Arizona republican., 1922-03-14
PROSECUTION OPENS
ARGUMENTS TO JURY
IN OBENCHA|N CASE
[RepubIIean A. p. Leased Wlrel

lnSpuDitCdU ~ r. Leased Wlrel
Los ANGELES. March 1S. - Mrs.
Madelynne Obenchain used her hus-
band, Ralph Obenchain. as "a human
door mat" Deputy District Attorney
Charles F'ricke, declared today in the
opening argument for the prosecution
In the trial of Mrs. Obenchain on the
charge of numbering ]. Belton Ken
nedy, who, she has testified. was the
man she loved.
Fricke dwelt upon Mrs. Oben-
chains relations with Obenchain,
Kennedy and Arthur c. Burch, CO.
defendant in the case. The prosecu-
tion contends that Rurch fired the
shot which killed Kennedy.
Mrs. Obenchain's testimony was
completed this afternoon; the defense
called only one more witness and the
prosecution confined its rebuttal to
the testimony OF one witness. Mrs. J..
ID. Kennedy, mother OF the slain man.
Mrs. Kennedy testified that Miss M. L.
Wilson. proprietor Of a beauty parlor,
told her on July II, 1921, your son
Is going to die; you are going to
cry"
Miss Wilson testified for the de-
fense that Kennedy and Mrs. Oben-
chain communicated with each other
through her and denied she made the
statement to which Mrs. Kennedy tes-
titled.
III. S. Hallner, a private detective
was the last witness called by the
defense. He testified he recently
drove an automobile from Los An
geles to Long Beach. a seaside re-
sort, and back, the speedometer read
ing being 43.3 miles. The prosecution
had shown that the speedometer
reading on a car driven by Arthur
G. Burch, co-defendant in the case,
on the night of the Staying was AZ
miles. There was no testimony that
Burch was on Long Beach.
Obenchain, who was divorced by
the defendant in Chicago about a
year after their marriage in Los An
geles in January, 1919, and who is of
counsel for the defense. sat appar-
entity unmoved during F'ricke's ar
gument
Fricke's address was interrupted at
five o'clock when Judge Sidney N.
Reeve announced an adjournment un-
til tomorrow morning.
1t appeared from Mrs. Obenchain's
pallid face and nervous manner as
she resumed the witness stand today
that she had not rested much during
the week end adjournment Of court.
f1cI NOlCC, however, was InuCn SLrOHS~
er and more audible. She showed
considerable hesitancy in answering
some questions during previous cross
examination.
Deputy District Attorney Asa Keyes
took UP the cross examination at the
point in Mrs. Obenchains testimony
where il was stopped Friday by ad-
journment. He questioned her in
detail about her trip with Kennedy
to his cottage in Beverly Glenn on the
night OF the shooting. She clung to
her previous statement that it was
Kennedy and not she. as the state
contends, who suggested the trip to
the Glen. To her former statement
that Kennedy suggested they go to
the cabin and look for a lucky PEN
n.y. she added further reason to-
day, saying that Kennedy asked her to
go up to the cottage. where he might
urge her to marry him.
Keyes referred frequently to
written statement said to have been
made by Mrs. Obenchain to the dis
trict attorney the day following the
Staying. Mrs. Obenchain reiterated
her earlier decision that while she
did not mean to say she never had
made such a statement. but that she
had no remembrance Of 1t and did not
even remember having been in the
district attorneys office on the day
in question.