Page 6 THE BATTALION
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 15, 1981
State
Judge rejects probation pleas
Embezzler receives 10 years
United Press International
HOUSTON — Despite restitu
tion of more than half of the $17
million he was accused of embez
zling, a former vice president of
Allied Bank of Texas lost his plea
for probation and was sentenced
to 10 years in prison Tuesday.
U.S. District Judge Ross Sterl
ing sentenced W. Darrell Wiggins
after hearing a plea for probation
from both the accused and the
bank urging Wiggins needed to
stay out of prison to repay the the
balance of the money.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Connie
Myers argued for the maximum
penalty, contending that regard
less of Wiggins’ agreement to re
pay the embezzled money, he still
had committed a crime.
Wiggins already has repaid at
least $9 million by assigning assets
to the bank.
Allied Bank attorney Joe Peck
said that with the money repaid
and insurance coverage, the bank
likely would lose nothing from
Wiggins’ theft.
The sentence followed Wig
gins’ bargained August 18 guilty
plea to six embezzlement charges
in exchange for a limit on his possi
ble sentence to 30 years and
$30,000 in fines.
“Grant me probation and give
me the opportunity to clear my
name,” Wiggins pleaded in a per
sonal statement to the judge. “Let
me meet my commitment to the
bank.
“I’ve thought about what I’ve
done many times. It was a mis
take. I’ve known it for a long time.
When I confessed back in January,
it was like lifting a great weight off
my shoulders.”
Friends of Wiggins took the
stand to say they had agreed to let
Wiggins manage their assets for a
percentage of the profits so he
could earn money to repay the
bank.
Sterling rejected the pleas for
probation and ordered Wiggins to
prison with no fine. The judge
freed Wiggins pending voluntary
surrender to begin his prison
term. No date was set for the start
of his sentence.
SMU frosh flunk English I
United Press International
DALLAS — More than half of
Southern Methodist University’s
freshman class failed a basic gram
mar test required to determine if
they have a high school proficien
cy in language skills.
Sixty percent of the 1,400 fresh
men at SMU failed the test. Last
year, 40 percent of the freshmen
failed.
“I’m concerned about the
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forces in our culture that require
us to teach grammar and punctua
tion at this level,” Mitchell E.
Smith, coordinator of the fresh
man writing program said.
The university hires 24
teachers to teach a rhetoric class
required of all freshmen. The first
five weeks of class were spent
studying such basics as verb con
jugation and double negatives.
The class meets three times a
week for 50 minutes each session.
In the test, taken after the first
five weeks, students were re
quired to identify such errors as
“George and one of his sisters is
flying.”
Students who fail the test a
second or third time will automa
tically fail the year-long language
“That test was a pain in the
butt,” Michelle Ricca, a freshman
who failed, said. “I studied pretty
hard. I didn’t think it proved my
ability in writing.”
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AGGIES
General Meeting
Monday October 19
701 Rudder 6:30
Be there for:
Aggieland Photo
Discussion of Bonfire
Discussion of Street Dance
Discussion of Semi-Formal
Remember the civilian cutting weekend
October 24-25th
Sign up in Room 216 MSG: OCA cubicle
District judge restricts
use of Daniel testimony
United Press International
LIBERTY — Vickie Daniel’s
dramatic description of how she
shot and killed her husband in
January can be used by prosecu
tors only to impeach her testi
mony in the criminal case, a
judge has ruled.
State District Judge Leonard
Giblin Jr., of Beaumont, said
Tuesday depositions from
Daniel and her previous two
days of testimony in a child cus
tody case will he used in the
criminal case only to contradict
her if she testifies in her own
behalf.
Daniel is charged with mur
der in the shooting death of for
mer Texas House Speaker Price
Daniel Jr. She has admitted
shooting him with a .22-gauge
shotgun during a heated argu
ment over their pending di
vorce. Her testimony came in
March during a bitter six-week-
long child custody case with her
sister-in-law, Jean Daniel
Murph.
A jury of eight men and four
women was selected last week
to hear the case, which is ex
pected to last at least a month.
However, in view of Giblin’s
ruling Tuesday that Daniel
voluntarily testified about the
shooting in the earlier child cus
tody case, it does not appear she
will again incriminate herself.
Her attorney. Jack Zimmer-
mann of Houston, would not say
if she would testify.
“Oh, that’s not a fair ques
tion. If she were a witness,
she’d be subject to cross exami
nation,” Zimmermann said.
If Daniel does not testify, the
previous information will not be
put before the jury selected to
decide her fate, Zimmermann
said.
Giblin also ruled Tuesday
that conversations Daniel had
with a court-appointed
psychiatrist and her explana
tions about the shooting to
ambulance drivers will not be
permitted in the criminal trial.
However, her admissions to
the drivers that she shot her
husband can be repeated to
jurors by firemen Oscar Cantu
and John Anderson. Both men
testified that a distraught
Daniel directed them to
Daniel’s body, which lay in a
pool of blood in their kitchen,
and she then admitted killing
him.
Cantu testified that Daniel
said she shot he husband.
Anderson said she began by
saying, “Oh my God.”
But no comments she made
to the deputy sheriff on the
scene will be repeated in court.
The police officer’s investiga
tion had already focused on
Daniel, and she had not I*
read her rights to remain sile
the judge said.
He also said police »;
wrong in not getting a
warrant to remove items fa
the Daniel home and saidi
thing taken from the hot«
hours after the shooting wj
allowed in the criminal fei
Taken immediately were
.22-gauge shotgun, spentld
hulls and photographs of
of Daniel’s clothes.
But deputy Marvin Pin.
said he returned to the ho;
the next night and tookasei
dence an unfinished glassof
alcoholic beverage, le{,
ers, a substance suspectedto
marijuana, a bullet pried In
wood in the attic and DaiuJ
purse. He said he saw none
to get a search warrant.
Her attorney at the faf
Andrew Lannie of Baytow
said he told police to g
search warrant, but they
not.
Price Daniel was trying tog
his wife to sign divorce
ment papers at the timeofi
shooting, Vickie Daniel sat
However, she testified
March that she did not want!
sign anything unless her attn
ney was present.
Clements supports
water trust proposal
United Press International
AUSTIN — In a plea for the
passage of a proposed water trust
fund. Gov. Bill Clements says
taxes are more likely to increase if
the proposal is rejected and not
the other way around, as the prop
osal’s critics claim.
The proposal will be presented
to Texas voters Nov. 3 in the form
of a constitutional amendment and
if passed would set up a fund to
meet the future water needs of the
state. The fund, a pet project of
speaker Billy Clayton,
would be financed by state surplus
funds.
Speaking at a Tuesday lun
cheon of the Water for Texas Com
mittee, the governor said: “The
truth of the matter is Texans are
more likely to face increased taxes
if we don’t pass (the amendment).
“That’s simply because the sur
plus will be frittered away every
two years with the help of some
lawmakers opposing the (amend
ment), and we’ll end up facing a
water crisis down the road thatti , ^
people will demand we takeai
S> ,e
links
of, even if it does mean a taiir
crease.
Clements also told t
50 that the water trust fund'd
help alleviate flood protection
sewage treatment problems
many cities, particularly on i
Texas coast, are experiencing .
SSI
Under the proposal, the Leg
ature would dedicate one-half| )|*
TEX
STUDENT
GOVERNMENT
AS A&M UNIVERSITY
Senate Vacancies
College of Medicine — At Large
Off Campus Ward I
(East of Texas Ave.,
South of University Ave.)
Applications due Oct. 16
216C MSC
845-3051
Unit
its surplus revenue to guarani
bonds for water and sewage p
jects for local govemmet
Clayton, the architect of the ff
stitutional amendment, saidi ™ A
proposal would simply enable! )ed a
state to help the local govei at ® ne
ments with their problems
“It is not a water plan per*
Clayton said. “It’s a fundi j av jj
mechanism for local govemmei
to determine their own destinte ise( ] a j
Austin Mayor Carole McCli
lan, the head of the Water! \ft e r <
Texas Committee, said fedeifched
budget cuts will force
ernments to seek help elsewte rs oftl
to finance water projects. Shea m'sed
that if the proposal is not adopts
Texans will eventually have topi
more when the water shortil He was
problem becomes even morecii “ortr
tical.
deparl
irges ol
Clements also said critics
wrong when they claim that sti
revenue will be “locked in”forll*
water trust fund. He said
under the proposal a simple*
jority of the Legislature can sto[
dedication of funds going into dr j
program.
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AGGIE
BLOOD DRIVE
IS COMING!
OCT. 19-22
'It/Ucd a / Wau to- Qiue!
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in cooperation with APO, OPA
and Student Government