Evening star., 1949-02-05
Defense Relies
Story
Flows in Confession
In Double Staying at
Glen Burnie Sought
By W. H. Shippen, Jr.
Stor Stoff Correspondant

Stor Stoff Correspondent
BALTIMORE, Feb. 5.-Trial of
Thomas A. Edwards was to enter
its final phases Monday with the
defense seeking to discredit the 23-
year-old defendants confession to
the murder of a young Glen Burnie
couple last September II.
The trial before three Judges was
recessed late yesterday after the de-
ferse offered its first four witnesses.
These included Howard Mahlan,
father of the slain man.
Defense Counsel William J. Nc
Williams brought out from Mr..
testimony that the auto
mobile in which John H. Mahlan,
Is, had been riding with l8-year-
old Mary Kline probably was driven
so or rs miles on the night the
couple was shot to death.
Garage Owner Testifies.
Hammering away at the confess
sion in an effort to show the mur.
ders could not have occurred as Ed.
wards described them to police in
a formal statement during Novem-
ber, Mr.. McWilliams put Pasadena
garage owner on the stand to testify
that the oil pan of the car was still
warm when he towed it from the
field where it had been abandoned.
The witness, Raymond Bahr, could
not estimate how long the car had
been parked in the weed-grown
clearing. Edwards, in full confess
sion given to police in Baltimore
November II. said that after he
shot the couple to death, he left
their bodies in a field and drove
of in the car which he abandoned
about l am. The blood
bullet-punctured car was not found
untn seven hours later.
Mr.. McWilliams brought out
through cross-examination of Police
Chief John H. Souers, jr., of Anne
Arundel County, that Edwards fin
gerprints were not found on the car,
nor did the clothing he wore that
night show traces of blood.
SOhlCSSIOH kRuOttu.
The young Negro said in his con-
fession he had been angered by an
driver who forced him
to Jump into the ditch as he was
down a paved road near
Glen Burnie on the night OF the
He followed the car, and when II
pulled off the road and parked, he
fired at least two shots from his
3o0-caliber Czechoslovakian auto
matte at the man and woman,
the confession added.
He shot, Edwards said, after the
driver reached down toward the
floor" when he approached the left
side of the car to demand an ex-
planation for having been forced
into the ditch.
Edwards later was brought to the
scene by police to re-enact the
crime.
Attorney McWilliams, a former
judge who had been appointed by
the court to represent Edwards,
brought out through Chief Souers
that no elected shells were found at
this point. The chief explained
rubbish had been dumped on the
site and a careful search uncovered
no clues.
Defense counsel also contended 1t
would have been impossible for Ed
wards to have seen the car pull off
the road from a point near where
he says he was forced to jump into
the ditch.
Slugged With Automatic.
Mr.. McWilliams tried to show that
heavy bloodstains found in the rear
of the car indicated the girl had
been shot before she was taken to
the point where the bodies were
found.
Edwards had said he shot the
man first, and had turned back to
the road when the girl leaped
from the car and ran
into the woods.
He went after her, he said, be-
cause he didn't know what kind OF
tale she would tell" on him, and
slugged her on the head with his
automatic. The bodies were not
found for three days, but an autopsy
disclosed a blow had fractured the
girls skull.
In his first confession, Edwards
appears to have said he shot the
girl on two different occasions, once
after he hit her with
his gun, and again as she lay on
the ground after he had driven the
bodies to point several miles
distant.
A second statement, given while
Edwards was re-enacting the crime,
quoted Edwards as saying he hit the
girl with his gun and placed her in
the back of the car before driving
off with Mr.. Mahlan's body slumped
down under the front seat.
Ballistic's Evidence.
He said he removed the bodies in
A clearing off Chesterfield road, and
shot the girl through the head as
she lay on the ground. The prosecu-
ton contends this is the true version.
A 380-caliber exploded shell, ac-
,ording to FBI ballistics testimony.
mad been fired in the automatic
owned by Edwards.
The defense brought out, how
ever, that the shell was discovered
oy a citizen who was examining the
scene several days after the bodies
mad been removed. Police admitted
they had not marked the shell for
identification before submitting it
10 the FBI along with Edwards
gun.
At least Is policemen attached to
Anne Arundel, Maryland State and
Baltimore city forces testified Ed
wards was never threatened, abused
Or promised immunity while in Gus
.ody.
The officers who took the confess
sion said it was freely offered and
ater confirmed by Edwards on his
our of the scene.
The defense contends Edwards
signed the statement because he had
oeen led to believe he might be
ynched If returned to Jail near
Glen Burnie.
Ex-Purutrooper Held