Jury Acquits Man in 1978 Murder of 5 Newark Boys

[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

[McCamy Taylor]

1. The defendent represented himself. Meaning the case must have been very thin

because we all know how badly people do in court when they try to be their own lawyer.

A DA who gets shot down by an amateur lawyer is not worth much.

[pipoman]

3. Pro se certainly isn't effective for most defendants

and this one was a mason by trade..interesting. I once participated in the defense of an infamous gang member who acted pro se in federal court in a 2 month long prison drug case. He hung the first jury by apparently appealing to one of the female jurors...not so lucky at the second trial. You're right, an acquittal is very uncommon in pro se defenses.

[pipoman]

2. "Philander"...really?

is that a noun or a verb?