Bisbee daily review., 1922-03-15
DEFENSE BR|NGS
 TEARS TO EYES
 IF MADALYNNE
Weeps as Attorney Dwells on Love Between Defendant
 and Murdered Man

LOS ANGELES. Mar. II. - Tears came to the eyes of Mrs. Madalynne Obenchain today as she listened to the opening argument in her behalf in her trial on the charge of murdering her sweetheart, J. Belton Kennedy.
 Alfred F. Mcdonald. who made the argument. dwelt upon the love which. according to testimony, existed be- tween the defendant and Kennedy, declaring it showed she had no motive for plotting Kennedy's death.
 One of the three women on the jury wept when Mcdonald read a letter Kennedy wrote to Mrs. Obenchain, containing the appeal: Love me al- ways The attorney declared the states theory that Mrs. Obenchain was woman scOrned" had been dis proved, and that if anything, this was a case of a man scorned."
 Mcdonald will resume his argument today.
 According to the announced pro- gram, he will be followed by Jud R. Rush, senior defense counsel, who will address the jury for the rest of the day. Asa Reyes, deputy district attorney, will make the final argu- ment Thursday.
 Charles W. Fricke, deputy district attorney, closed the first argument for the state this afternoon, appealing to the jury to render a verdict 'in ac- cordance with the vidence.'
 There probably never has been a case, Mcdonald said, in which a great CT love and affection appeared than the present trial.
 ''If it hadn't ben for the efforts of Kennedy's parents to prevent it." Me Donald declared, these two souls would have ben married today and probably had one or two little ones running around this court house."
 Mcdonald sprung a surprise when he announced what he would do in his argument tomorrow. His last words to the jury today were:
 "I am going to show you in the morning, out of the mouths of the states own witnesses in this case. that J. Belton Kennedy met his death in Beverly Glen at the hands of two roughly dressed men, just as Mada- lynne Obenchain said he did"
 When court convened today, Mrs. Obenchain looked more as she did uui iuS luO III SI udyS Ol H6T lTldl Ap- parently knowing that so far as her personal efforts were concerned, the trial was over, she came into court smiling. The tired and worried look she had worn since taking the witness stand in her own defense had van ished.
 Resuming his argument today, ! Fricke, for the state, referred to Mrs. | Obenchain'S story as a "canned state l ment' and asserted it was made to order" and had been planned" He told the jury that her more than or dinary intellect permitted her to | have an "excuse for every bit of in- | eliminating evidence" He also argued | that Mrs. Obenchain, Hike any person | on trial for a murder as brutal and | cruel as this, wouldn't hesitate in hay | ing convenient lapses of memory"
 Mrs. Obenchain sent for Burch, | Fricke said, because she realized she ! was in a peculiar position" having obtained divorce and told friends of | her love for Kennedy. The greatest 1 thing in her mind, Fricke declared, | was to meet Burch at the train when | he arrived here in July, 1921, and tell | him her troubles with Kennedy. After Burch heard her story, the greatest | purpose he had, Fricke said, was to | watch every movement Kennedy l made. {
 Fricke closed his argument by de- claring that the evidence showed it l was planned by Mrs. Obenchain and | Burch to get Kennedy to Beverly Glen and there kill him; that her story of the lucky penny" was not true; and that Mrs. Obenchain engag- ed Kennedy in conversation while he | was walking down the steps solely for the purpose of permitting Burch, who was hiding in the brush to know when Kennedy got in good range for the fatal shot.
 At no time did Fricke ask that the jury inflict the death penalty.