THE BATTALION
MONDAY, OCTOBER 12, 1981
Page 5
State
Pair marries in prison
where they fell in love
United Press International
NEW ORLEANS — The
wedding cake came from the
prison bakery and the altar was
a sparse stage illuminated by
bare lightbulbs, but the bride
and groom said the setting at
Jackson Barracks work release
center was only fitting.
“We fell in love while I was in
here,” said Herbert Walton,
who married Wilma Barras late
Friday.
“She said if she could fall in
love with me here, visit me
here, go through the trials and
tribulations with me in here, we
could get married here.”
The couple has known each
other for several years, but did
not fall in love until Walton be
gan visiting his bride-to-be
while on pass from the work re
lease center.
^With only 11 months left to
serve on a parole violation sent
ence, Walton said he and Barras
decided to get married while he
was still in prison.
‘‘He’s going to be the same
person,” she explained. “I’m
going to be the same person. If I
can share his good, I can share
his bad.”
The guests and the wedding
party celebrated after the cere
mony by eating a cake prepared
in the prison bakery and listen
ing to music played on a port
able stereo.
The couple then took an
abbreviated honeymoon before
Walton had to return to Jackson
Barracks on Monday.
Walton, who was transferred
to the work release center from
Hunt Correctional Center in
Jackson, La., works in the
Louisiana National Guard’s re
production center.
Walton said he hoped to find
a similar job when released
from the center.
The bride said her parents
bestowed their blessings on the
couple and did not oppose the
marriage.
“My family believes you
don’t judge a person from the
past,” she said. “You judge from
what they are now — and I don’t
judge anybody.”
“Everybody needs some
body,” said Lovetta Dejan,
mother of the bride. “He needs
strength. She needs strength.
They feel they find it in each
other."
The bride’s father, Everard
Mahon, said he had known Wal
ton for 19 years.
“They always had an infatua
tion for each other, but it didn’t
surface until recently,” he said.
“I think it’s a beautiful thing
that happened.”
Jury discounts testimony
from ‘admitted perjurer’
United Press International
NEW ORLEANS — Attorneys
for two men acquitted of bankroll
ing a conspiracy to topple a Carib
bean island government blasted
the prosecution’s use of “an admit
ted perjurer” as its star witness.
“It was a case which shouldn’t
have been prosecuted,” said
lawyer G. Brockett Irwin. “It was
an abuse of justice to base a case on
an admitted perjurer.”
The jury, deliberating late Fri
day, found L.E. Matthews of Flor
ence, Miss., and James White, of
Lakeland, La., innocent of financ
ing an aborted assault on Domi
nica.
The panel discounted the testi
mony of the prosecution’s star wit
ness, Michael Perdue, the admit
ted leader of the abortive coup,
who described himself in court as
a "professional liar."
The charges carried a max
imum penalty of eight years in
prison and $13,000 in fines.
“I’m very thankful,” White said
upon hearing the verdict.
He said he was not surprised it
took the jury three hours to reach
its decision.
“We expected by the time they
deliberated on both counts for
both people, it would take this
long,” White said.
Defense attorneys criticized
prosecutors for basing their case
on the testimony of Perdue. “We
always felt this case was a potential
embarrassment to the govern
ment which it has proved to be,”
he said.
The defense attorneys ques
tioned Perdue’s credibility in final
arguments, characterizing him as
a calculating liar trying to reduce
his own sentence by making a case
against others.
Perdue admitted lying to gather
a band of 10 self-styled soldiers
around him and arming them with
automatic rifles and dynamite to
use in the aborted coup attempt.
Defense attorneys claimed Per
due tricked Matthews and White
into unwittingly financing the
operation by telling them the
funds would be used for legitimate
antiques transactions.
The expedition was interrupted
when federal agents arrested the
would-be mercenaries at a marina
near New Orleans where they
were preparing to embark on the
voyage to Dominica.
Vietnam vet says stress
caused him to kill relative
United Press International
SHREVEPORT, La. — The
attorney for a Vietnam veteran
found innocent of murder due to
post-combat stress syndrome said
Sunday the verdict was a land
mark decision but such a defense
will rarely he successful.
Jurors deliberated for about six
hours Saturday before accepting
Charles Heads’ story he believed
he was back in Vietnam when he
gunned down his brother-in-law.
Heads, who had been charged
with first-degree murder, was
found innocent by reason of insan
ity in the slaying of Roy Lejay.
The verdict was the first time
post-traumatic stress syndrome
was used successfully as a defense
for a violent crime, said attorney
Wellborn Jack, Jr.
“I believe the defense was
true,” he said. “Charles is a good
man and the jury got to know him
as a good man who gave a great
deal for his country.
The defense team reassembled
five members of a Marine recon
naissance squad led by Heads and
allowed them to graphically detail
their combat experiences.
We proved to the jurors what it
was like to be 19-years-old and
surviving the stress of Vietnam,”
Jacks said.
Heads admitted following his
wife from Houston to Lejay’s
house and gunning him down in a
barrage of bullets.
He now hopes to receive treat
ment for the nightmares and flash
backs plaguing him for 15 years.
Heads will remain in Caddo Par
ish Jail until officials find a mental
health facility where he can
undergo treatment.
“Heads wants to understand
and the jurors are giving him a
chance,” Jacks said.
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PRE-LAW SOCIETY
Meeting
Wednesday, Oct. 14 7 p.m.
301 Rudder
| 1981 Haistei* Speakei*
| FRED McCMJRE
S will speak
[ .... ...
Louisiana stops building prisons
United Press International
NEW ORLEANS — In a radic
al departure from recent policy,
the state will stop prison construc
tion for the next two years to de
termine the feasibility of increas
ing inmate capacity within ex
isting structures.
The state will opt to meet an
influx of prisoners by hiring addi
tional guards rather than building
more prisons. Corrections Secret- •
ary John King said Saturday.
“We have a net gain of 500 to
600 prisoners a year,” King said.
“At this time, the Department of
Corrections has the space to house
inmates for the next two years
without double bunking, which
places bunk beds in dormitories or
two-man cells.”
The state previously had plan
ned to construct one new 500-bed
prison every 18 months to house a
growing inmate population. But
the new program aims instead at
curbing rapidly increasing prison
costs. King said.
King recently was appointed by
Gov. Dave Treen to replace C.
Paul Phelps, the architect of the
prison expansion plans.
The state corrections budget
grew from $25 million in 1975 to
more than $100 million in 1980.
Three new 500-bed prisons were
built, extensive renovations were
made at the state penitentiary at
Angola and security staffs were
bolstered.
At the time of his dismissal,
Phelps agreed the prison con
struction program was proving
costly and ineffective. He split
with Treen, however, on the solu
tion.
The former secretary proposed
slowing the influx of prisoners by
releasing minor offenders into
community restitution programs.
Treen and King hope to increase
the prison population within ex
isting facilities.
Louisiana ranks 7th nationally
in the number of guards, with one
officer for every 3.1 inmates.
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