Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1953-04-30
Rover 10 Bar
Dismissal Of
Any indictment.
Plans Prosecution
Of All Cases Except
In Pleas of Guilty


here IN the future will be pros
ecuted, United States Attorney
Leo A. Rover, said today in an
nouncing widespread changes in
methods of handling multiple
indictment cases.
The new system marks a VIC
tory for The Stars campaign
against the vitiating of crime
penalties by the dropping of
charges.
At the same time, Mr.. Rover
announced that four more house
breaking and larceny cases
against Elmer r. Drew, 20. will
be presented to the grand Jury.
He said there was reasonable
probability" of conviction in
these cases which could bring
maximum penalties of up to 100
years.
Chosen From 80 Cases.
The four cases were selected
from 80 sent to Mr.. Rover by
police following orders of Police
Chief Robert V. Murray that
statements of information in all
crimes attributed to a suspect
must be presented for possible
prosecution.
Drew, implicated by police in
102 housebreakings, received a
suspended one to three year
sentence and was placed on pro-
baton for three years after
pleading guilty to one of the
cases. The police had failed to
give the United States attorneys
Office information on the other
cases.
The freeing of the youth Gre
ated a storm of controversy.
which together with revelations
in The Star. that indictments
were being dropped in wholesale
lots led to the changes an
nounced today.
Mr.. Rover made clear at
press conference that he was
taking the reins in his own hands
insofar as selecting what cases
would be presented to the grand
jury in the future.
I'm this (the Drew case) and
in all other multiple indictment
cases, I'm directing by assistants
that every case that comes down
to them must be disposed Of" by
guilty pleas or trial, Mr.. Rover
declared.
New System Outlined.
The new system as outlined
today will work this way.
/. The police, following in
structions of Chief Murray, will
hand over to the grand jury
division. written statements Of
all criminal cases.
2. Assistant United States
attorneys will carefully screen
all the cases, selecting those that
indicate reasonable grounds for
indictment.
3. These culled cases will be
laid before Mr.. Rover, who will
decide how many of them-if
not all-shall be presented to
the grand jury.
4. Once the decision is made
on which cases to present to the
grand jury, they must be pre-
sented.
S. Once the prisoner is indict-
ed, prosecution must follow on
all cases except where the de-
PENDANT elects to plead guilty or
in extraordinary cases where a
key witness disappears and multi
fies the Governments case.
In all cases, the information
turned over by police, whether
or not it results in indictments.
Will be placed in a master file
for use by the probation officer
in presenting a clear picture
to the sentencing judge.
Sees Criticism Justified.
Mr.. Rover's new policy changes
the prosecutors office procedures
criticized in recent Star series
Of articles. The Star showed
that where police might have a
dozen cases against one defend
ant, an assistant United States
attorney would accept only four
or five to present to the grand
jury. The Star also showed that
a second cut was made after
the man was indicted. Frequent
ly, it was demonstrated, the as
sistant United States attorney
in charge of prosecuting the de-
PENDANT would recommend drop
ping half the remaining cases
in exchange for a guilty plea.
The newspapers were justi-
fed in criticizing the double
cuts" Mr.. Rover said. II don't
think the second cut was justi-
fed"
Mr.. Rover said that in cases
where there are number of
counts to the same indictment,
the assistant handling the case
would be empowered to drop
some of the counts if the de-
PENDANT pleads guilty to others
in the same indictment.