Knight Says He Slapped Trusty; 'There Never Was A Real Fight'

Knight Says He Slapped Trusty; 'There Never Was A Real Fight'

By William B. Treml

HOWELL-- "I just reached through the bars to slap his face for him one day. He was the sheriff's stool pigeon. There never was a real fight."

With these words Alvin W. Knight, accused killer of State Trooper Albert W. Souden, yesterday dismissed reports published last week that he attacked a trusty at the Livingston County Jail here.

Knight, 48-year-old ex-convict, held an impromptu press conference while seated at a table in the Livingston county courthouse yesterday morning.

Motion Granted

Minutes before he heard Circuit Judge Michael Carland grant a motion by Defense Counsel Martin J. Lavan to dismiss the 100-person jury panel summoned to Howell for the murder trial. Lavan contended successfully that the

panel had been drawn illegally in that only one instead of two justices of the peace had been notified by the county clerk and sheriff that a petit jury was being drawn.

So instead of listening to Lavan and Prosecutor Wilfred H. Erwin question prospective jurors, Knight sat quietly behind a table, two uniformed state trooper guards close behind him, and calmly answered questions from a half dozen newsmen. He was dressed in a blue plaid suit which seemed too big for him, a light blue shirt and a black tie. His tan shoes were scuffed and unpolished.

Judge Carland had set the calling of a new jury panel a week ahead, for March 29 at 9:30 a.m.

What did Knight think about the delay?

Has No Complaint

"It doesn't make any difference to me one way or another."

What about the food, the conditions, the reported fight in the jail?

"Well, the food is pretty bad. There's a guy next to me who's spent 35 years of his life in prisons and jails. He says it's the worst food he's ever eaten."

Knight seemed bitter about the general jail conditions.

"It's the most sterile jail I've ever been in. But I've been in a cell 6 feet by 5 feet for more than six months. I haven't been outside since last November. One time I went 10 days without a shower and I never would have gotten one if I hadn't kicked on my cell door. The only exercise I ever get is walking down the catwalk outside the cell twice a week."

Deception Charged

The graying murder defendant, who has spent much of his adult life in prison, charged Livingston County Sheriff Lawrence Gehringer practices deception when a state food inspector visits the jail.

"He steers the inspector to a couple of the inmates he knows will say everything is fine," Knight said. He said wile prisoners normally require 2,500 per day, the meals he is served amount to 1,200 calories or less.

Knight denied other inmates in the jail hated him.

"They've all treated me all right except for that stool pigeon the sheriff had, Dick Jones. He'd run to the sheriff with all kinds of tales about me. I just felt his face ought to be slapped one day. So I tried to do it. But in jail, prisoners are for prisoners. They stick together, generally."

Explains Razor Blade

He said a razor blade deputies found concealed in his cell was used "to trim an ingrown toenail I've got." The screws which were found in his cell fell from a lamp shade, he said.

He refused to answer a ques-

tion about whether or not he would try to escape, given the opportunity, and also refused to comment about the impending tiral. But he was quick to speak of his battling defense counsel, Martin Lavan of Brighton.

"Lavan's the boss of this trial. All my faith is in him. I wouldn't trade him for a Clarence Darrow."

Finally the two troopers guarding Knight got up from their seats behind him, walked up and snapped a pair of handcuffs on his wrists. The interview was over.