. The
• wives of the hitman and' the drug dealer, were
convicted on lesser charges.
The verdicts capped one of the most intense
investigations in the annals of the FBI, which
started when Wood was slain outside his town
house on May 29, 1979. He is the only federal
judge murdered in this century, •
' "This is just a necessary step in the progres
sion of things," the 44-year-old Harrelson said to
reporters as ,he was led away.
Harrelson, already serving a 40-year state
prison sentence on weapons and other charges,
faces a mandatory life sentence for this convic
tion. There is no provision under federal law for
him to receive the death penalty.
Years earlier, Harrelson, who had been pre
viously convicted as a hitman, allegedly
bragged, "I've never killed a person who was
• undeserving of it."
Harrelson's 41-year-old wife, Jo Ann, was con
victed of conspiracy to obstruct justice, which
carries a maximum five-year term.
Elizabeth Chagra, the 28-year-old ,wife of Ja
'. miel "Jimmy" Chagra, the man accused of
• ordering the slaying, was convicted, of conspiracy
to murder a federal judge and conspiracy to
obstruct justice. She faces up to life in prison.
U.S. District Judge William Sessions set sen
tencing for March 8.
Mrs. Harrelson is under a three-year federal
, sentence for using a fictitious name to buy a rifle
•• . .
Diary remains t® tell story of stranded man
•
FAIRBANKS, Alaska (AP) Tales of in Fairbanks, where, at an inquest, the saga dling, his concern grew with the change of "We surmised there was no immediate "I feel miserable. Have had the chills
death and despair in the frozen north are not • of Carl McCunn unfolded. the season. danger or need for emergency aid." upon awakening for the past three days. ... I
new in Alaskan folklore, but no poet wrote of On the last page, he wrote: "I think I should have used more foresight In his diary, McCunn tells of first being can't take much more of this. ... Can't stop
Carl McCunn's fatal adventure. He wrote it "Am burning the last of my emergency about arranging my departure. I'll soon find, elated about sighting the plane. Later he thinking about using the bullet either."
himself. Coleman light and just fed the fire the last of out. Am down to beans now ... just over a realized he had given the wrong signal to the He used the last of his fuel, and fed the fire
When the state trooper cut open the tent my split wood. When the ashes cool, I'll be gallon. That may not last two weeks. Fin- pilot. a final time.
and found Carl McCunn's wasted body, he cooling along with them." ished off the rice yesterday." "I recall raising my right hand, shoulder '"I (chickened) out once already, but I
also found a diary the starved man had kept McCunn had been flown into the valley By mid-August his diary entries were high and shaking my fist on the plane's don't wanna go through the chills again..
until he ended his torment with.a rifle bullet. about 75 miles northeast of Fort Yukon, in not dated —he spent much of his time second pass. It was a little cheer -- like They say it doesn't hurt. c -
"They say it doesn't hurt," McCunn March, 1981, as winter was ending. He knew searching for food. , when your team scored a touchdown or
wrote, and pulled the trigger. the area. In 1976, he had spent five months Still no plane. His anxiety grew. something. "Dear God in Heaven, please forgive me
He died at age 35 in a wilderness camp alone in the desolate Brooks Range. "Come on, please ... don't leave me hang- "Turns out that's the signal (or very my weakness and my sins. Please look over
near a nameless lake in a nameless valley This time, with about 500 rolls of film, in and frettin' like this. I didn't come out similar) for 'ALL OK ... DO NOT WAIT!' my family."
225 miles northeast of Fairbanks. He had photo equipment, firearms and 1,400 pounds here for that." They probably blew me off as a weirdo ... He added a separate note asking that his
gone there to photograph the natural beauty of provisions, he planned to stay through Meanwhile, concerned friends asked the Man, I can't believe it!" personal items be returned to his father.
.
, and mysteries of the tundra. mid-August. Alaska State Troopers to check on McCunn. By October, he was competing with And he instructed the one who found the note
His diary, 100, pages of looseleaf paper, At the coroner's inquest, testimony from Trooper David Hamilton flew over wolves and foxes for the rabbits he snared. to keep his rifle and shotgun. That was his
began in tidy, block letters recording the friends . and McCunn's own diary sug- McCunn's camp. Later, he testified he saw will.
In November, Carl McCunn ran out of
wonders of an emerging summer. It ended, gested he had failed to make specific ar- McCunn waving a red bag. He said he food. All he
had,
left were a few spices. He signed his name and attached his
• eight and a half months later, in the scrawl rangements to be picked up. circled and •McCunn "waved in a casual
of an abandoned soul crippled by frostbite, Early diary entries detail fascination with manner and watched us fly by." "I feel very down, but not quite out. Alaska driver's license.
' fighting with ravens and wolves for scraps the waterfowl, and wrote of the return of the "On the third pass he turned and walked Damned close, however." "The I.D. is me, natch."
of food. creatures to their summer grounds. back toward the tent, slowly, casually," Around Thanksgiving, McCunn was be- With those words, the diary, and the life of
The diary wound up in the coroner's office By early August, with his supplies dwin- Hamilton said. "No wave, no nothing. ginning to have dizzy spells. • Carl McCunn, ended.
• .
•
.., Steel mill Blues i ! , declared anthem ®f unemloyed
By 808 DVORCHAK ployed," has sold over 3,000 copies in Pickering.. . said Sullivan, 49, the father of five Liz Miles, a reporter in Pittsburgh donated the studio time, musicians
Associated Press Writer two weeks and is gaining popularity Pickering took "about a week" to daughters. for KDKA-TV's "Evening Mag- and production costs to make the
on radio stations and jukeboxes in write the song in October when Colt "It describes what I'm going azine," arranged to have a record record.
• MIDLAND, Beaver County -- Mi- areas where the blast furnaces are Industries closed its Crucible Stain- through and what the 12 million ' made after Pickering agreed to have The USWA is pushing the record.
chael Pickering just wanted to cheer idle. less Steel and Alloy Division in Mid- unemployed people in the country all proceeds go to the Pittsburgh "We're going to promote it any
.up his laid-off uncle when he All of the proceeds are being used land, a mill that once employed 4,800 are going through. It's the worst Community Food Bank, a non-profit way we can. What we'd like to do is
strummed his guitar and made up to feed the jobless, and the United workers. feeling in the world when they tell group that distributes food to the get it to all the radio stations across
"Steel Mill Blues," a folk song about Steelworkers of America is promot- His uncle and godfather, Bob Sulli- you you're done. That initial shock is needy in the tri-state area. the country," said union spokesman
the plight of a furloughed steelwork- ing the tune nationally. van, had toiled in Midland for 18 devastating," he added."l call it the national anthem of Russ Gibbons.
er. • "I wanted to help lift my uncle's years as a furnace bricklayer before Fifteen minutes after he first the unemployed. It delivers a very ' "The song comes from the heart.
But the recording, called "the spirits. I had no idea it would be a he went on unemployment June 13. heard it, Sullivan started writing strong message," said Justin Brown It tells a lot about the plight of these
national anthem of the unem- record. I never expected this," said "I get chills every time I hear it," letters to promote the song: He even of Air Craft Communications, which people..
Woman cleans up
$lOO,OOO worth of items found
MARBLEHEAD, Mass. (AP)
Truckloads of jewelry, appliances
and clothing worth at least $lOO,OO
have been carted from the apart
ment of a trusted cleaning woman,
who authorities say may have
cleaned her employers' homes too
thoroughly.
"I forget how many truckloads
it took," said James Gribouski, an
Essex County assistant district
attorney.
"You name it, and it was there,"
Gribouski said, including TVs,
toaster ovens and bicycles.
"They filled up the jail cells"
with the stuff, he said, and a local
department store "gave us some
space" for the rest.
He said the booty was believed
to be worth at least $lOO,OOO.
The items were taken from the
Lynn apartment of Dianna
Jablonski, 34,, a domestic who
worked in the homes of the
wealthy North Shore.
Police discovered the loot when
they got a search warrant to look
for $13,000 in jewelry taken from a
prosecutors contended was the murder weapon
Two others also were indicted in the Wood
murder. Chagra, 39, charged with murder and
murder conspiracy, is to stand trial Jan. 10.
Chagra's brother, Joseph, 36, pleaded guilty to
murder conspiracy and other charges were
dropped. He was assessed a 10-year prison term
and was the government's key witness.
Wood's slaying outside his San Antonio town
house triggered the most exhaustive Justice
Department investigation since the 1963 assassi
nation of President John F. Kennedy.
None of the three defendants showed any
emotion when the verdicts were read. Several
female jurors sobbed.
Mrs. Chagra held her head up and smiled at the
jurors.
Prosecutor Ray Jahn was elated.
"When Judge Wood died on May 29th, justice
did not die," he said. "The system works."
Harrelson's attorney, Tom Sharpe Jr., said he
would file a motion for a new trial.
Mrs. Chagra's lawyer, Warren Burnett,
termed the verdict a "bitter, bitter disappoint
ment" and said he would appeal.
Charles Campion, representing Mrs. Harrel
son, said, "I wish we could have had a severance
and separate trial for Jo Ann."
The nine-woman, three-man jury, which had
been sequestered since last Thursday, deliber
ated 18 hours before reaching the verdicts.
The trial which started Sept. 28 featured 40
days of testimony from 104 government and 26
defense witnesses, more than 500 pages of docu
ments, and hours of tape recordings played to the
jurors. •
Prosecutors, describing Harrelson as "highly
intelligent and cunning," said he killed the judge
home in Swampscott.
"They had no idea when they
went looking for the jewelry that
they would find the other stuff,"
Gribouski said.
He said police were calling in
the woman's employers to identify
the items. No charges have been
filed in connection with the jewel
theft in Swampscott.
Marblehead Police Inspector
James Elliott said the police also
found cash and coins in boxes and
bags anti the search led to a safe
deposit box in a Lynn bank where
investigators found a substantial
amount of cash.
"We have 11 guys involved in the
inventory," Elliott said. "It was
mind-boggling. It's going to take
days and days to figure this."
Ms. Jablonski was arraigned in
Lynn District Court on Friday on a
larceny charge. She is accused of
shoplifting at a Swampscott de
partment store over an 11-month
period.
Police Captain William Dennis and inspector James Elliot check, two jail cells
filled with articles discovered by the police in the apartment of Dianna
Charles - V. Harrelson
for a $250,000 fee from Jimmy Chagra. Convicted
of a continuing criminal enterprise, he is now
serving a 30-year federal prison term without
parole.
Chagra was scheduled for trial before Wood in
1979 when the judge was killed. The indictment
charged • that Chagra feared Wood would sen
tence ,him to life in prison on a criminal enter
prise charge.
He subsequently was convicted.
Robbery might be
an inside job
By BETSY KENEDY
AsSocieted Press Writer
NEW YORK (AP) The $8 job was done with inside help,
million robbery of an armored car since his company had twice in
warehouse by bandits who spected the facility's security sys
scrawled "robbers was here" on a tern.
mirror had the earmarks of an "Our indication is that someone
inside job, investigators said yes- really had to know what was in
terday. there in order to get past the
Two armed men cut through the cameras, the alarm systems and
roof of the warehouse late Sunday guard," Seaberg said. "Someone
and made off with the money in had some knowledge of the prem
this country's biggest cash heist. ises."
The robbers pierced the steel The armored car company, one
and tarpaper roof, defused an of the largest in the city, has
alaim system, handcuffed the lone offered a $25,000 reward for infor
guard, and pried open a heavy mation leading to arrests and con
metal door into a vault-like money victions, said a Sentry official who
room at the'Sentry-Armored Car- declined to be identified.
Courier two-story warehouse in Investigators said the men came
the Bronx. ' equipped with a screwdriver or
Two dogs on duty did not bark similar tool to perforate the roof
during the holdup, and police said and make a circular hole; an
tests were being conducted to see electronic burglary tool to defuse
if the dogs were drugged. the alarm; a rope to lower them-
The ease of the operation has led selves into the building, and a
investigators from a joint FBI- crowbar to pry open the door to the
New York police bank robbery • money room.
task force to suspect that the rob- Once inside the money room, the
bers may have been given inside thieves cut through a floor-to-ceil
information, according to a police ing, chain-link fence with boltcut
source who did not want to be ters to reach the moneybags
named. The task force' was re- stacked on pushcarts.
viewing the roster of past employ-. The robbers took money bags
AP LaserPhOto
Richard Seaberg, vice president ing an estimated $8 million to a
of Poe Associates, an insurance truck they had parked outside.
.Jablonski. Jablonski, a cleaning woman, was arraigned Fr
with alleged shoplifting from the homes of her employers.
Wednesday, Dec. 15
company based in Tampa, Fla.,
that was one of Sentry's under-
writers, said he also believed the
with small, unmarked bills total-
n connec
state news briefs
Laid-off workers offered free items
JOHNSTOWN (AP) -- Prescrip- the project coordinator. "People
tion drugs, Christmas toys . and just kept calling .. . and it all fit
even college tuition are available into place."
free to laid-off workers in the Free toys will be provided by a
depressed Johnstown area. local department store. Prescrip-
Operation Touch, an association tion drugs and other medical serv
social-service. groups .reacting to ices will be provided at a free
Johnstown's 18.6 percent unem- clinic established by area physi
ployment rate, is organizing the • cians.
giveaways using donations from Mount Aloysius Junior College
local companies and profession- in nearby Cresson has offered
als. vacant classroom seats in tradi
"All of these little miracles are tional classes to the qualified un
happening," said Rita Campbell, employed. '
Tough drunk driving law to be signed
HARRISBURG (AP) Go's , . volved. First convictions would
Dick Thornburgh will sign a tough also require license suspensions
drunken driving law today, his ranging from a month to a year.
office has announced.
Spokesman Kirk Wilson said a . "I'm pleased," said Marie Tura
si' founder of Pennsylvania Moth
ceremony has been set for this
afternoon at the Capitol. ers Against Drunk Drivers, who
A person convicted of drunken lobbied for the measure.
'driving would face 48 hours in jail Thornburgh has had the bill
for a first conviction. However, since Nov 23, following its passage
the person could avoid jail if there in the House and Senate. He has
was no accident or injuries in- until Dec. 30 to act on it.
nation news briefs
Woman wants a car for her coupons
DOWNEY, Calif. (AP) Sha
ron Ann Otten says the plates on
her new 1982 Firenza four-door
will read "PAGE 9." That's the
spot where she found coupons in 91
phone books that she claims enti
tle her to get the car for free.
The coupons, which offer $lOO off
on the price of a car, carry no
written notice limiting them to one
per customer or one per car. The
dealer says that doesn't matter
and refuses to deliver the .$8,460
car. Ms. Ottembas hired a lawyer.
The . 39-year-old Anaheim wom
Runway not tested in Boston crash
WASHINGTON (AP) Federal of the 212 people aboard were
investigators who have examined never found and are presumed to
the crash of a World Airways DC- have drowned.
10 in Boston said yesterday that The National Transportation
airport officials were "willing to Safety Board, putting its final
accept the risk" of an accident touches on a report on the acci
when they failed to test the run- dent, said officials at Logan Inter
way after a number of pilots re- national Airport decided not to test
ported poor braking. the runway for traction despite a
The jetliner skidded off the ice- policy of conducting such tests
covered runway last January and whenever two pilots report poor
crashed into Boston Harbor. Two braking conditions.
' • news ...•
world
•briefs.. r• .•••:"
Gl's injured by terrorist car bombs
FRANKFURT, West Germany drive to work at 5:20 a.m., Butz
(AP) One GI was seriously bach police officer Klaus-Juergen
wounded and another escaped un- Fricke said.
harmed yesterday after terrorists He was treated first at a local
wired the front seats of their cars clinic and then moved to the
with pressure-sensitive bombs ac- Army's 97th General Hospital in
tivated by the target's weight. Frankfurt, where a V Corps
A spokesman for the Hesse state spokesman said he was in "sta
criminal office said the strikes ble" condition by mid-afternoon
marked an escalation of action by
terrorists who previously concen
trated on doing material damage.
He warned Gls to be on the lookout
for more car bombs
The injured soldier received leg
wounds and suffered internal inju
ries when he got into his car at
Butzbach, outside "Frankfurt, to
Soviets supply tanks to Nicaraguans
WASHINGTON (AP) Recent
shipments from the Soviet bloc
may have doubled the number of
tanks in Nicaragua's army, al
ready rated the strongest in Cen
tral America, Pentagon sources
said yesterday.
According to these sources, who
asked to remain anonymous, a
Bulgarian merchant ship un
loaded Soviet T-54 and T-55 tanks
in Nicaragua last month, the first
such tank deliveries to that Marx
ist-ruled Central American coun
try since mid-1981.
an said she was seeking a bicyCle
coupon for her teenage son Nov. 17
when she spotted the coupon from
Nowling Oldsmobile in Downey. It
said: "Present this coupon after
making your best deal on a new or
used car & receive an additional
$lOO off."
Then, she said, she spent nearly
14 hours the same day scurrying
door-to-door in search of additio
nal coupons, ending up with about
150 worth $15,000. She got to the
dealership before it closed that
night.
Two hours after the explosion,
another GI, also unidentifed,
climbed into his car in Frankfurt,
felt something hard under the seat
and quickly sprang out to find a
battery wired to a 4 1 / 2 -pound fire
extinguisher packed with explo
sives primed to blow up his car.
Specialists estimated that as
many as 24 tanks were in the
recent delivery. Previously, offi
cials have said the Nicaraguan
army had about 25 Soviet tanks in
a growing arsenal of weaponry
provided by countries associated
with the Soviet Union.
Defense officials claim that Ni
caragua represents a threat to
lightly armed neighboring coun
tries such as Honduras and Costa
Rica, which are supported by the
United States.
TAKE USG HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS!
To Philadelphia:
$16.75 one way
$31.75 round trip
To Pittsburgh:
$14.50 One Way
$27.50 Round Trip
To New York City:
$28.75 One Way
• $57.50 Round Trip
To Long Island:
$28.75 One Way
$57.50 Round . Trip
Tickets go on sale Decemberls-17, 20, from 9-4:30 at the HUB desk
All buses are express and leave from the HUB & Lot 80.
Return trip from all cities on Jan. 2, 1983.
Return time is 7:00 PM from Phila., Pitts., NYC, and 5:00 PM from L.I.
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II
COMMUNITY BANK
g I I
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BOWL
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Stiflrts *° °
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Commemn
It's not necessary to be a Farmers Community customer. The only
obligation is that you be a roaring-great Penn State football fan!
Get your #1 souvenirs while they last!
STATE COLLEGE • LEMONT • PORT MATILDA • BOALSBURG • MILLHEIM
DEPARTURES:
King of Prussia Mall
Dec. 20 5:30 PM (Wanamakers).
Dec. 21 , 12 Noon, 5:30 PM Trailways Terminal
Dec. 22 12 Noon (13th & Arch)
Dec. 20 6:00 PM
Dec. 21 12:30 & 6:00 PM
Dec. 22 12:30 PM
Dec. 21 11:30 AM & 5 PM
Dec. 22 11:30 AM
Dec. 21 5:00 PM
00' '6°
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Hurry!
STOPS:
David Weis in Monroeville
Trailways Terminal
(Downtown)
Rockaway Mall, Dover, N.J.
(Sears Lower Level)
Port Authority (Taxi Roadway)
Roosevelt Field Shopping Cente
(Gimbels)
Walt Whitman Shopping Center
(A & S Dept. Store)
- 000 Xvt
Go# 111
0 (omits (0,0"0"1" 6Asi
WE=
:hew" •than/ /a.ato
el-Ftti!.*., PENN STATE
T vs.
r , , GEORGIA
‘-`•::• c
LOUISIANA SUPEROOME
C SATURDAY. JANUARY 1 19013
L) I Ali‘it NM \ !I \
The Daily Collegian Wednesday, Dec. 15,
41'
r_.7l 0 .7nErm-i_m-4 (0," fat
For more information ca
USG at 863-0295
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