Appeal For Collins Is Begun

Appeal For Collins Is Begun

Attorneys for John Norman Collins, convicted slayer of coed Karen Sue Beineman, Tuesday filed a claim of appeal with the Michigan Court of Appeals for the defendant-appellant.

Collins, the 23-year-old former Eastern Michigan University senior, is serving a life term in Southern Michigan Prison at Jackson.

The claim of appeal is a step in appealing the judgment of conviction and sentence of imprisonment and the order by Circuit Court Judge John W. Conlin denying Collins’ earlier request for a new trial.

His attorneys, Neil H. Fink and Joseph W. Louisell, filed a motion in September for a new trial. The motion was denied. Fink says the legal aspects listed in the motion will be the substance of briefs prepared for the Michigan Court of Appeals.

Major points of the appeal will include what Fink maintains was Judge Conlin’s failure to instruct the jury in the legal definition of “premeditation” of murder.

Included in the appeal will be charges of “prejudicial pre-identification procedures.” Fink charges two key state witnesses, Mrs. Joan Goshe and Mrs. Patricia Spaulding, who testified they saw Collins with Miss Beineman before the murder, were shown pictures of the defendant before an identification line-up.

Also contested will be the denial by the court for a change of venue for the trial.

Before the three-judge panel can consider the case, Fink says court reporters must prepare transcripts of the trial and briefs must be submitted by attorneys for the defendant and the state.

He says, “I never anticipate failure. I think we have a very meritorious appeal.”