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Page 8/The Battalion/Monday, March 26, 1984
Geter blasts judicial system
United Press International
DENMARK, S.C. — Lenell
Geter, a black engineer who
spent 16 months in a Texas jail
for a crime he did not commit,
returned home a free man Sun
day and said the judicial system
that falsely accused him “owes
humanity something.”
“I cannot truly celebrate until
some type of action is taken to
protect people from ambitious
people in the judicial system,”
Geter said in a telephone inter
view from his mother’s home in
Denmark.
“I realize that I am not the
only victim of unjust incarcera
tion in this country,” he said. “I
don’t have any specific case to
point to, but reflecting back on
my case you can see the system
doesn’t work 100 percent of
time.”
Geter, 26, arrived at the Co
lumbia Metropolitan Airport at
2 a.m. Sunday after speaking at
a NAACP leadership forum in
Philadelphia Saturday. He said
he will return to Texas Monday
to attend a court hearing where
prosecutors are scheduled to
clear him officially of charges
he robbed a fast-food outlet in a
Dallas suburb in 1982.
“I think the judicial system in
Texas owes humanity some
thing,” Geter said. “They owe
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humanity the right to seek out
the truth, to protect imiocent
people so they aren’t unjustly
accused.”
Geter also said he plans to re
turn to the prison where he
spent more than a year of his
life.
Geter was greeted at the Co
lumbia airport by his fiance,
Marcia Hickson, a South Caro
lina State College nursing stu
dent. Geter said the two plan to
be married this summer.
“If you can put a big hug into
words, that’s what she said to
me,” Geter said.
The engineer was convicted
and sentenced to life in prison
in 1982 for robbing a Kentucky
Fried Chicken restaurant in a
Dallas suburb — a crime he in
sisted all along he did not com
mit.
He blamed his arrest and
conviction on sloppy police
work and a racist judicial sys
tem. The engineer spent more
than a year in prison before
winning a retrial in December.
That trial had been scheduled
to begin April 9.
Last week, Dallas County Dis
trict Attorney Henry Wade an
nounced the armed robbery
charges against Geter had been
dropped and a suspect had
been brought to Dallas County
for questioning.
The case attracted wide
spread media attention, includ
ing a segment on CBS’ “60 Min
utes.”
>•
But Geter, who has returned
to his job at E-Systems Inc., an
engineering firm in Greenville
said he expects the furor over
his imprisonment to die down
/sventually.
was*-
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Houston police get first
break in 1980 shooting
United Press International
HOUSTON — Police say
there may be more arrests in
the 1980 attempted murder of
the estranged mistress of disap
peared health spa tycoon Rich
ard Minns.
Investigators made their first
break in the case in three years
Thursday with the arrest of
Houston private detective Dud
ley Bell, 47, a former Minns as
sociate who is charged with so
licitation of capital murder in
the shooting of former model
Barbra Piotrowski.
“There could be more ar
rests,” Homicide Detective
Kenny Williamson said. “This
arrest took four years to hap
pen. We’re going to keep the
file open on this one for the
next four years if we have to.”
Bell is being held on
$500,000 bond. When arrested
he was on probation for a per
jury conviction arising from his
acquittal on 1978 charges of
conspiring to import Mexican
illegal alien women to work as
maids.
Piotrowski, 30, was shot four
times in the back as she exited a
doughnut shop in October
1980. Two Riverside, Calif.,
men pleaded guilty in 1981 to
the shooting and they each were
sentenced to 35 years in jail and
a $5,000 fine.
Her lawyer said Piotrowski is
living in another state under an
assumed name and undergoing
therapy for paralysis from the
waist down. Attorney Dick De-
Guerin helped the Houston
Chronicle reach her by phone.
“1 feel very good and very re
lieved” about Bell’s arrest, she
said.
In 1982, she tiled a $220 mil
lion damage lawsuit against Bell
and Minns in which she accused
Minns of hiring Bell to find a
hitman. She also accused Rob
ert Jess Anderson, 46,
ranging to have Patrick
and Nathaniel Iveryshoot
A grand jury investil
the shooting interviewed
derson and Bell. Anderson
not indicted.
Minns, who owned the
dent and First Lady 1
Spas until 1975, has denidi
connection to the shootinj.
His whereabouts are I
known, and an affidavitiii|
lawsuit case file date
says he is not a Texas re;
The document has a llak|
tary’s seal.
Piotrowski said she i
Minns in 1976 in Aspen.C
and was living with him in
when he allegedly assaultedl
at a Mexican resort. Shed
they had been married i
vale ceremony and sm
share his wealth.
TUDENT
NMENT
UNIVERSITY
Election Commission presents
Presidential Debate
Monday, March 23
7:00 p.m.
601 Rudder
Reception
Monday, March 23
following debate
206 MSC
Come listen to the candidates for Student Body President discussl
J SSues anc ^ the candidates at the reception following the dej
?;
:§i
SPRING ELECTIONS
Tuesday, March 27 & Wednesday, March 28
• "• • ' v.. . , \ ■ ' . , ■ ’ ' -3 - |
9 a.m. - 6 p.m. MSC, Pavilion, Sbisa
.
Vote f or p osi t lons j n student Government, RHA, OCA, Class Council, Graduate Student
Council & Yell Leaders