McGee Refuses Appointed Lawyer

John B. McGee, an admitted killer now charged with the brutal' beating death of his wife, appeared Tuesday in Ann Arbor ■ District Court to refuse the appointment I of a lawyer to defend him. McGee Judge S.J. Elden, "You ■can appoint counsel for me, your honor, ■but I doubt that i;il be appearing with ■him . . . I do not wish to have a courtBappoiñted attorney." ' The 28-year-old murder suspect, ■dressed in jail "greens" and.flanked by Mtwo Ann Arbor pólice detectives, refused ■to sign a petition requesting the court to ■appoint a lawyer for hijn. H He told Elden he is attempting to ob■tain the services of Detroit attorney ShelHdon Halpern, who has previously repre■ sented' him. The judge, hower, ques■ tioned whether McGee could af ford. to ■ pay a laywer. ■ McGee said he is not indigent, with a ■ monthly income of about $1,300 from So■ cial Sécurity and veteran's disability I payments. He said he also has a trust I fund for which a new guardián must be I appointed. He claimed the funds had been I "misappropriated" under the' former I guardián - his wife Julia, who was beat■ en to death in her apartment at 3605 I Greenbriar Blvd. early on April 14. Elden rescheduled a preliminary exI amination in the case for April 30 and reI manded McGee to jail without bond I while efforts are made to have Halpern I defend him. Reached in his Detroit office by The News, Halpern said he intends to represent McGee if an arrangement can be worked out whereby he will be paid for his services. Halpern said there are "serious financial questions," and noted that McGee still owés him approximately $20,000 in prior legal fees. I When the preliminary examination is . held, Elden must decide whether to bind I McGee over to Washtenaw Circuit Court I to stand trial on the murder charge. McGee. was arrested 30 days af ter I ing released from a state facility. I A jury in Wayne County Probate Court I found he was no longer insane under new I state guidelines governing the mentally I 111. Officers called to his wife's I apartment on Ann Arbor's northeast side I and found her nude body lying in' a pool I of blood in the bedroom. Mrs. McGee I vdied several hours later at University I Hospital. Pólice Chief Walter Krasny said an autopsy revealed that Mrs. McGee was "literally beaten to death . . . punched, I stomped, kicked." I McGee was acquitted by reason of insanity last summer in Detroit Recorder's . Court, where he stood 'trial on 'a second degree murder charge. He was then committed to the Center for Forensic I Psychiatry at Ypsilanti State Hospital. Wayne County prosecutors say McGee - under a graat of judicial immunity - admitted filling contracts to kill at least I se ven persons. Detroit authorities believe McGee may have been involved in as many as 25 : murders, with many of the victims having been Detroit drug world figures. But under a Michigan Supreme Court ruling last September, persons found not guilty by reason' of insanity cannot be held against their in: state institutions unless psychiatrists testify that such persons continue to be mentally ill and are dangerous to themselves or others. I