The Waterbury Democrat., 1942-05-13
GIRL IS CALLED
 MURDER DECOY
Continued from Page D

Continued from Page D fense table, sat between the two male defendants, Ell Shonbrun, Q small time thief, and John D. Gull len, who was even more small time than his alleged partner in the murder.
 Eyes Quickly Opened
 AS the prosecutor began his open- ing statement, Miss Webb's eyes were closed, but they opened sharp ly and she sat erect when he told the jurors that Mrs. Reich knew only her and was not acquainted with Shonbrun or Cullen.
 Grumet said that Miss Webb on the day of the staying, March 4, telephoned an aunt of Mrs. Reich and said that she wanted to invite the Polish refugee to lunch at her Hotel Sutton suite in order to meet her new husband, Ted Leopold. Leo. pold was an alias used by Shon- brun.
 Mrs. Reich went to the Hotel Sutton to keep the appointment" Grumet said. "That was the last time she was seen alive. The fol- lowing day her body was found by a bellboy. It had been taped, gagged and bound in the living room of the suite, which had been occupied by Shonbrun and Miss Webb under the name of MT. and Mrs. Ted Leopold" i"
 At one point Grumet referred to the three defendants as 'cold blooded murderers."
 Judge James M. Springer, Okla. homa lawyer who came here to de- fend Miss Webb, objected to the characterization and Judge Jonah J. Goldstein instructed the jurors that an opening statement was not to be considered evidence.
 Fought for Her Life
 The prosecutor said he would show that Mrs. Reich fought for her life" but her screams were drowned out by a radio which still was playing on the following day when her body was found. A plati- nun diamond ring, he said, was cut from the finger of the dead woman. Subsequently the platinum portion was sold and the diamond itself was discovered concealed in a pil- low at the Bronx boarding house where Miss Webb and Shonbrun were arrested. The platinum was sold by Murray Hirschl, who is ex- pected to be the principal govern ment witness against the three de- fendants.
 Grumet concluded his brief open ing with 8 request that the jurors find all three defendants guilty of murder in the first degree" ver- dict which would make capital pun ishment mandatory.
 Springer, in a three-minute state ment which surpassed in brevity and oratory Grumet'S matter of fact opening, revealed that the defense will contend that Miss Webb had no part in either the robbery or the murder and that her affair with Shonbrun resulted from "an ale consuming compelling and over. towering attachment" for the man, whom she had met under favor- able circumstances and in the cor1- pany of respectable people"
 No Part In Crime
 "She had no part and no portion whatever in committing any crime on this earth" Springer declared.
 The oklahoma jurist said the evidence would show that Miss Webb, a small town girl who had graduated from high school and business school with honors, had been left in New York to her own devices, and without the advice or counsel of family or friends"
 Jacques Buitenkamp, counsel for Shonbrun and Cullen, told the jurors that the evidence would show that the murder of Mrs. Reich had been committed by someone other than the three defendants and that none of them had been involved directly in the murder.
 The first witness. Dr. Benjamin Vance, deputy chief medical eXanl- finer, identified an array of wire and tape, which he said had been used to bind Mrs. Rech.
 When the tape and wire were produced, Miss Webb slumped low in her chair and appeared on the verge of collapse. She asked for a glass of water which she slipped at Intervals throughout his testimony.