Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1963-10-31
COMMITTED Sentence

MAR yldllQ SIlOulQ Dc COtiBIdb-
ulated for not listening to
the BE kind to criminals"
group that urged him to let
the rapists go free.
The men were on trial, not
the girl or her morals. Three
men ran her down and raped
her. If that is not a crime, l
do not know one. Talk about
violation of civil rights, what
about the violation of human
rights? The violation of the
human body is the most hei-
nous Of crimes and the law
should be upheld.
L. Won Wertaur.
While capital punishment
is abhorrent to every one,
and I am happy to see Gov.
Tawes com NUT e the death
sentence Of the Giles broth
ers and their companion, I
am appalled, by the number
of educated people in the
community who seem to be-
lieve that there is nothing
wrong or criminal in assault
ing an emotionally disturbed
girl who because of her aber-
ration has been promiscuous.
This appears to be inconsist-
ent with Western civilization
and our American traditions.
The person who takes I'M
fair advantage of an emo
tionally disturbed person is
doubly guilty and should be
so treated legally. The least
we can do for the mentally
retarded and the mentally
disturbed Is give them every
possible protection and guild
ance. The death sentence is
a terrible thing, but the COM
munity must protect itself
and its citizens, particularly
the unfortunates who can
not take care of themselves,
from wilful attacks. The ia
theirs and m o t h ers of the
boys who took advantage of
this unfortunate girl are as
much to blame as their sons,
but the greatest blame rests
on the authorities who knew
of this girls disturbed condi-
ton and did not protect her
from herself and the de-
PRAYED Of the community.
Much soul-searching APP
pers to be in order, and a lot
less emotionaliSm, such as
indicated by the statements
of some people in behalf of
the rapists. Rape is rape, no
matter who commits it, and
it is always a crime. And no
body with any respect for the
dignity of a human being
condones adultery and GER
tainly not sex relations with
a minor.
John d. MichaeIs.
The Star continues to i'm
ply that those urging immedi-
ate gele al Sc from prison of
the Giles brothers and JOS
eph Johnson do so only be-
cause new evidence" shows
that the victims" character
was bad. You repeat that the
accused did not know about
this bad character when they
broke into the car and
chased the girl, intending to
rape her.
We hope you will be gener-
GUS enough to print, at least
once, the true position of
those who are d efending
these boys. We maintain that
they are innocent, not only
of the crime of rape, but also
of an intent to rape. The fact
that new evidence shows the
girls character was bad is
incidental. The important
thing is that it corroborates
the story told by the defend
ants, while casting great
doubt on the truthfulness of
the testimony against them.
The evidence also bears out
the boys contention tn a t
they broke into the car, not
to rape the girl, but in order
to fight the, girls escort, who
had racially insulted them.
They were not even tried for
asSaulting the escort; they
were convicted only Of rape.
If, as Gov. Tawes suggested,
the finest lady in Maryland"
had been seated in that car
that night, she would not
have been bothered.
We regret that Gov. Tawes
did not consider the question
of the guilt or innocence of
the defendants, when decid-
ing to commute their SEN
fences to life Imprisonment.
The Giles johnson Defense
Committee will continue to
exert every effort IN obtain q