Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1956-06-13
Jury Rejects
Accident Plea
Of Defendant

OAAVCA spring CdI WASH OpCIHtoIe
lost his plea of accidental shoot.
ing yesterday as a l2.man jury
ldeliberated less than eight min
utes before convicting him Of
first degree murder.
1t remains now for q three
Judge tribunal to pass sentence
on Eddie Lee Daniels, %, COLI
ored, in Montgomery County Cir
cult Court. They have q choice
of sentencing him to death or TO
prison for life.
Daniels took the witness stand
at the end of nearly eight hours
of prosecution evidence which
saw two witnesses point out
Daniels as the triggerman Of q
three-member gang which es-
capped with $500 In the April ~
robbery.
May Appeal
His court-appointed attorney,
Charles D. Sanger. said he may
appeal the case or ask for a
new trial. The strongest possi-
bility, he said. was an appeal.
In a resigned monotone, Dam
iels. who said he lived in the 1900
block of Constitution avenue
NE. admitted he planned the
robbery of the Quick Car wash
firm at 1903 Old Bladensburg
road.
He said he took a .32-caliber
automatic into the building on
the fateful Sunday afternoon
and accosted the 56-year-old
murder victim, his widow, So
phia. and Meyer Klein, Sc, CO.
owner of the company, as they
were counting thf days receipts.
States Attorney Alger Y. Bar
bee and his assistant Leonard
j. Hardy. maintained that the
evidence showed Daniels shot
Mr.. Chyatte in the back Of the
head as the victim was reaching
for a telephone.
Accident Claimed
/ Daniels forcefully denied no
shot in cold blood. The Tampa
(Fla) native, who said he COM
Ipleted the sixth grade, said the
gun accidentally discharged as
he struck Mr.. Chyatte in the
head. Mr.. Chyatte had lunged
at him, the defendant said.
Mr.. Klein testified no struggle
Occurred in the small office. He
said the gunman fired at point
blank range, telling Mr.. Chyatte
lat his feet, as Mr.. Klein was
beginning to comply with Dam
iels' demand for money.
Another witness, Mrs. Clara
Marie Kuntz of Greenbelt, Md,
who said she was with her
husband looking at used cars in
a lot near the car wash company,
identified Daniels as the man
she saw fleeing from the back
door Of the building where the
Staying occurred. Daniels left
a trail Of bills and coins which
leaked from a hole in the pillow
case containing the loot she said.
Insanity Denied
The only defense witness.
other than Daniels, DR.. Jacob
Morgansterne. of the Maryland
Department of Mental Hygiene,
exploded the defendants plea
of not guilty by reason of in
sanity.
| DR.. Morgansterne said, in his
opinion. after careful testing, he
believed Daniels to be of sound
mind and able to distinguish be-
tween right and wrong.
Mr.. Sanger made a plea for
leniency in his closing argument.
He said the prosecution had not
satisfactorily refuted Daniels
claim that the shooting was &C
cidental.
Earlier. Mr.. Sanger had fought
unsuccessfully to exclude a state
ment given by Daniels to Mont
gomery County detectives shortly
after his arrest.
Daniels statement revealed he
had planned the holdup as a
means of getting funds to buy
dope to push on the streets"
Daniels statement also re-
vealed that he split up with his
two accomplices, James Arthur
Sullivan, %. and Richard Leroy
Simmons. %, both colored, in the
District shortly after the Staying.
He said he got only $50 of the
loot. 2 Z
Separate Trials
i The statement revealed that
Daniels spent the evening and
night hours after the Staying in
a movie house and then "loafed
around the street with the wine
drinkers until the papers came
out to see If I killed the man"
] Sullivan and Simmons we're
indicted with Daniels on the
murder charge and face sep
arate trials. The trial dates have
not yet been set.
The all-male and all-white
jury was out Of the courtroom
Is minutes before returning its
!. verdict OF flrst-degree murder.
The jurors rejected a defense
plea for a finding that capital
punishment not be meted out.
A Juror said the decision was
reached on the first ballot.
I'VE waited FIVE minutes be-
fore we brought out the verdict"