Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-10-11
SAYS 4 OFFICERS
CLAIM CAMPBELL
IS NOT MURDERER
Brother of Suspect in Baker
Staying Makes Official
Statement.
"EXPERT" TESTIMONY
is OBJECT OF ATTACK
Type of Evidence Expected in
October FL Trial Is
Assailed

Four officials in charge Of the investi-
CATION which resulted IN the indictment
OF Herbert M Campbell on charge OF
Staying Mary Baker have repeatedly
said they were convinced he was inno-
cent, Frank G. Campbell, brother of the
defendant declared in a statement is
sued today.
The investigators named were In
spector William S. Shelby, chief of de-
tectives: Lieut.. Edward j. Kelly, chief
of the homicide squad; William c. Cloth,
commemorative attorney of Arlington
County, and Sheriff Howard Fields of
Arlington County.
Expert Testimony Attacked.
Campbell devoted much of his state
ment to an attack on expert" testl-
mony, including that of the type ex-
pected to be used against his brother
when his trial starts in the District Su-
preme Court October 81. The state
ment contended such testimony is I'M
reliable.
The statement follows:
THE officers who have handled the
Mary Baker case. in so far as it relates
to Herbert Campbell, were Inspector
Shelby. Lieut. Kelly, Commonwealth
Attorney Cloth of Arlington County and
Sheriff Fields of Arlington County. All
of these gentlemen have repeatedly
stated. and very recently. too, that they
are convinced that Herbert Campbell
is innocent. Sheriff Fields told Mrs
Campbell, after Herbert Campbell was
indicted that he did not believe Camp
bell guilty and that he had told the
grand jury SO. Mr.. Cloth told me, and
he told my father, that he was salts
fed that Herbert Campbell was not
guilty of the murder of Miss Baker, and
l. 80 Al,.A - 49,. l. -,
the past few weeks at kopel Point. IN
spector Shelby and Lieut.. Kelly make
no secret of the fact that they are
convinced of Herbert Campbell's inno-
cence.
I'm the early stages of this matter so
many wholely false or misleading state
mentS were published that prominent
lief in the innocence Of Herbert Camp
bell, said THE public demands a Ro-
man holiday" And so, in the Capital
City of the United States, we will have
the spectacle of all of the official in
veStigators standing mute on the side
lines watching the district attorneys
Office try to so befuddle lay jury with
expert testimony as to bring about the
conviction of a man they know to be
innocent.
MY investigation of this case has led
me to the conclusion that there is moth
ing more unreliable, treacherous and
dangerous than the so-called expert
testimony upon which the Government
must rely in this case. I reach this
conclusion from the following facts:
First: Shortly after Herbert Camp
bells arrest, Crandal Mackey, one of
the best known criminal lawyers in this
city. telephoned me to say that in his
experience he had found so-called eX-
pert testimony to be absolutely untrust-
worthy. He said, Il had a case in which
it was necessary to prove the age Of a
dead child. We had nothing left but
a piece of the skull and some of the
hair. We sent the hair to an expert
who was alleged to be able to tell the
age of a person from their hair. The
report came back to me that the child
was 2 years old at the time of its
death. We finally got at the facts in
the case and it was ultimately developed
that the child was just 2 days old at
the time of death
Second. A case is reported from a
Midwestern city in which a police
sergeant was shot and killed. A man
was arrested and tried upon the testi-
mony of ballistic experts, who alleged
that pistol found upon the man had
fired the shot that killed the policeman.
One of the newspapers Of the city in
terested itself in the case, made an in
vestigation, and 1t was developed from
the makers of the pistol that the pistol
in question had not been manufactured
until several weeks after the date OF the
murder.
Third. In a comparatively recent
murder trial at Rockville the ballistic
experts could not make the firing pin
marks on the shell match with the
barrel markSon the bullet, and SO they
went to the extreme of trying to be-
fiddle the jury into believing that the
man accused of the crime had used the
barrel of one pistol and the butt Of an
other. An expert who gave testimony
at Rockville, when asked whether he
intended to try TO convince the jury of
his far-fetched theories, responded,
am informed, We are paid 10 convict
and are going to convict Whereupon
Mr.. Stednlan Prescott. prominent
lawyer of Rockville, took the stand and
told the jury what had been said, and
the jury promptly disregarded the ex-
pert testimony in the case.
'Alienist Testimony Hit.
"Fourth-It is generally conceded by
the legal profession of Washington that
1t is possible at any time to hire lead
ing alienistS who will undertake TO
prove a man either sane or insane, &C
cording TO the desire Of the person hir-
ing him"
IF the foregoing matters which have
been brought 10 our attention are true,
as l firmly believe them to be, then it
appears that we have situation where,
for fee of from 5000 TO $3.50 per day,
men are ready to undertake to condemn
an innocent man to death by seeking
TO convince a jury that ballstics is such
an exact science that II may be relied
upon in a charge as serious as first
degree murder. In the defense which we
~I,o1I h.
testimony Of these experts, any such
availability as this, we shall be fight
ing the battle not only of Herbert
Campbell, but of the many poor men
who are being railroaded to their deaths
by these gentlemen because they arr
without friends or money TO contradict
anything which the experts choose tc
allege.
Half a truth is sometimes more de-
ceptive than a lie. Those who urged
the indictment Of Herbert Campbell
proceeded upon the theory that tho
experts said that the Campbell gun
snoc Miss Baker and that Herbert
Campbell had said that the gun was
never out of his possession. This has
led the public to believe that Herbert
alleged that the gun was never out Of
his control, when, as matter of fact
what he told the investigators was ;ha'
the gun was never out OF the dresser
drawer Of his home and had been there
for a period of months.
He never for a moment contendet
that he always had 1t on his person o
under his observation. Herbert Camp
bell leaves home Immediately afte
breakfast and is usually gone all day
his wife works in Washington and leave
home Immediately after breakfast and
in Washington all day; his stepSor
Eddie, is in high school all day. Thu
his house Is empty from early mornin
do do