When the gasoline fire in the living room was finally put out, it was found that Mrs. Udine Harp's body had not been destroyed, and an examination disclosed numerous bullet wounds. County police in Boise City, Okla., soon learned from 14-year-old Bruce, one of her three sons, that he had seen a rug-cleaning salesman on the front porch shortly before the fire. An itinerant was picked up on suspicion of being the salesman, but the investigation continued. The husband, Lester Harp, was brought to the district attorney's office for further questioning, and eventually the three Harp boys were also brought in. To clear up some points, Assistant District Attorney Loys Criswell asked if the three would mind taking a lie-detector test. Before they answered, their father took them aside for a family consultation and returned with some surprising news: "Bruce wants to tell you something."
Bruce then blurted out that he had shot his mother accidentally with a .22-cal. rifle. Reloading the rifle one cartridge at a time, he had continued to pump bullets into his mother "to put her out of her misery." He next shot her dog, then doused the couch and her body in gasoline and touched off the fire. The confession came as a complete surprise to Criswell, who said later that he had never even suspected the 14-year-old.
Finger of Suspicion. Criswell was in for another surprise. Because he had not suspected Bruce, he had not warned him of his rights to silence and counsel under the U.S. Supreme Court's Miranda decision. As a result, after one day of a nonjury trial last week, Judge Merle Lansden reluctantly barred the boy's confession and found him not guilty. "Before a confession is to be accepted when a person is in custody or his freedom of action is limited in any significant manner, he must be warned," said the judge. Mention of "the words lie detector" indicated "that the finger of suspicion was moving toward Bruce."
Though Bruce cannot be tried again on the murder charge, Criswell said he would appeal the ruling in order to challenge the judge's interpretation of the juvenile's rights. "It's the worst miscarriage of justice I've ever seen," said the angry prosecutor. "The boy hadn't even been arrested. And his father was there. This is ridiculous. It means we have open season on mothers up here." If Judge Lansden's barring of the confession is overruled, it will hardly make any difference to Bruce, who has been committed to a state mental hospital by his father. Criswell, however, says that if he wins the appeal, he may retry the boy, this time on an arson charge.
LAW SCHOOLS
From the Bottom of Nothing
At 81, Hugo Black does not often give public speeches, but even a nippy November wind did not dissuade the senior Supreme Court justice from dedicating a new $2,750,000 addition to the University of Georgia Law School. "This law school," said Black, "is preparing itself to send out graduates with visions wide enough to become real leaders of high-minded men."