Page 6-Tuesday, May 9, 1978-The Michigan Daily
LAWYER NEGLIGENT,,JUSTICES SA Y
Corona convictions overturned
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Juan
Corona's convictions for the machete
murders of 25 farm workers was over-
turned yesterday on the ground that his
lawyer, who had the rights to Corona's
life story, had not worked hard enough
on the defense.
Attorney Richard Hawk was "forced
to choose between his own pocketbook
and the best interests of his client," the
decision said.
HOWEVER, THE state Court of Ap-
peal added, the evidence proving
Corona's guilt "was overwhelming."
"Trial counsel in gross neglect of his
basic duty, failed to conduct the
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requisite factual and legal investigation
in an effort to develop fundamental
defenses available for his client and, as
a result of his neglect, crucial defenses
were withdrawn from the case," the
three justices said.
The court ordered the case back to
Sutter County Superior Court, where
Corona was found guilty in 1973 of
slashing 25 farm workers to death with
a machete and burying their bodies in
shallow graves in orchards near Yuba
City.
CORONA, WHO supplied farm
workers for growers in the Feather an
Yuba River valleys about 100 miles nor-
th of here, was convicted of 25 counts of
first degree murder. He is servinga life
sentence at Soledad State Prison.
Corona had claimed during a hearing
in April of 1977 that Hawk was more in-
terested in cashing in on the case's
notoriety than in providing Corona with
an adequate defense.
The appellate decision noted that in
exchange for his legal services, Hawk
was granted exclusive literary proper-
ty rights to Corona's life story.
A HAWK ASSISTANT, Ed Gray,
wrote a book on the case. Gray sat at
the counsel table during the trial.
Three months before the start of the
trial, Hawk had declared, "Juan's mind
is as good as mine," when a judge ex-
pressed concern about Corona's mental
condition.
A few months after the completion of
the trial, MacMillan Publishing Co.
released the Cray book, entitled "Bur-
den of Proof - The Case of Juan
Corona." The book was supplemented
by an afterword by Hawk.
"BASED UPON THE foregoing facts,
appellant claims that a pervasive and
inherent conflict of interest was created
between himself and his trial attorney
which compromised trial counsel's
ability to provide an adequate legal
representation in the case," the opinion
said.
The decision also said the trial court
erroneously ruled during a 1972 hearing
that it would be improper to call wit-
nesses to dispute the accuracy of af-
fidavits supporting search warrants in
the case.
CIA made
NEW YORK (AP) - The CIA worked
closely with South Africa in trying to
wage a secret war in Angola two years
ago "and therefore helped legitimize
the presence of large Cuban forces in
Africa," a former CIA official says in a
new book about the agency.
John Stockwell, a 12-year CIA
veteran whose book "In Search of
Enemies" was published by W.W. Nor-
ton in New York on Monday - without
CIA clearance - told a news conferen-
ce that the agency recruited two mer-
cenary forces during the Angolan-war
and supported a third, keeping the ex-
tent of the operation "even from the
committees set up to oversee covert
CIA activities."
HE SAYS THAT negates U.S.
criticism of Cuba, which sent forces to
help the other side in Angola's civil
war.
secret war
The CIA-South Africa connection in-
cluded agency operatives meeting with
South African generals, providing in-
telligence information, and assisting in
ferrying arms to countries neighboring
Angola for shipment into the war zone,
Stockwell claimed.
Stockwell said he commanded the
CIA's Angola task force in the agency's
headquarters in 1975 and 1976 before
resigning. He said the CIA - initially
without the knowledge of Congress, the
State Department or the White House -
used Americans as military advisers in
Angola.
THE CIA also regularly fed infor-
mation - "some ludicrous, the rest just
biased" - to New York representatives
of the two Angola factions supported by
the United States. "They in turn fed this
information to the local press," Stock-
well said.
A CIA spokesman, Lavon Strong, said
the agency had no comment on Stock-
well's allegations.
Stockwell said he telephoned the chief
of the CIA, Adm. Stansfield Turner, on
in Angola
Sunday to explain to him that his
motives in writing the book "were those
of a loyal American."
STOCKWELL QUOTED Turner as
telling him, "We can't have a situation
where 205 million Americans all know
our national security secrets."
A previous book written about the
CIA without prior clearance, "Decent
Interval" by Frank Snepp, has led to a
civil damages suit filed against the
author by the Justice Department.
In his book, Stockwell asserted that
CIA funds were spent freely and
estimated that about $500,000 was spent
to send 20 Frenchmen to Angola under
contract for five months. "They fought
for one month, and then fled and we
never got our money back," he said.
He also asserted that President
Mobuto Sese Seko of Zaire received $2
million from the CIA, of which $1.4
million was supposed to be given to the
two Angola factions friendly to the
west. Instead, he said "the money was
stolen by Mobuto."
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TH E COU NTRY
G ENTLEMEN
U.S., Soviets end
seeond round of talks
I
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N.Y. Times
DON RENO
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SUNDAY, MAY 14-2:00
Tickets: $6.50, $5.50, $4.50, $3.00
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ORDER BY PHONE: 963-7680
BOX OFFICE OPENS AT NOON DAY OF SHOW
Tickets also at Peaches Records, Strings 'n' Things in B'am, Paul Webb Records in Ypsi,
WSU Bookstore, Oakland Univ. Student Center.
3 locks off 1-75 S . Paring Lots Cocktail Lounge
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HELSINKI, Finland (AP) - The
United States and the Soviet Union en-
ded in utmost secrecy yesterday the
second round of talks aimed at curbing
international arms trade. No final joint
communique was issued.
The conference began last Thursday
with U.S. and Soviet delegations
meeting four times behind closed doors
over the weekend, twice in each em-
bassy here, according to a U.S. Em-
bassy spokesman.
A FINAL three-hour session was held
RODENTS DESTROY
CROPS IN ASIA
RICHMOND, Va. (AP)-Each year
Asian countries lose 33 million tons of
food to rodents, according to a recent
issue of CCF World News, published
here by the Christian Children's Fund.
Twenty percent of Asian harvests are
eaten up or are ruined each year by
rodents while crops are still standing.
Both India and the Philippines have
begun control programs to stop the
damage, and organizations such as
CCF have initiated nutrition programs,
the publication reports.
in the U.S. Embassy Monday. The first
round of talks took place in Washington
last December.
"Any comment on these talks will
come through Washington and
Moscow," the spokesman said.
Before the two delegations began
meeting, the main negotiators
promised a statement on the progress
of their talks. But the spokesman said
no communique would be forthcoming
from the Helsinki meeting.
THE U.S. delegation was headed by
Leslie Gelb, director of the Bureau of
Political-Military Affairs in the U.S.
State Department. His Soviet counter-
part was roving Ambassador Lev Men-
delevich.
According'to latest estimates, the
United States and Soviet Union account
for about 70 per cent of the arms trade
around the world, but both negotiators
indicated before the start of the second
round that more countries should be in-
cluded in the talks.
Gelbsaidhe had discussed the matter
with "several West European coun-
tries" this year but did not disclose
their response.
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