Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-04-21
ATTACK
LIBEL INDICTMENTS
Casey Files Plea in Abate-
ment in Montgomery
County Action.
BY q STAFF Correspondent.

!
ROCKVILLE, Md, April 2l.-Attacks
on three of the nine indictments re-
Gently returned by the Montgomery
County grand jury, charging the present
and three former editors of the Mont
gomery Independent with criminal libel,
were filed in the Montgomery County
Criminal Court here today.
Two of the three indictments against
Walter S. Casey, the present managing
editor of the Independent, were made
the basis OF pleas in abatement and
the joint indictment of Harris B. French
and Walter w. Liggett, former editors
of the paper, was attacked on behalf of
French. The other former editors,
Morris Bealle and Walter w. Liggett,
who also were indicted, have not yet
been taken into custody and no action
has been taken by their counsel as to
the cases pending against them.
Proceedings Are Questioned.
The pleas, generally, attack the legality
OF the proceedings in the grand jury
room at the time when certain county
officials appeared before the inQuisitorial
body to demand the investigation which
resulted in the return of the indict-
mentS. The indictments are attacked
on IL counts.
Counsel for Casey said today he had
elected to go to trial on the indictment
which alleges that he published a libel
against the county commissioners and
! E. Brooke Lee on March IA. The in
dictment takes as a basis for the alleged
libel the publication of pictures purport-
ing to show unimproved roads on Main
street in Spring Lake Park, a subdivision
near Halpine.
Judge Robert Peter, sitting in the
Montgomery Criminal Court, said he
| would not set the pleas down for argu-
ment until he had conferred with his
associates on the bench, Chief Judge
Hammond Urner and john S. Newman,
both of Frederick. In the event the
court rules against the defendants on
their motion filed today, Judge Peter
said the trial also would depend on
when the other justices could come to
Rockville to participate In the hearing
The defendants have indicated that
they wanted full bench at the hearing
of the arguments on their pleas.
Claims Right Was Prejudiced.
The first point of attack by the de-
PENDANT is that the county commits
sioners were in the grand jury room
while it was examining in the matter
of the presentment of an indictment
against him. These officials, the plea
alleges, were allowed to hear, see and
ascertain the proceedings of the grand
jury, contrary to the laws of Mary
land, and they allege that these acts
prejudiced the right Of the defendant,
Casey. The plea sets out long state
ment of the county commissioners and
| alleges that its reading to the grand
jury by Joseph c. Cissel was contrary
to the practice of the court and Mary
land laws. Two other pleas allege that
| certain of the commissioners we're al
lowed in the grand jury room at the
/ time that Benjamin C. Perry, presi-
dent, and Lacy Shaw vice president of
the board, were sworn and testified
The alleged act of Capt. CisSel, who
is counsel for the board of commits
sioners, in instructing the grand jury as
to matters upon which the indictment
was returned, was attacked in another
plea. 1t alleges that Capt. Cissel is
not a judge nthe Circuit Court for
Montgomery, not the States attorney
for Montgomery County nor his deputy,
not attorney general of Maryland nor
his deputy, and was not authorized by
the Criminal Court or entitled by law to
advise the grand jury as to the law.
Another part of the statement of Capt.
Cissel is made the basis of another plea.
says jury was 1nHamcus
That part of the statement Of Capt.
Cissel in which he is alleged to have
called to the attention of the grand
jury that the commissioners were pre-
Senting a file of the Independent and
informing them that the board was
without means of protection against
criminally libelous attacks against their
| characters it is alleged. tended TO in
| fame and did inflame the minds Of the
grand jury against your defendant"
The plea also attacks the alleged act
of Capt. Cissel i'll marking with red
! pencil certain articles in the Independ-
ent for the purpose of advising the
| grand jury that they were libelous
| The plea also sets out the statement
alleged to have been presented in the
| grand jury room by Lee, and charges
| that this was prejudicial to the rights
| of the defendant. 1t attacks also the
presentation by Lee of a 50page brief
! purporting to set out the law governing
the matters upon which the indict-
ments were returned, as laid down by
| the Maryland Court of Appeals and
| other State courts. This act, 1t Is
| charged, is contrary to the Maryland
law and to the practice of the court.
1t also is charged that in one part Of
his statement Lee instructed the grand
| jury as to its duty, explaining the
matters upon which the indictment
was returned. Another part of Lees
| statement is attacked on the ground
that it infiamed the minds of the grand
jurymen.
Pleas Are Identical.
The pleas in abatement, filed in the
three cases today. were identical The
plea filed in behalf of French was for
the indictment which charges him
with a criminal libel in connection
with the alleged publication of an
article. last February, attacking the
tax rate. One of the Casey in
dictments attacked today was the re-
suit of an alleged article published on
February IA, charging that it libeled
the county commissioners in connec-
/ ton with a statement of discrimina-
| tions in tax assessments. The other
! indictment attacked on behalf of Casey
is alleged to have libeled the commits
sionerS in a story on the Iceland street
connection to the new EaSt-WeSt High
way in the Bethesda district.
! The pleas were filed on behalf Of the
defendant by Attorneys F.. Barnard
! Welsh, Edward Peter Miss Vivian
Simpson and John E. Oxley.