Evening star., 1941-05-12
TestimonyEnds
lin BurkoCase;
Speeches Begin
Stick to Case
Prosecution Asks
Defense Counsel

Defense Counsel -
The defense in the trial of Joseph
r. Burko, former Police Court clerk
indicted on charges of conspiracy to-
commit embezzlement, larceny and
forgery in changing court records
and splitting traffic fines with
James Edward Sullivan, former
bailiff, today was challenged by thea
prosecution to answer the indict-
ment and not argue to the jury ir-r
relevant matter concerning Police
Court officials. ra
Challenging Defense Counsel
James j. Laughlin to argue the
real issues in this case" Assistant
United States Attorney Allen Je
KrouSe, in his closing argument,
asserted that Mr.. Burko has violated
his oath of Office as a Police Court.
clerk; preached the trust reposed
in him; has been a traitor" not only
to the people of the District of CO..
lumbia, but to himself. Mr.. Krouse
characterized Mr.. Burko as the de-.
fendant's own worst enemy. <
At least three times during his
address. Mr. Krouse challenged"
Mr.. Laughlin to stick to the ifle
dictment and not talk about actions
of Mr.. Sullivan, former Police Court
bailiff. United States Attorney Ed
ward M. Curran. former Police Court
judge; Police Court Judge Walter
c. Casey and Detective Sgt. Joseph.
W. Shimon. attached to the district
attorneys Office.
"Burko would have you believe
that every one in Police Court is
out of step, except himself and
Judge Hobart Newman" Mr.. Krouse
told the jury.
Argument Limits Set. ~
Judge F. Dickinson Let's. preside
ing in Criminal Court No. of Dis,
trict Court, where the Burko trial.
is in progress, permitted opposing
counsel to argue for one hour and
20 minutes each.
When court recessed for luncheon,
about l2:45 pm. Assistant United
States Attorney Krouse had used q
little over one hour of his times
Mr.. Laughlin was scheduled to be
heard for the defense when court
resumed at 1:45 pm. and then ths'
Government, through Mr.. Krouse,
will make its final appeal for con-
viction.
This morning. Detective Sergt.
Shimon took the stand and admitted
that he had been placed on probation
in Massachusetts, after pleading
guilty to felony charge when he
was II years old. He went on to
charge that Burko had threatened to
expose him unless the investigator
dropped his investigation of the fee
splitting, for which Burko now is on
trial.
Brought to the stand on rebuttal.
Burko promptly denied the charge
with some heat, declaring that he
never made any such threat. He
said, however, he knew about the
case against the detective sergeant,
which involved charge of "lewd-
ness"
Testimony Concludes Evidence.
Testimony of these two witnesses
brought to close presentation of
evidence in the Burko case.
Sergt. Shimon. who appeared on
the stand for the first time this
morning. in the case which ran
three days last week. explained that
there was no secret about the "dif.
flculty' in Massachusetts, in his
youth, that it was entered in his
civil service record and was part
of his personnel record at the police
department.
In the meantime statistics of the
absences of judges of Police Court
were made public today in rebuttal
| to implications thrown into the
Burko case by Defense Counsel
Laughlin. In defending his client
last week regarding alleged absences
from his court duties Mr.. Laughlin
questioned Judge Casey about his
| own absences. When Judge Casey
| was asked by Mr.. Laughlin if he
had not been absent 106 days from
the bench last year, the witness was
prevented from answering by objec-
ton of Mr.. Krouse.
Presents Figures to Press.
! 0uuSC SdoCy JOudy gave Qetdlled
figures to the press showing the
number of days the various judges
were absent from January /, l94Q
to April 80 of this year.
Including vacation and sick leave,
the figures show Judge Casey was
away a total of 68 days for this
period. They show absences of the
other judges from January l, 1910,
to April 30 of this year as follows;
Judge John P. Mcmahon, AZ days.
Judge Hobart Newman, 1874 days, ana
Judge George D. Nelson, who was
not appointed until May of 1910,
a total of 81 days. The latter figure
includes the time Judge Nelson was
off after he had actually been ap-
pointed