Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1963-12-04
LastArguments
Prepared in
ThOmpsOnTriaI

MINNEAPOLIS, Dec. 4 CAP).
Opposing attorneys and the
Judge were threshing out final
court action today before the
T. Eugene Thompson murder
trial goes to the jury.
When prosecution and de-
tense attorneys finished pre-
senting their witnesses yester-
day. Judge Rolf Fosseen told
the jury that he and the law
yerS would meet today. They'll
60 over some ground rules for
closing arguments by counsel,
and the judges instructions to
the jury, which will be present.
ed at 9 am. tomorrow.
Mr.. Thompson, 36-year-old
st. Paul attorney who lives in
the fashionable Highland Park
section, Is accused Of instigat-
ing his wife's Staying out of
love for his former secretary
and the desire to collect more
than 81 million insurance on
the life Of his wife, Carol, "a.
Mrs. Thompson, activel
churchwoman and mother of
four children, was beaten and
stabbed to death at home on a
snowy morning last March 6.
Dick w. c. Anderson, Min
neapolis salesman with q minor
crime record, confessed the
Staying In court, saying he had
bungled what was supposed to
look like an accidental drown
ing In the bathtub.
Told Of Instructions
Anderson testified he got his
instructions on how to carry
out the crime, weapons and a
$4,000 payoff from Norman
Mastrian, 40. Mastrian, a for
mer boxer and once a student
at Manchester College. which
the Thompsons attended, has
refused to make a statement to
police. He and Anderson are
charged with first-degree mur-
der.
Mastrian was Mr.. Thomp-
sons client and they saw
each other several times prior
to March.
Mre than 100 witnesses were
called and about 100 exhibits
were presented during the five
and one half weeks Of testimo-
ny. Closing rebuttal testimony
yesterday brought out several
points Of conflict.
Mr.. Thompson's 14-year-old !
son Jeffrey was the final. de-
tense witness. Appearing in the
brown uniform he wears to the
st. Paul Academy, he told
about events Of the morning of
March 6.
The boy said his mother had
asked him to go to the base
ment to turn out q light In the
recreation room. He said he
believed 1t had been on all
night. probably left that way
by one Of his sisters.
Ate in Dining Room
Jeffrey also said his father
had not said that morning that
he had no time for coffee, be-
fore leaving the house. And he
said the family ate breakfast in
the dining room.
Anderson had related he
came into a dark house at $40
am. and used a small flash
light to find his way to the
basement and hide out prior to
the attack shortly after $3.50
am. He said he also heard Mr..
Thompson call out he had no
time for coffee.
A next-door neighbor, Mrs. |
Harold ErikSon, testified she
saw no light on in the base
ment window which Is visible |
from her kitchen.
A neighbor and fellow
church member Of the Thomp-
sons, Mrs. Marian Erickson,
said she and three other wom-
en- went to the Thompson
home one week after the muir
der to clean it up. The Thomp-
sons had not been living there
while police continued their in
veStigation.
She said there were no dish
eS on the dining room table,
but several pieces of sewing
material Mrs. Thompson evi-
IDENTIFY had been working on.
She found cereal bowls, glasses
and silverware in the kitchen
and washed them, said Mrs.
Erickson.
Also called to the stand was a
copper-haired Kansan who for
merly lived in st. Paul and
knew Mr.. Thompson and his
mistress, Mrs. Jackie Olesen,
81. The witness, Mrs. Patrick
Mulcahy of Marion, Kans., said
Mr.. Thompson had once served
as her counsel in a divorce
matter,