10-Wednesday, October 5, 1977-The Michigan Doily
TV
addict's defense
:IAMI (AP) - The defense in Ronny
riora's murder trial suffered a
:ial setback yesterday when the
ge refused to admit testimony which
teen-ager's lawyer called "the
rt of my defense."
he disputed witness was Dr. Mar-
et Hanratty Thomas, a psycholo-
who said she is a specialist in the
ct of television violence on the view-
EFENSE ATTORNEY Ellis Rubin
claimed that Zamora, 15, was the
im of "temporary television intoxi-
cation" when he shot 83-year-old Elinor
Haggart to death on June 4.
Zamora and 14-year-old Darrell Ag-
rella are both charged with first-degree
murder; Agrella is to be tried sepa-
rately.
Rubin, in an impassioned plea for
"the premise for our whole defense,"
argued that Dr. Thomas, an assistant
dean of academic affairs at Florida
Technological University in Orlando,
should be allowed to tell the jury about
her 15 or more published findings of
media violence.
"WHAT COMES OUT on TV ... con-
tains an inordinate amount of vio-
lence," Rubin argued before the bench.
"What comes out of that television tube
is not controlled by the viewer.
"The viewer doesn't realize he's
being desensitized by violence by see-
ing so much of it - robberies, murders
... killings of old ladies."
But Judge Paul Baker was not satis-
fied that Dr. Thomas could speak as an
Make
- a good
impression
in the
March of Dimes
WALKATHON
THIS SPACE CONTRIBUTED BY THE PUBLISHER
expert witness to establish a direct link
between Zamora's six-to-eight hours of
television viewing each day and the
state of his sanity.
IN NON-JURY arguments over the
relevance of her testimony, the psy-
chologist said an average American
child views 18,000 murders on television
by the time he completes high school.
"Television violence is positively
associated with aggressive behavior,"
she said.
Zamora's troubled personality had
deteriorated to the point where he con-
templated suicide two weeks before he
allegedly shot and killed an elderly
neighbor woman, his mother testified
yesterday.
"HE HAD CHANGED completely,"
Yolanda Zamora said. "He was not the
person I knew. Ninety per cent of the
time I talked to him he was not there, he
was some place else."
Her testimony was key to the defense
theory that a decade of viewing staged
violence on television had so warped
Zamora he couldn't tell right from
wrong.
She said she tried without success to
set time limits on her son's viewing.
ZAMORA WOULD finger toy guns
while watching television and exclaim,
"Mommy, this is the way they hold the
gun - look athow well I'm doing,"
Mrs. Zamora said.
She said her son developed a favorite,
Chrysler,
GE get
electric
car grant
SCHENECTADY, N.Y. (UPI) - Gen-
eral Electric Corp. said yesterday it
and Chrysler Corp. have obtained a
two-year $5.98 million federal grant to
develop an electric automobile that can
be mass produced to compete with gas-
oline cars.
Globe-Union Inc. also is involved to
produce the lead-acid batteries.
The goal is modest, to produce a
small car with a range of 75 miles and a
cruising speed of 55 miles an hour. But
the two prototype cars are to have
unique electronic controls and drive
systems for trouble-free operation.
Braking energy will be used to partly
recharge the batteries.
Just for the
health of it.
Get moving, America!
March 1-7. 1977 is
National Physical Education and Sport Week
Physical Educat ion Public Information
American Alliance for Health C
Physircal Education and Recreation
120-1 16th St: N W, Washington D C 20036
c"lard. - 1
Welcome U of M students ar
Bring this coupon* and get y
two drinks at price--Wed
in October-after 9 P.M.
............-5
nd faculty!
'our first
[nesdays
F
U
U
N
I
I.
Open Mon. - Sat. 11a.m. - 2 a.m.
Dancing Mon. - Sat. 9 P.M. No cover Mon.-Thurs.
* LIMIT - one coupon Per Night
47 t e Arborland iSloppi Center
9 71- 6877 Your Host- @jchard Baal #m '
m m-.a m m m m . --- m
--ONLY FOUR DAYS LEFT!-
$10.00 OFF... ALL BALFOUR
PROFESSIONAL AND TRADITIONAL SERIES RINGS "
" ~ ~ (Men's and Ladies')
"
" YBUS) NESS
4..EDUCATION _ USIC
PHARMACY- LAW
" ENGINEERING /
LIBERA ARTS FORESTRY
Y** -. 1. AS ENA-
*MEDICALN T
," , VETERINARIAN"
MEDICINE:
and \
NATURAL SCIENCE
AGRICULTURE ARCHITECTURE
" ~BAL.FOUR RING DAYS:
Dates: Oct. 5-8th "
WEDNESDAY THRU SATURDAY
ntroducing the new Shank series in both round and square top rings.
i FULL NAME ENGRAVING FREE DURING RING DAYS!