Report Knight Attacked Trusty; Sheriff Denies It

Report Knight Attacked Trusty; Sheriff Denies It

BRIGHTON-- "The man's been in a cage for six months. He sees no one, talks to no one. Why wouldn't he be restless?"

Martin J. Lavan, defense counsel for Alvin W. Knight, accused cop-killer, used these words today to reply to reports that his client attacked a trusty, threatened the sheriff and has hatched an escape plot.

Lavan said Knight has been confined since last September in "what they call a maximum security cell" in the Livingston County Jail in Howell.

"Actually it's solitary confinement, plain and simple," Lavan said.

Reports appearing in a Detroit newspaper today said Knight has vowed he will never spend a day in prison. The reports claimed the 48-year-old ex-convict recently scuffled with a trusty and threatened the life of Livingston County Sheriff Lawrence Gehringer. In addition, Knight supposedly had thrown his tray of food on the floor of his cell several times and succeeded in having files and other items of hardware smuggled in to him as part of an escape plot.

Sheriff Gehringer this morning denies Knight had ever threatened his life and said the scuffle with the trusty was harmless and an instance of a prisoner "letting off steam."

"And as far as the food item is concerned, prisoners habitually gripe about jail meals," the sheriff said. "The capacity of this jail is 21 and I've got 25 here now. Discontent is bound to appear."

Sheriff Gehringer said he

knew of no escape plot and noted that no files or other such material had been found in his cell. He pointed out that Knights cell is "our maximum security unit."

Knight's trial on a charge of murdering State Trooper Albert W. Souden last Sept. 3 is scheduled to begin Tuesday in Livingston County Circuit Court in Howell. The state charges Knight shot Souden in the back of the head with the officer's own revolver after the trooper had gone to Knight's house to question him about a burglary.