Evening star., 1947-03-20
Prosecution CHARGES
Durant Still Has Gems,
Hopes for Later Profit

The military court trying Col.
Jack w. Durant for alleged theft
of, the Hesse crown jewels today
refused to strike from the record
a prosecution charge that the
accused officer "still has in his
possession large part of the
Jewels and was hoping to profit
from them at a later date
The charge by Maj. Joseph S.
Robinson of the prosecution drew
indignant denials from defense at
torneys who declared the prosecu-
ton knows there is no evidence
of any kind in the record to support
such statement" Both defense
attorneys, Maj. Joseph Bryan and
Maj. Glenn v. Brumbaugh asked
the court to order the charge to
be stricken from the record as
prejudicial to the defendant and
lacking in substantiation.
Maj. Robinson made the charge
In arguing against previous defense
motions asking the court to declare
the defendant mot guilty now of
all remaining charges against him.
Those motions, if upheld, would
leave only charge of larceny upon
which the court refused to give
Col. Durant an acquittal yesterday
at the opening of the defense case.
Military Law Cited.
Mai. Robinson declared that under
military law a court passing on
mot guilty motion for the defense
need decide only if the Government
had failed to produce any substan-
tial evidence to support the charges.
80 long as there is some evidence,
though contradicted by stronger evi-
dence, the motion to acquit should
be denied" he contended.
Reviewing various alleged acts re-
the prosecution attorney declared
there was sufficient evidence in the
record to raise the presumption that
the defendant was in the possession
of the stolen property.
1T is not necessary for the prosec-
cution to produce motion pictures of
the theft" he declared sarcastically.
There also was evidence, Maj.
Robinson contended, showing that
Col. Durant had sold and tried to
sell various other pieces of jeWelry
after the original loss of the Hesse
collection had become known. These
facts, he declared, establish Col.
DSrant with the theft and further
evidence disclosed later attempts on
his part to dispose of jewels.
Former Capt. Kathleen Nash, a
WAC officer whom Col. Durant mar
ried shortly before his arrest in
Chicago, already has been convicted
in the case.
Ownership Disputed.
Col. Durant's attorney at yester-
day'y session vigorously disputed the
ownership of the stolen jeWelry. The
Army charge was so Worded as to
declare the jewels belonged to the
ancient HesSe family. The rules
Of war hold otherwise, the defense
contended, and added:
Anything that was in that
castle belonged to the United States.
The United States Army had
right to take it as the conquering
army" WAC Capt. Nash, they
claimed, was not Illegally in pos
session of the jewels when she
had them brought to her room in
the castle.
A pistol formerly taken from
Col Durant entered into the argu-
ments to some extent. While de-
fense counsel admitted it had been
identified as one manufactured for
the Army's use, he contended there
was no evidence to show that it
had ever been delivered to the
Army. For that reason, it was
claimed the prosecution could not
properly charge Col. Durant was
guilty of misappropriating an Army
meor MN