Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1954-07-13
Partial Victory
Won by Bryant
In Staying Trial
Defense Permitted
To Study Police
Reports on Case
BY Richard Rodgers
Star StaH cerraspondent

BY Richard Rodgers
Star Staff Correspondent
ELLICoTT CITY, Md, July
IS. Eugene. Elmer Bryant's de-
Tense lawyer won a partial vic
tory here today when the How
ard County Circuit Court per-
mitted defense examination OF
reports by police who talked to
Bryant up to the time he al
legedly confessed the murder of
his sweetheart.
Twice before. in preliminary
hearings in Prince Georges and
Howard Counties, Attorney How
ard Vogel lost moves to examine
the Prince Georges police file.
Judge James Clark would not
give him the entire file today.
But the court did release written
statements from IL police Of
ficers and one civilian detective.
Girl Slain in April.
Bryant, 81, of Hillside, Md,
shot and killed Joan Marie Ruzza
last April. The 17-year-old Suit
land High school drum major
cites body was found near her
home. 813 Forty ninth street,
Capitol Heights, Md.
Mr.. Vogel contends Bryant was
insane when he put five SO cal
iber bullets into the body of the
girl who returned his ring.
The trial went into its second
day with the all-male jury locked
out of court while both sides
disputed admissibility of the
reported confession.
The defense is trying to prove
it was obtained wrongfully.
Testimony was to resume after
Mr.. Vogel studies the thick sheet
of police reports used as a basis
for the prosecutions chronology
Of events.
May Last Two Weeks.
The trial may last as much as
two weeks, said Grover l.. Small,
assistant States attorney for
Prince Georges County. He said
it would depend on how much
time the defense takes to ques-
ton policemen involved in OBJ
tanning Bryant's statement.
Police said Bryant's alleged
confession said. "If couldn't
have her nobody could"
The trial was moved to How
ard County at the request Of the
defense.
Mr.. Vogel spent much Of yes
terday in sharp exchanges with
Judge Clark. Court recessed
shortly after 10 pm.
y Carlyle j. Lancaster, Prince
Georges County States attorney.
who has more than 80 witnesses,
yesterday laid most of the foun-
dalton for his case. bringing in
a number Of Prince Georges
County policemen to testify how
Bryant led them to the murder
gum. a .38-caliber five-shot
nickel-plated revolver.
Found i'm Wooded Area.
The officers recovered the gun
hidden in a clump Of honey
suckle in a wooded area about
six-tenths Of a mile from where
the girls body was found
An FBI ballistics specialist
told the jury the gun was the
one used in the staying.
DR.. James I. Boyd, deputy
medical examiner in Prince
Georges, testified Miss Ruzza
was three or four months preg-
nant when she was slain.
Victims Parents Testify.
The defendant sat impressive
through the testimony thumbing
through photographs Of the
girls body and scanning detec-
tive magazine accounts of the
killing.
The victims parents, Mr.. and
Mrs. Mario Ruzza, both testified
their daughter was terrified of
the sutton whose ring she re-
turned. In March Bryant was
convicted of attempting to run
over the girl with a car after she
refused to get in it with him.
The death gun was identified
BY Joseph H. Higgs of Hillside
as being his. He said his friend,
Bryant, knew where the gun was
Kept in the Higgs home. Mr..
Higgs' said he discovered the
missing the day after the
killing.