The Chronicle-star combined with the Moss Point advertiser., 1945-06-08
Jury Finds PETE" Mcleod
Not Guilty OF Murder In
Fatal Shooting OF Sioup
Attorneys Pleod Self Defense For
Poscogoulo Lawyer: Stute Brings Child
Bride To Stand AS Stur Witness In Case

y. l.. Pete Mcleod, Pasca-
goula attorney. was declared not
guilty of the murder of Owen
Stoup by a jury verdict in cir
cult court Wednesday after the
defendant, through council, plead
self defense in the fatal shooting
outside Stoup's apartment last
November.
The jury. picked from special
venire, was out OF the box only
a short time. Instructions by the
state had offered the jurymen
two possible verdicts, beside, of
course that of not guilty-mur-
der or manslaughter.
The shooting. which Mcleod
said took place when Stoup
threatened him as he was leav-
ing the apartment house after
escorting Mrs. Stoup home, oc-
CURED in the roadway between
two rows of project apartments
on l4th street. Mcleod was car
rying an automatic which he
said ne had carried "in Pasca-
goula" since about 1910.
The young attorney appeared
in court after more than six
months incarceration in the Jack
son County Jail after bond was
refused by Judge l.. c. Corban
in habeas corpus proceedings. He
was represented by H. p. Hell
delberg. we'll known attorney
and former city Judge with whom
Mcleod was associated at the
time Of the shooting. Bidwell Ad-
ans, Gulfport, Howard A. Nc
Donell. Biloxi. and the Pasca-
Eouia law firm of Ford ana-Ford.
Prosecutors were District Attor-
ney Luther Naples and County
Attorney L. K. Mcintosh.
The defense used as a basis for
the plea Of justified killing tes-
timony by Mcleod that Stoup
approached him 'in a crouehed
position and at g fast pace as
he was walking away from the
building and threatened first to
beat him and then to kill him,
and corroborative TESTIMONY
by DR.. ]. T. Thompson. that the
lethal bullet had plowed through
Stoup's abdomen in a downward
course indicating that the taller
man was shot while in some sort
of bent over position.
The state commended that Me
Leod mad gone armed TO the
Stoup home because he expected
trouble with Stoup over Mrs.
Stoup whom Mcleod said he had
known for several months and
had escorted various places and
who had only a few days pre-
viously filed suit for divorce.
Child Bride Tesiifies
Principal witness for the state
was the l4-year-old child bride,
Mrs. Ethel Tubbs. who at the
time was living in a lower apart
ment near Mr.. and Mrs. Stoup,
with her mother. The child tes-
titled she had returned from the
picture show the night of the
Staying and was looking out the
window toward the automobile
where her mother and a male
companion we're sitting when she
saw Mcleod walk across and up
the street and, in a few minutes.
saw Stoup emerge from his
apartment door and start walk
ing in the same direction. Mrs.
Tubbs said she heard no inter
change of conversation and that
as Stoup reached the edge of the
road Mcleod fired and Stoup fell
into the small ditch at the side
Of the street.
The defense used the states
own witness. Oscar Ellis, the
mothers companion in the car,
in raising the question as to
whether view of the road was
physically possible for the little
girl from the window at which
she said she sat because of the
position of the automobile and of
the bed in her apartment.
ment.
Wearing a black dress with
frilly white trim, the pretty dark
haired Mrs. Stoup was the first
witness to take the stand. She
told of having met Mcleod by
prearrangement at a beach res
taurant the night of the Staying
and Of inviting him to accom-
pany her home where they were
to meet friends. She said when
they reached the apartment door
she asked Mcleod to wait until
she could see whether her hus-
band was at home, and. finding
him IN the kitchen with the
friends. Of coming down the
stairs and telling Mcleod not to
come up as her husband was at