Page 2-Wednesday, November 2, 1977-The Michigan Daily
Accused murderer tells
LANSING, Mich. (AP) - A sobbing
Francine Hughes testified in her first-
degree murder trial yesterday that her
ex-husband repeatedly beat and other-
wise abused her for years and that an
''urgent voice" told her to kill him last
March.
"There was like an urgent voice
whispering, 'Do it! Do it!'," she said
from the witness stand.
Hughes, 30, is accused of killing
James Hughes while he slept by set-
ting fire to the home the couple shared.
The prosecution maintains the motive
was her involvement with another man.
PROSECUTOR Martin Palus wound
up his presentation Monday with
testimony from a handwriting expert
that Hughes' writing matched that on
letters found in a former security
guard's locker.'
In opening statements, Palus said the
letters would prove that the motive for
the slaying was Hughes' "relationship"
with an unidentified man. But Palus did
not introduce the letters as evidence
and did not disclose their contents
during his presentation.
He has refused any comment on the
letters, and the defense has not ad-
dressed the issue in its presentation
thus far.
Hughes has said she was driven to
killing Hughes because of the beatings
and abuse she had suffered at his hands
since they were married when she was
16 years old. Feminist supporters hope
Hughes' case will set a precedent to
strengthen the rights of abused women.
IN TESTIMONY on the sixth day of
her trial in Ingham County Circuit
Court, Hughes said she met Hughes at a
high school dance, they became lovers
"and she married him because of her
moral values.
; "It used to be that a girl was taught to
-save herself for somebody," she said.
"We had intercourse before we were
married. I felt like I should marry him
The professionals,
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At the UNION
because of that. He wanted to marry
me so bad. I never felt I had anyone
who loved me that much. What attrac-
ted me to him was that he was attracted
to me."
But she later found Hughes to be "in-
sanely jealous" and he began to abuse
her within a year of the wedding, she
said.
"I felt terribly alone and afraid. It
dominated my life. I never knew what
to expect."
THE COUPLE divorced in 1971 but
soon Afterwards James Hughes was
seriously injured in an auto accident.
Ms. Hughes has said she moved into a
home next door to Hughes' home in
Dansville to help care for him.
Gradually, --ughes moved into her
home, sand the beatings and abuse
resumed, she has said.
Her face twisted with emotion,
Hughes read parts of the divorce decree
which was granted her on grounds of
"extreme cruelty."
In the first fight she could remember,
Hughes blackened her eyes after she
bought nail polish at a drug store while
he was working, she said. "I guess it
was because I left the apartment."
SHE SAID her ex-husband once came
to a factory where she worked and or-
dered her to quit, despite the fact that
the couple needed her income.
"He came there and he made me quit
because I had bought a new bra and it
had stretchy straps," she said. "He
didn't like it because it made me
jiggle."
After he moved into the home where
she lived with the couple's four
children, "I wouldn't move without him
saying that it was all right," Ms.
Hughes testified. "I know it's hard to
believe, but it's true ... He didn't want
me to go places, or see anybody-not
even my own family. I think maybe he
was afraid I'd leave."
SHE SAID he used obscenities to
describe her sisters and often taunted
his 12-year-old daughter until she fled in
tears.
"It just kept getting worse and worse
and worse and worse," she said.
"Usually, he would beat me in the
head-with his fists. When he hit me I
would sometimes hit the wall or the
o
floor or whate
"He would
dows, put h
things in the h
SHE SAID
him to his fan
eventually th
want to be1
didn't know w
Police advi
the judge who
said. She trie
was unavaila
her that "mo
beatings
ever. leave everything they have behind and
put his fist through win- go to other states," she testified.
oles in the walls, break She magle trips to probate court and
iouse." the prosecuting attorney's office to ob-
she sometimes ran from tain a warrant for her ex-husband's
mily's home next door, but arrest, but "they wouldn't do
ey told," he ey "didn't anything," she said. "I just felt like I
bothered," she said. "I was alone and no matter what I did it
vhere else to go." wasn't any help. I don't like to take my
sed her to seek help from problems to other people .. .
o granted her divorce, she "I don't think that I could made
ed to see the judge but he anyone understand how much I've been
ble, and his secretary told through or how much I've been hurt."
st women like me have to
Carterpulls U.S. out of ILO
mWomm
Congress can vote to
extend ERA deadline
WASHINGTON (AP)-Congress has
the authority to extend the deadline for
states to ratify the Equal RightstAmen-
dment (ERA), Assistant U.S. Attorney
Genral John Harmon said yesterday.
Thirty-five states have ratified the
ERA since Congress passed it in 1972.
Three more states are needed.
Unless Congress extends the deadline
or three more states ratify the amen-
dment by March 22, 1979, it will die.
The assistant attorney general
testified at a hearing on whether
Congress shouldhextend the deadline
another seven years. He said Congress
could change the time deadline for the
ERA by a simple majority vote because
the limit was not contained in the
proposed amendment, only in the
resolution sending the amendement to
the states. 10
Regarding attempts by Tennessee,
Idaho and Nebraska to withdraw
ratification by their state legislatures,
Harmon says that states can only ratity
amendments and cannot change their
mind once the action is taken.
The first hearing on extending the
deadlinewas before thedHouse
Judiciary subcommittee on civil and
constitutional rights. The hearing room
was crowded, with women and men
wearing "Stop ERA" buttons or hat-
bands. Some passed out bright pink
flyers criticizing the upcoming
National Women's Conference in
Houston, saying it would be a gathering
of "women's libbers, homosexuals and
abortionists."
Rep. Robert McClory (R-Ill.) said he
favors the ERA but he thinks an attem-
pt to extend the deadline "is the worst
strategy I ever heard of."
Harmon said Congress could tell
states such as Illinois that the next time
it votes on the ERA that a majority vote
will be considered sufficient for
ratification, despite a state
requirement of a two-thirds vote.
(Continued from Page 1)
ism. In 1975, the Palestine Liberation
Organization got ILO observer sta-
tus.
The AFL-CIO walked out and said
it would boycott the ILO even if the
U.S. government remained. The
Chamber of Commerce also was
committed to U.S. withdrawal. It
warned Carter in a letter Oct. 3
against any attempt to try to go it-
alone in the ILO.
In Geneva, ILO Leaders said they
expect "voluntary contributions" to
forestall budget cutbacks it faces
when the United States quits.
Carter's decision will weaken the
ILO. The U.S. contribution to the ILO
has been $20 million a year, about
one-fourth of its budget. -
SOME diplomats, including some
of Carter's own top foreign policy
advisers, say it might weaken the
United Nations as a whole. "It
reminds me of the 1930s when the
German pullout marked the begin-
ning of the end of the League of
,Nations," said a European diplomat
in Geneva, where the ILO has its
headquarters.
"It's a stupid decision," declared a
West European diplomat at the
United Nations in New York.
Carter countered: "This decision, I
think, is the right decision." He made
the statement during a photo session
in the Oval Office.
THE PRESIDENT'S decision rep-
resents a victory for business and
labor over diplomats in administra-
tion councils. The AFL-CIO and the
U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which
are the labor and industry represen-
tatives in the U.S. delegation to the
ILO, favor pulling out. The State
Department, on the other hand,
wanted to stay in.
AFL-CIO President G e o r g e
Meniy,~who told reporters about Car'-
ter's decision before it was an-
nounced, said he was not particularly
pleased that it had to be made. But he
said it will have no practical effect on
the United States.
"I hope that somewhere down the
road things will change so that we
can get back in," Meany said.
THE PRESIDENT reaffirmed his
support for the United Nations in his
annual report to Congress on this
country's participation in U.N. activ-
ities. "I have pledged my adminis-
tration to full support for the work of
the United Nations," Carter said.
But he added: "The U.N.'s record
with respect to human rights was
disappointing in 1976.
"The unwarranted linking of Zion-
ism with racism was an impediment
to serious consideration of human
rights matters and the United States
continued to resist it by all possible
means," Carter said. "In a number
of cases, failure to take effective
action belied the commitment to
human rights that all U.N. Members
have accepted."-
Carter praised the United Nations
for serving "as a valuable forum for
the discussion of political disputs
even where progress on the underly-
ing issues was not always possible."
IN LEAVING the ILO, Carter
decided not to lift a notice of
withdrawal filed two years ago by the
Gerald Ford administration. Henry.
Kissinger, then secretary of state,
said there was "disregard of due pro-
cess" in ILO proceedings, a "selec-
tive concern for human rights" and
an "erosion of tripartite representa-
tion.
Zbigniew Brzezinski, Carter's na-
tional security adviser, and Secre-
tarty of State Cyrus Vance had urged
extension of the United States' 43
years of ILO membership for another
year to give West European allies
time to try to make changes in the
ILO. Both advisers were concerned
that withdrawing might weaken the
U.N. structure and leave the Kremlin
in charge, with the West Europeans
on the defensive.
But the AFL-CIO, the Labor De-
partment and the Chamber of Com
merce told Carter the ILO no longer
serves its original purpose.
When the U.S. pullout was an-
nounced, the Chamber of Commerce
called it "the only logical decision.'
i
Carter approves 35c
minimum wage hike
(Continued from Page1)
Congress approved the new mini-
mun wage law Oct. 20, despite heavy
opposition from conservatives and
business. Opponents argued that tiie
increase would contribute to inflation
and put thousands of people out of
work. But the administration, aided
by labor, civil rights and other
groups, successfully argued that the
higher wage was needed to lift
millions of workers out of poverty.
Sen. Jacob Javist (R-N.Y.), called
the legislation a "triumph of biparti-
sanship and cooperation between the
executive branch and Congress."
Sen. Harrison P. Williams Jr. (D-
N.J.), said, "It is a great day for the
GET MOVING,
AMERICA!
people on the lowest rung of our econ-
omic ladder."
While the new law represents a
victory for labor and the administra-
tion, it wasn't a total triumph.
Congress knocked out a provision
sought by labor and the administra-
tion that would have made future
increases automatic.
The new law increases the number
of small businesses exempted from
the minimum wage law. Now, busi-
nesses with less than $250,000 in
annual gross sales are exempt. This
will rise to $362,000 by Dec. 31, 1982,
removing some 850,000 workers from
minimum wage coverage.
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IN THE POWER CENTER
FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS
ATheI
Company
in
Nov. 11 & 12
Chapeau
by Alfred Uhry & Robert Waldmar
A Musical Based Upon Eugene Labiche'
Italian Straw Hat
Nov. 13 mat. & eve
MO'I/R
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3:00 p.m. FRIDAY, nov. 4
PENDLETON ROOM 2nd floor UNION
HUMAN RIGHTS&
REPRESSION IN CHILE
Impact of Student and Union Organizations
6 Chilean refugees, among the few admitted to the United States, Union