Jury To Get Murder Case This Afternoon

Jury To Get Murder Case This Afternoon

The Harold A. Johnson murder
case was scheduled to reach a
circuit court jury of nine women
and five men this afternoon for
deliberations on whether he was
"sane" when he shot his one-
year-old daughter, Margaret, on
Jan. 9.

Johnson killed his wife, Mar-
gery, 35, and three-year-old
daughter, Barbara, in the living
room of their home at 1435 West-
field Ave. He is standing trial
only for the murder of Margaret
at this time.

Johnson's lawyer, Ralph C.
Keyes, contends that Johnson
"wasn't legally, medically or
psychiatrically sane" when he
shot his daughter.

Prosecutor Edmond F. DeVine
claimed that Johnson is guilty of
first degree murder of the infant
in a manner "deliberate, wilful,
premeditated, inexcusable with
malice aforethought and without
legal justification."'

Dr. Leonard E. Himler, asso-
ciate professor of mental health
at the University, said he exam-
ined Johnson on Jan. 15 and
found evidence of "chronic schizo-
phrenia (split personality)" which
could have caused him to do what
he knew was wrong the night of
the killings.

Two other psychiatrists testified that Johnson could have be-
come "a victim of mental derangement which could and
might have caused him to kill his daughter."

Dr. 0. R. Yoder, superintendent of the Ypsilanti State Hospital,
said, however, he believed Johnson could have "abstained from
taking her life."