The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1928-03-06
VELIV'A PLEADS Gull V'
GE Is LIFE SENTENCE
lconlInued 90 EIr1t -


Continued from First Pasel
what they should Do under the
Circurn stances.
eve went ovef tbs matter thor
ourhly. also conferred with
Judge G Reynolds ltka Judge
who presided st Vslmas aFraitn-
mbntl
This court ana Judge Reynolds
came II the concluelou that IN
view ck the evidence the Etate
could not expect ID set j cUnvie.
tion cf higher than murder ii the
second degree.
= don't think this IS the time
for talking about this case. The
community knows al about Il. IL
has had ite fegrettable aspects.
The mandate Of the law Id the
most potent Of all and that man
date has to be fulfilled.
Never before IN my career as q
Judge have I sentenced y woman
II ; case of this kind.
Life In RefOrKnat0Ey
sTho law SAYS that the punish.
ment Tor second degree murder shall
be confinement in the reformatOry
for women for the rest OF ones
natural life. That Il the sentence
the court Imposes upon y0u.''
A flush mantled VeIma's neck
Her lips kWitched ard she seemed
70 collapse. When she returned 10
her seat. the matr0Fa, Mrs. Cora
Nash, patted her gOothingIy On the
shoulder. Then her father came
over and they cried softly together.
the father's arm around his daueil.
ker's slim shoulders.
Mother Ii III
Van Woert remained with Yelma
until they escorted her back
through Q tunnel to her cell In the
aittle red jail back of the court.
house. She will remain IN this cell
until she 10 taken to the re-
formatOry at Maryavilla, Ohio.
Velma's mother was not IN the
courtroom when sentence was
passed. She Is III in her home in
cleveland. Her husband telephoned
ber and told her how Velma &C.
eepted the verdict.
II was the best thing under the
circumstances" said the father II
Eertainly am going through hell.
Attorney P0ulson said he doubted
IL Mrs. Van Woert would live had
the case gone 20 trial and all the
1urid details brought out. He said
VIENNA may not have been able to
stand the ordeal, either.
I'm happy over the otitc6Ine, :
bald P0uiaOn, 1T was the best thing
70 do after al the muck that has
been brought out
Prosecutor Paulin. had no com
ment to make.
Outcome . Surprise
The sudden termination OF the
base was b surprise and Paines-
vile was 6eething with speculation
as % the reasons that prompted
the State to accept the Lesser plea.
Veins had been indicted on the
charge of murder in the first de-
gree ana had she been tried By q
jury and convicted she might pos.
sibly have been sent to the electric
chair. Az it IL now, she Is eligible
70 paFole after serving ten years In
the reformatory.
Three Moalths Ago Today
II .was axackIv three raonkha aro
today that 21-yeaf-oId Velnaa, then
only 1s months married. brutally
killed her husband. q. Edward West,
A&Nk-AAt&A4AtA0
man, IN their honeymoon bungalow
at Perry Ohio. She killed him IN D
'.blind rage when he refused TO
drive her to Cleyeiand to an all-girl
bridge party at the home OF Miss
Mabel Young. stenographer.
The frail blonde Velna weighs
less than 110 pounds ana how she
4gas able to beat down her gix-foot
2O0-pounu husband has been Is sub
5ect Of much discussion. Young
West was f0rgner football player
and suiAndid physical specimen.
Yet the fID-pound Velina, according
To her own signed confession, struck
him with cIawhamn1er and
knocked him down four separate
times.
The killing, she declared. was un.
prenaeditated, yet, after II Was over
she quickly changed her clothes,
went 10 the kitchen end washed Of