Page 6-Saturday, June 2, 1979--The Michigan Daily GROUP REFUSES TO COOPERA TE IN MURDER TRIAL Cult creates chaos in court PHILADELPHIA (AP)-Damning American justice and denouncing charges they killed a police officer, nine mop-haired members of a radical group called MOVE are making a legal shambles of a courtroom battlefield even before their murder trial formally beings. Since proceedings began this week, they have stridently baited the judge and prosecutor by refusing to cooperate in the trial and by shouting such slogans as "On the Move" and "Long Live John Africa"-founder of the back-to-nature cult. Their rhetoric is often echoed by supporters in the courtroom as they press preliminary motions expected to delay jury selection for several more weeks. THEIR TRIAL attire is not the judicial vogue, and would be banned in anv ntherenurtrnom The men often wear sleeveless undershirts and the women low cut blouses that sometimes expose bosoms-but no admonition comes from the bench. "We are not going to give them a chance to scream they didn't get their day in court, so we'll give them weeks, months, if necessary, tok make sure justice is done," says Assistant District Attorney Wilhelm Knauer. Common Please Judge Charles Mirachi grimaces at the sometimes ob- scene rantings and ravings, but he has kept a tight rein on the action despite the defendants' penchant to make irrelevant speeches while acting as their own lawyers. He has occasionally ordered a defendant removed from the courtroom for refusing to restrain ver- bal outbursts. THE FIVE BLACK men and four black women-each use the surname "Africa" in honor of their founder-are accused of' murdering Patrolman James Ramp, 52, last Aug. 8 as police and firemen broke into MOVE headquarters to end a 15-month siege that had cost the city more than $1.5 million. Two other women, also charged in the killing, were granted separate trials. The defendants have pleaded in- nocent. They have said they do not want a jury trial, but they have refused to give a written or oral waiver. MOVE, WHICH HAS less than 25 known members, nearly all of them black, claims its goatis to overthrow the government and American way of life. The bloody confrontation with police officers and firemen using water can- nons flushed out 12 adults, 11 children, and 22 dogs from a three-story Vic- torian-style house in which they had barricaded themselves. After the bat- tle, bulldozers and a crane were used to level the brick and wood building, which had no indoor plumbing. "We did it so they can't get back in again," Mayor Frank Rizzo said about destroying the house on the edge of the Drexel University campus and seven blocks from the University of Pen- nsylvania in west Philadelphia. - RIZZO, A FORMER policeman, later offered to pull the switch of the electric chair if the MOVE defendants were convicted and sentenced to death. "Too much blood flowed," he said. "But we were dealing with psychotic revolutionaries." Besides Ramp, six other police of- ficers, five firefighters, and two MOVE members were hit by bullets in a battle that investigators claim was triggered by a MOVE member firing through a window of the flooded basement. THE GROUP HAD been cited for violating the city's health and fire codes. It had rejected numerous court orders since 1976 to vacate the barricaded premises where garbage and human waste composted in the backyard, and where their children played nude in the dung piles. For two years, the city sought unsuc- cessfully to negotiate an arrangement that would satisfy complaining neigh- bors and MOVE supporters. "The adversary in this case was an uncivilized foe who we were forced to cope with according to civilized rules," said Rizzo. "THE CITY LEANED over back- wards to demonstrate its restraint and its compassion, especially, because of the children who were involved. But his lawless group chose instead to continue its defiance, its mockery of the rules of law and justice to the end." For a time the city tried a blockade, cutting off food and water. This ended when MOVE agreed in early 1978 to evacuate the premises by the summer. The pre-dawn confrontation followed. The MOVE defendants earlier this year sought to have the murder charges dismissed on grounds that the city's leveling of their headquarters destroyed evidence and denied them any chance to a fair trial. A judge rejec- ted this motion. Now, before testimony can begin, they want Mirachi to grant them more time for meetings in prison after court sessions to map defense strategy. They refuse to consult with court- appointed attorneys, telling Mirachi: "You appointed them, and we don't trust you, so we don't trust them." U.S. rep claims bill to limit police searches should be broadened WASHINGTON (AP) - The head of a key House subcommittee said yester- day he plans to ask the Justice Depar- tment why an administration bill restricting police searches should not be broadened to protect more people. "I would prefer a more balanced bill," said Rep. Robert Kastenmeier (D- Wis.), chairman of the civil liberties subcommittee of the House Judiciary Committee. THE ADMINISTRATION'S bill is a response to a May 31, 1978, ruling of the Supreme Court that the Constitution permits police with search warrants to conduct unannounced raids to obtain evidence from persons not suspected of crimes. The bill would prohibit federal, state, and local law enforcement agents from engaging in such searches directed at the news media or at authors, scholars, and researchers. Because the search which gave'rise to the court decision involved a newsroom, journalists have expressed concern that the decision could inter- fere with newsgathering. A PANEL of journalists who ap- peared before the committee on Thur- sday, however, said the legislation should be broadened to protect the privacy of other citizens as well. Dr. Jerome Beigler, a professor of' psychiatry at the University of Chicago, endorsed this view in testimony yesterday on behalf of the American Psychiatric Association, Biegler said the problem "goes far beyond the press" and threatens, among other things, the confidentiality of psychiatrists' files on their patients. On the other hand Atlantic County, N.J. Prosecutor Richard Williams, speaking for the National District At- torneys Association, said no legislation is needed. But if any is passed, he said, it should be restricted to the press. THE JUSTICE Department has taken the position that its proposal is constitutional because of special First Amendment protection of materials in- tended for publication. But the depar- tment has said it is doubtful the Con- stitution would permit federal restric- tions on state and local searches for other types of material. Terry Adamson, spokesman for At- torney -General Griffin Bell, said yesterday the department was "giving it some further study" but had not changed its position. Kastenmeier said he would probably schedule a hearing in mid-June to receive testimony from the department and then have the subcommittee begin shaping a bill with the aim of House ac- tion this summer.