Wednesday, December 14 1983/The Battalion/Page 7
New trial, polygraph test ordered
in case allegedly involving racism
1 put it
=.now he
said,
United Press International
DALLAS — A state district
judge Tuesday granted a new
irial and ordered a polygraph
lest for a black engineer who
laims he was wrongly convicted
nd given a life sentence in a
obbery case which gained na-
ional attention.
Edwin Sigel, attorney for
fnell Geter who was sent to
rison in October 1982 amidst
legations of racism from the
iAACP, said he was confident
is diem would be freed before
le weekend because the pro
secution had reversed itself and
agreed to join him in the motion
for a new trial.
District Judge John Ovard
Tuesday ordered the new trial
and scheduled a polygraph test
for Thursday.
Sigel said it is likely the entire
case might be dropped by the
judge once the case is returned
to him from the appellate court.
Meanwhile, at a news confer
ence at the Coffield Unit of the
Texas prison system near Pales
tine, Texas, Geter said, “I’m ex
cited I’m going to get another
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chance to prove my innocence.”
He said he was still bitter ab
out his experiences.
“All I can see is what has hap
pened to me in the past, what the
officers said about me and the
gun being placed at my head
(when he was arrested),” he said.
In a dramatic gesture Mon
day, Dallas County District
Attorney Henry Wade, whose
office had resisted previous
attempts to grant a new trial to
Geter, announced the reversal
of his stand in the case reported
recently on the CBS news maga
zine “60 Minutes.”
“In view of a recent television
show and other media reports, I
believe some doubt has been
raised in the minds of many peo-
E le concerning the fairness of
is trial as well as his guilt,”
Wade said.
Wade also announced he
would move to, have the case
dropped if the South Carolina
native passed a lie-detector test
Thursday.
Sigel said his motion would
show there is new evidence be
cause Geter’s friend, Anthony
Williams, who was acquitted of a
similar robbery charge last
month, would now be free to tes
tify on behalf of Geter.
“The easiest way to solve the
problem is to have Mr. Geter
take a polygraph test, with the
operator he has requested,” said
Jerry Banks, the county’s chief
felony prosecutor. “He’s not
going to pass that (the poly
graph), in my opinion, but if he
does, this office will drop the
charges. If he does not, we’ll
move for a new trial.
“We are joining defense
counsel in asking the appellate
court to send the case back to
trial court. There is new evi
dence, in that his co-defendant
Mr. Williams can now testify. At
that point, if he passes the poly
graph, we can drop the charges.
If we hold a new trial, it’ll be with
a new jury, new everything.”
Geter was employed by the E-
Systems Inc. in nearby Greenvil
le prior to his conviction. The
NAACP, which joined the case,
brought allegations of racism
against police and the prosecu
tors.
Geter’s employer, chiefly in
volved in the manufacture of
sophisticated electronic devices
for the military, has been con
ducting its own campaign
against Geter’s prosecution and
has set up a fund for his defense.
The case gained greater na
tional attention when Williams
was charged in another robbery
case. Williams, 25, also an en
gineer, was acquitted last month
in a $32 robbery of 7-Eleven
store in Garland, Texas.
Sigel said the prosecution’s
change of attitude in the Geter
case was due to heavy media
attention on the case and fears
the appellate court may cite the
state for miscarriage of justice.
He said the FBI was indepen
dently looking into a possible
violation of Geter’s civil rights.
A number of Geter’s co
workers at E-Systems testified
that Geter was at work the day of
the robbery for which he was
charged.
That went squarely against
the testimony of five restaurant
employees, who identified Geter
as the robber.
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West Texas bills
could increase
United Press International
EL PASO — Western utility
customers should not be
forced to pay to clean up dirty
power plants east of the Mis
sissippi River, a West Texas
utilities expert said Tuesday.
Evern Wall, president of
the El Paso Electric Co., said a
bill in Congress proposes that
electric bills be increased
nationwide to reduce acid
rain, which is produced when
sulfur dioxide mixes with wa
ter vapor in the air.
He said the bill by Rep.
Gerry Sikorski, D-Minn., and
Rep. Henry Waxman, D-
Calif., targets 50 dirty power
plants east of the Mississippi
and calls for spending $40 bil
lion to clean them up.
States west of the Mississip
pi would not benefit from the
plan, said Wall, who is presi
dent of the Western Energy
Supply and Transmission
Associates, a group of 21 elec
tric companies in the West
that undertakes joint projects
and exchanges power.
Wall said electric custom
ers are being asked to each pay
an average of $10.25 a year,
while easterners would pay
$7.56 a year. The bill calls for
a tax of one mill, or one-tenth
of a cent, on each kilowatt
hour used in the United
States.
Westerners, who would not
profit from the bill, would be
paying more for the cleanup
than easterners because the
tax levy is based on the num
ber of people living in an area,
he said.
The El Paso Electric Co.,
executive and technical advi
sors from WEST are meeting
today with representatives of
news media in Washington,
D.C.
Wall said he expects pres
idential hopeful Sen. John
Glenn, D-Ohio, to push for
the cleanup plan. Sen. Glenn
represents Ohio, one of the
states that would benefit from
the legislation.
Many eastern plants were
built before the Environmen
tal Protection Agency man
dated pollution controls, Wall
said. Those plant officials
have saved money over the
years by not having to install
the devices, he said.
Thirty-one percent of the
coal-fired plants in the West
use a scrubbing process to
clean sulfur dioxide emis
sions, compared with 7 per
cent in East, Wall said.
The scrubbing equipment
at the Four Corners plant in
New Mexico cost three to four
times as much as the total cost
of the plant, he said. El Paso,
Texas relies on Four Corners
for about 20 percent of its
power needs.
“The question of who will
pay for the cleanup of acid
rain is going to be a major poli
tical issue in the next pres
idential election,” Wall said.
Gov. White wants
teachers to have
a good pay raise
United Press International
AUSTIN — Gov. Mark White
urged a group of road contrac
tors Tuesday to support higher
pay for Texas teachers and
pledged he would include the
issue of highway funding on the
agenda of a special legislative
session.
Despite a prediction from Lt.
Gov. Bill Hobby that the issue of
teacher pay would not be
addressed until the next regular
session in 1985, White told the
Associated General Contractors
of Texas he hoped to call law
makers back to Austin in 1984.
White urged the contractors
to support his promise of a 24
percent pay raise for teachers,
saying the second item on the
agenda for any special session
would be greater funding for
highway repairs, construction
and maintenance.
“I intend to have a special
session for education.” White
said. “I would at the same time
like to make certain that we also
improve the mobility of those
well-educated Texans I hope to
see in this state.
“And that will mean we will
also go forward with seeing that
our highways are funded prop
erly so we can maintain the mo
bility necessary for a vibrant eco
nomy,” he added.
White said he planned to talk
with teachers’ groups Tuesday
to pursuade them to support
greater funding for highway
construction.
“I think we would make a very
effective package,” he said.
Although H. Ross Perot has
said his special committee on
education will issue a prelimin
ary report on the Texas school
system in March, White said he
would meet with Perot Wednes
day and urge him to expedite
the committee’s deliberations.
“I will be urging them to move
quickly to get the report back,”
he said. “And then as soon as we
can get that report back, I need
your help in getting in touch
with our legislative leaders and
asking them to make the com
mittment to see that we pass that
proposistion and move on to the
next order of business, which is
the proper funding of our high
ways.”
White also said he hoped to in
clude the issue of a state water
plan — another expensive prop
osition — on the special session
agenda.
“We need to attack these prob
lems now and we need to do so
with the full realization that they
we are going to have to have the
money to do the job,” he said.
However, White did not give
any indication what taxes he
would raise to fund the higher
pay, water plan and highway
construction.
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