The Waterbury Democrat., 1944-07-07
NOXON GOING TO CHAIR FOR
 SONS MURDER
BY JOSEPH F. NOLAN Limited Press Staff Correspondent

PittSfield, Mass, July 7-I (UP)-Still protesting his in- nocence, Socialite John F. Noxon Jr. was sentenced to- day to the electric chair-the same form of death which he dealt to his 6-month-old im- beetle son Lawrence last Sept. p.
 No date was set for the execution.
 The crippled Noxon, AZ, standing with the support of his two canes, flushed as Court Clerk Irene Mason whom he had known since childhood, asked if there was any reason why the man. datory sentence of death should not be imposed.
 Firmly and stolidly, Noxon an- swered:
 T want to repeat again what I said on the witness stand: did not kill my son, am innocent of this terrible charge"
 There came an almost audible pause. Noxon moistened his lips but continued to stare straight at Superior Judge Abraham E. Pinan- ski. The pair eyed each other for the space of several breathS and then Judge Pinanski began:
 Tt is considered and ordered by the court that you, John Noxon, suffer the punishment of death by the passage of a current of electri- city through your body. And may God of his infinite goodness have mercy on your soul"
 Defense Counsel Joseph B. Ely announced that later in the day he would file a preliminary motion for new trial. It was understood that the motion would not be heard immediately by Judge Pinanski who was to leave for his Brookline home.
 Under the law Noxon must be taken to the state prison at Boston within seven days. Until then he will remain in the infirmary of the Berkshire county jail where he has been confined since his arrest.
 Throughout last night, County Sheriff J. Bruce MacIntyre main- tained suicide guard outside the sumptuously-furnished cell where Noxon has lived nearly 10 months.
 His attractive wife Margaret was at their home under a physicians care as result of a nervous collapse, but friends said that she had not | given up hope her husbands life might be spared.
 A superior court jury found Noxon guilty of first degree murder at 6:25 p. m. yesterday after four hours and 50 minutes deliberation. The conviction carries with it under Massachusetts law the penalty of death in the electric chair.
 Judge Abraham E. Pinanski was expected to impose sentence today at the request of Noxon's former Harvard classmate, District Attorney R. Alberti. although defense counsel sought an extension of time for filing motions for appeal and for new trial.
 Bracing himself on his two canes, the crippled defendant stood tensely erect in the prisoners dock and faced the jury stolidly as Foreman Harry T. Bardwell, a Pittsfield railroad announced, Guilty of murder in the first degree" Only for a moment did Noxon betray any signs of emotion. As Judge Pinan- ski dismissed the jury, the 47-year- old corporation lawyer sat down | abruptly and folded his hands as If in prayer.
 The jury's decision did not come as a complete surprise, because two hours earlier the 12-man panel had filed into the courtroom and re- quested instruction on the differ ence between first and second degree murder.
 In convicting the lawyer-defend- ant. the jury rejected his explana- tion of baby LaWrence's electrocu- tion as an accident, in favor of the prosecutions charge that Noxon de- liberately killed the mentally-de- fective child on an improvised elec- tric chair rigged up with a metal sandwich tray and a trouble cord in the library of his $45, 5,000 home in suburban Pittsfield last Sept. 9. To reach verdict, the jury was forced to decide between two ver- sions of expert medical and electri- cal testimony which differed in al- most every essential detail.
 Noxon's loyal wife, Margaret, a daily attendant at the early ses- sions of the trial, was reported on the verge of collapse when told of the verdict at her home where she has been under doctors care for more than a week. Mrs. Noxon was overcome in the courtroom dur. ing a chemists description of lab- oratory's experiments made on the baby's skin.
 Warning that the facts in evi- dence must prevail over individual prejudices or sympathies, Judge Pinanski had given the jury three possible verdicts: first and second degree murder, and acquittal. The judge ruled out manslaufhter on the ground that there was insufficient evidence to support such a finding.
 When the verdict was returned, Alberti, obviously embarrassed at havin gtO sak that his fellow attor-
 ney be sentenced. requested a con- ference in the judges chambers. No
 immediate decision was reached, however, on the legal technicalities of the case, and Judge Pinanski