MENTAL LAPSE.
Defence in Honolulu Murder Trial. CASE NEARLY FINISHED. (Received 10.30 a.m.) HONOLULU, April 19. The trial was continued of Mrs. Fortescue, her son-in-law, Lieutenant T. H. Massie, of the United States Navy, and two bluejackets, E. J. Lord and Albert 0. Jones, on a joint charge of kidnapping and murdering a native, Joe Kahahawai. Under cross-examination Lieutenant Massie said he had been told by others tliat after the killing of Kahahawai he had stood "like a bump on a log" unable to speak. Jones told him he had acted like a fool. These, and other details revealed, completed the story of the killing under a mental lapse while attempting to extract a confession of the assault upon Mrs. Massie. The case for the defence is now almost finished, except for the possible evidence of alienists in, the hope of providing the jury with a legal excuse for acquitting the accused, on the basis already prepared, bv arousing sympathy. Dr. Thomas Orbison, a Los Angeles psychiatrist, testified that Lieutenant Massie was temporarily insane when he shot Kahahawai. Mrs. Massie will probably take the witness stand on Wednesday.
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Bibliographic details
Auckland Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 93, 20 April 1932, Page 7
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188MENTAL LAPSE. Auckland Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 93, 20 April 1932, Page 7
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