The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1926-12-30
Decision With Hill

Decision With Hill
Decision as to whether or not Ste
phenson will be permitted to make
his own appeal rested with Lloyd O..
Hill, Indianapolis attorney, who filed
the Stephenson habeas corpus petit
ton.
wait and see," was Hills COM
ment when asked if the ex-Klan
leader would be permitted to address
| the court.
Dressed in the same blue serge suit
he wore in court Wednesday when
attorneys spent the day in clearing
away legal tangles. Stephenson this
morning heard Attorney John Fl.
Kiplinger of Rushville present his
freedom plea to Judge Harry L.
Crumpacker.
Then he heard Ralph K. Kane,
deputy Marion County prosecutor.
one of the men who aided the State
in securing the verdict which sent
him to prison for life in November,
1925. argue against Kiplinger's
plea.
Arguments on Issues
The arguments, while technically
on a bill of exception the Stephenson
attorneys had filed in reply to Attor-
ney General Arthur l.. Gilliom's an
swer to the habeas corpus petition,
were in fact on the actual points at
issue in the case.
Stephenson seemed more concerned
as he listened to the arguments to
day than he was Wednesday when
the preliminary legal sllirmishes
took place. He was reading copies
of The Indianapolis Times contain
ing the story of Wednesdays pro-
ceedings.
The session this morning was de-
layed by divorce hearings and did
not get under way until 1925.
Did the Hamilton County Circuit
Court at Noblesville have jurisdiction
when it tried Stephenson for the
murder of Miss Oeerholtzer
Was Stephenson's sentence to the
Indiana State prison legal, or should
he be freed and retired?
These two points were before the
court as arguments began.
Stripped of their legal phraseology,
the exceptions filed by Stephenson
maintain that the attorney general
| in his return does not show sufficient
cause for the detention of Stephen
son; that the return in itself is not
a sufficient answer to the allegations
made in the petition filed in asking
| for the writ of habeas corpus; that
the return shows that the Hamilton
Circuit Court did not have jurisdic-
ton at the time Of the trial and that
the return further shows that the
court at Noblesville did not have
jurisdiction Of Stephenson at the
time of the trial.
In few well-chosen words Judge
Crumpacker late Wednesday over
ruled the motion made by counsel
| for the former Klan leader to strike
out the salient parts Of the answer
/ by Gilliom and brought the matter
of the issues squarely before the
court.
Crumpacker's terse statement
seemed to nettie Stephenson. A Sc
ries of frowns gave evidence Of this.
Courtroom Crowded
Taking advantage of it's first op-
portunity to get a glimpse Of the
man who said he was the law in In
diana, citizens Of Michigan City
turned out in large numbers
Wednesday, filling every available
space in the courtroom and crowd.
ing the corridors. Only once during
the session, which was broken by
lengthy conferences, did any voice
rise above a conversational tone.
Closing the argument on the mo-
ton to strike out, Moore, Michigan
City attorney for Stephenson. could
be heard throughout the buildings
In the main, it was a colorless in
ert proceeding.
1t reminded one of a performance
by a cast of actors who didn't care,
rather than an attempt to write new
history into the law books of Hoo.
sierdom.
Stephenson was in court twice
Wednesday. He was brought from
the penitentiary in the morning and
returned during a recess while at
torneys studied an amendment to
the habeas corpus petition filed by
his attorneys the day before the
hearing. In the afternoon he again
was brought from the prison ac-
companied by four guards.
Gilliom's answer to the Stephen
son petition answer contended that
Stephenson lost his chance to plead
an error in the transcript when he