Evening star., 1939-07-09
Former Prosecutor
Testifies His Son
Didn't Kill Statesmen
Emotional Recital Puts
BIome for Two Deaths
Unnamed Second Party
By the Associated Press.

By the Associated Press.
PHOENIX, Ariz., July "a gray
haired, dignified former prosecutor,
cast in the role of defense attorney
for his son, took the witness stand
today in an effort to save his flesh
and blood from the States lethal
gas chamber.
Robert M. Burgunder told a jury
his son Robert denied to him that
he killed two Phoenix automobile
statesmen, as the State charges In
stead, the 22-year- former collie
gian insisted an unnamed second
party" shot to death Jack Peterson
and Ellis M. Koury. whoe bodies
were found, bound and gagged, in
a desert wash near here.
The father, in a dramatic and
emotional recital, testified an over
whelming desire to gamble on slot
machines led his son first into the
Washington Reformatory on a rob-
berry charge and eliminated in his
being involved in the salesmens
deaths.
He quoted Robert as telling him
the second party was waiting on
the desert when the youth arrived
with the two men at gun point.
But, added the one time Seattle
prosecutor, his son steadfastly re-
fused to name the killer.
The Sons Story.
The other car was waiting" Mr..
Burgunder quoted Robert as telling
him. The statesmen were made to
get out Of the car. Peterson threw
his pOcketbook on the ground and
was tied up. Koury was told to get
to his feet. The gun was given to
the second party. While Bob was
getting ready to tie Koury the shots
were fired"
The shootings of these men were
so unnecessary, so cowardly, so use
less" the father testified his son
said, then continued quoting the
youth: Il drove the Salesmen's Ford
car away. The other car came, too
That car was put back where it came
from. The other man got in the
car with me, and I took him where
he wanted to 60
The father. speaking earnestly and
with suppressed emotion, declared
he pressed his son repeatedly to
identify the purported companion.
Dad he said the son replied.
you know that in the reformatory
there was code of honor not to
snitch on one another When the
man got in the car we made a pledge
that if one was caught he would not
tell on the other
Recalls Earlier Brushes.
Il asked Bob why he didn't take
the man to Tennessee with him, -
Mr.. Burgunder said. but he told me
the man got scared over what they
had done"
Relating his sons previous diff
culties, the father said Robert, when
18, held up Seattle drugstore to
recoup gambling losses and fired at
policeman while attempting to
escape. He was sentenced to IS
years imprisonment. The % months
he served, the father said, affected
his mind
After he entered Arizona State
Teachers College at Tempe. the
father told the jury, Bob resumed
gambling and suffered such losses
he decided to go somewhere he was
not known and attempt to overcome
the temptation to gamble.
Bob, after his arrest for robbery
in Seattle, did not comprehend the
difference between right and wrong. -"
his father asserted.
1T was my sons opinion" Mr..
Burgunder said, that society SAYS
you shall not steal or gamble. Yet
society. represented by law enforce
ment officers, permitted gambling to
go on, and society took his money
through slot machines and he had
a right to get it back
The prosecution objected TO the
elder Burgunder's statements, con-
tending he was moralizing, but the
father was permitted to continue.