Chief Justice Names Press Aide in Collins Case

Chief Justice Names Press Aide In Collins Case

YPSILANTI — The
chief justice of the Michk,
Supreme Court has app0i
liaison officer between the
courts of Washtenaw County and
news media "to make sure there
is an. adequate dissemination of
the news" in the case involving
•^'••"ed coed strangler John N.
s.

^iiief Justice Thomas E. Bren-
nan said Michael Devine, chief
administrative assistant in the
State Supreme Court, will as-
sume the duties before Thurs-
day's scheduled preliminary
hearing for Collins.

Brennan announced Devine's
appointment Saturday at a news
conference in Dallas, T e x.,
where the chief justice is at-
tending a judges' conference.

Devine, he said, primarily will
be responsible for handling "lo-
gistical problems" arising from
heavy press coverage of court
hearings for the 22-year-old Col-
lins who is accused of first - de-
gree murder in the killing of
Miss Karen Sue Beineman, 18,
an Eastern Michigan Univer-
sity coed.

Brennan said Devine will as-
sist in arranging press space in
the tiny District Court at Ypsi-
lanti. The courtroom seats about
40 but more than 200 newsmen
have covered the Collins case.

Brennan said Devine would be
instructed "not to prevent or
filter the type of coverage of the
trial the media people feel
necessary."

Devine will hold conferences
if necessary to explain the
background of events, Brennan
said, and wall explain "relevant"
information.

Appointment of Devine was
prompted by a phone call to
Brennan from District Judge
Edward Deake who outlined the
problems involved in accommo-
dating newsmen.

Brennan said he believes
the public should be informed of
every essential detail of the kill-
ing of eight young women with-
in the past two years in the Ann
Arbor-Ypsilanti area "in order
to quell any rumors that might
start."

"My feeling is that the press
can go ahead and print whatev-
er it likes," Brennan said. "Of-
ten, in recent years, the press
has printed everything it could
about a man charged with a
crime.

"It p; 'cs and I feel
essentially its rair coverage,"
the chief justice said.

While Devine will act as in-
termediary for information be-
tween the courts and newsmen,
police agencies two weeks ago
appointed their o'vn r^?"3' offi-
cer. Th is
Curtis K. iStadlteid, director of
the Eastern Michigan University
Information Office.

Meanwhile Bent F. Nielsen,
chairman of the County Board
of Supervisors, said yesterday he
saw no reason why the district
court examination for Collins
could not be moved to the Coun-
ty Building.

Saying he had not had a
chance to talk to other super-
visors since the proposal was
made, Nielsen commented, "It's
on the agenda for our meeting
next Tuesday, and we will dis-
cuss it then. I do not see any
reason why the move will not

be allowed by the board. I have
no background information at
the moment on the request, but
off hand there seems to be no
reason why the examination can-
not be moved into a County
Building facility."

The proposal for moving the
examination from the district
court in the old Ypsilanti Muni-
cipal Court building to Ann Ar-
bor was made after Ypsilanti
fire marshals informed Judge
Deake that the building c o n-
tained numerous violations of
the fire code.

Deake had resisted earlier pro-
posals for such a move because
Michigan law requires examina-
tions in criminal trials to be
held in the district courtroom
where they are first brought.
However, the law provides that
under certain conditions, they
may be moved elsewhere in the

state.

Fire marshals limited the
number of persons who could be
in the courtroom at the time of
Collins' arraignment this week
to 40. Taking into account the
number of witnesses and law-
yers involved in the case, Judge
Deake permitted 10 newsmen
in the courtroom. More than 200
persons gathered outside the
courtroom during the examina-
tion.

If judges in a district court
approve and the Board of Super-
visors agrees, the law allows an
examination of a defendant to
be moved.

In another development an
Ypsilanti elementary school
teacher was identified as
the owner of a ring with which
Andrew Julian Manuel Jr., 25,
is charged with concealing while

being stolen property.

Manuel has been identified as
a traveling companion of Col-
lins, who lived in the same room-
ing house as Manuel and travel-
ed to California with him around
the time a girl was strangled
there.

Authorities say the ring be-
longs to Elizabeth V. Baker of
1573 Congress, Ypsilanti, a
teacher at the Estabrook School.

She said the ring was stolen
with about 17 others from her
apartment in a burglary last
March.

Police found the ring in Man-
uel's possession when he was
arrested in Phoenix, Ariz., on
a charge of larceny by conver-
sion which grew out of the rent-
al of an unretumed trailer in
which Manuel and Collins travel-
ed to California in June.