Jury Acquits Man in 1978 Murder of 5 Newark Boys [View All]

[alp227]

Source: NYT

A jury acquitted Lee Anthony Evans of murder charges Wednesday in the case of five boys who disappeared in 1978 and were believed to be burned alive, leaving unresolved one of the city’s coldest cases.

Mr. Evans, 58, a mason who has lived most of his life in the Newark area, a fact that he used in his defense as a sign of his innocence, showed little joy in the verdict. "If you smash something up, tear something up, you can’t put it back together," he said.

Relatives of the boys gasped quietly in the courtroom as the verdict was read Wednesday morning, following about 14 hours of deliberations over several days.

In acquitting Mr. Evans, the jurors rejected the testimony of his cousin, Philander Hampton, a petty criminal who pleaded guilty to the murders before the trial began. His words alone linked Mr. Evans to the boys’ disappearances.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/24/nyregion/jury-acquits-man-in-1978-murder-of-5-newark-boys.html