JURY FINDS GUILTY ON JUDGE ASSURING NO DEATH PENALTY

Manawatu Times, Volume LIII, Issue 6632, 11 June 1928, Page 7

JURY FINDS GUILTY ON JUDGE ASSURING NO DEATH PENALTY

Mestorino Gets Life— Probably at Deni’s I. MURDERER RELIEVED .—WIPE ATTEMPTS LIFE United Press Association—By Electrii Telegraph.—Copyright Received Sunday, 5.5 p.m. PARIS, June S. Sensationalism attended the trial of Mestorino, the jeweller, ou a charge of murdering a traveller named Truphemc, whoso body was found burned on the wayside. The jury returned a verdict of guilty under extenuating circumstances, and a sentence of imprisonment with hard labour for life, probably on Devil’s Island, was imposed. When the jury were retiring, Mestorino throw up his arms and jeered; “Mercy!" and again went into a dead faint. The jury called the Judge to the room for an assurance that the death sentence would not be imposed in the event of extenuating circumstances being found. The Trupheme family were also awarded £IOOO. < After the verdict had been delivered, the Judge issued a warrant for the arrest of one Charnaux on a charge of aiding in the concealment of the body and receiving stolon jewels. Charnaux was arrested in tho street and locked up. Mestorino recovered somewhat when ho learned that he had not been sentenced to death. His wife, on hearing the sentence, attempted to commit suicide by poison. She was sent to hospital, and is now recovering. • A message received in March stated that Mestorino, after being questioned by tho police for 20 hours, confessed to tho murder. He said that Trupheme demanded money, and they had a violent quarrel, in the course of which Truphemo was floored and hit his head on the corner of the table. When he recovered consciousness he shouted “Help!" Mestorino lost his head and suffocated him, stufliing a wad of cotton into his mouth. He tied up tho body, drove out in a car, and burned It. Then he returned to Paris and continued his business. A large part of the jewels were recovered. Mestorino did them up in two packages, and gave them to his sister-in-law and aunt to keep, neither knowing tho contents.