Evening star., 1944-09-20
Witness Altered Stor,
Die 10 B| Pressure,
laugh|in Charges
Lawyer Quotes Buckley
As Declaring Agency
Was Hot on Him
y Staff Correspondent of The Star.

w oS stOA WI assul
y Staff Correspondent of The Star.
BALTIMORE, Sept. 20.-James J
Laughlin, Washington attorney OF
trial in Federal Court here on {,
charge Of impeding justice, charget
from the witness stand today tina
one of his own witnesses had beer
induced to change his story as tn,
result of pressure" by the Fedora
Bureau of Investigation.
Mr.. Laughlin told the jury thai
M. Edward Buckley, jr., a defense
attorney, in the mass sedition tria
in Washington, told him last weel
that the FBI was 'hot on him,
and that he understood Mr.. Laugh.
Inns telephone was tapped.
When he appeared as a witness
Monday, Mr.. Buckley testified that
Hilliard Sanders, now serving 2(
years for his part in the Hyattsville
bank robbery in 194l, had told him
a month after his arrest that "the
Government. would not be able tt
place him in Hyattsville." He sale
the man also informed him he was
several miles away" on September
Is. the day two messengers of the
Prince Georges County Bank
Trust Co. were robbed of $4,000.
Until the time he testified, Mr.
Laughlin related, Mr.. Buckley hac
told him and other persons repeat
edly that Sanders had definitely
said he was a visitor at the Florida
State prison farm at Raiford, Fla.
the day of the robbery.
Flatly Charges Pressure.
Mr.. Laughlin said that in Mr.
Buckley's defense, it should be said
he was probably under pressure.
do you mean Mr.. Buckley
changed his story because pres.
sure by the FBI?' Mr.. Laughlin
was asked by District Attorney Ber-
nard J. Flynn.
Yes. that what I mean," the
witness replied.
Mr.. Flynn asked the witness why,
If he believed Sanders was inno-
cent, he did not approach the dis
trict attorneys Office and other au-
thorities and tell them of the alibi
THAT would certainly not be in
accord with the theory of criminal
law as I have gotten it from hun
dreds of practitioners" Mr.. Laugh
lin said.
: Mr. Laughlin, under cross-exam-
ination, admitted earlier he had
gone to Bayonne, N. j., to attempt
to gain entry to safe deposit box
rented by one of his clients, but said
he had done so only to obtain papers
considered vital to the defense.
Mr.. Laughlin denied that the
client, William Leo Keefe, now
serving 20 years for his part in
the Hyattsville robbery, had ever
told him that the safety deposit box
contained money from the robbery
AS matter of fact, the witness re-
lated. Keefe had told him that about
$500 which was in the box had
been seized by authorities. This
money, Mr.. Laughlin said, had come
from gambling and other activities,
he had been told by Keefe.
Found Alibi Enthusiastically"
The Washington attorney told the
jury that Keefe had first told him
he had been at the home of Mr..
Silva in Bayonne on the day of the
robbery. Mr.. Laughlin said he had
investigated this alibi and found 1t
'untrustworthy" He said he did
not know until after the robbery
trial started that Keefe had been
trying to persuade Sanders, also rep
resented by Mr.. Laughlin, to let him
share Sanders alibi.
Mr.. Laughlin, who has acted as
his own attorney throughout the
proceedings, spent all of yesterday
afternoon on the witness stand
making statement in his own be-
half. He denied the prosecution
charges that he introduced testi-
mony and afidavits which he knew
to be false in connection with his
defense of Sanders.
Mr.. Laughlin said rumors that he
was to be indicted by the grand jury
here were current as early as the
spring of 1943, when it became
known that he was to have a part
in the mass sedition trial which was
being prepared by the Government
at that time. Mr.. Laughlin served
as an attorney for some of the de.
PENDANTS in the sedition case until
he was eliminated by Chief Justice
Edward c. Eicher of District Court
the presiding judge.
Mr., Laughlin denied that Cor
don Blalock, serving a sentence
for completely in the Hyattsville case
had ever told him that the attorney
was being paid in stolen money.
II have been in about $500 trials
mostly criminal, and I have never
accepted any money I knew to be
hot" the attorney testified.
The case against Mr.. Laughlin is
expected to reach the jury tomor-