PROSECUTOR SETS STAGE IN MEYER MURDER TRIAL

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP75-00149R000500240032-9
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 15, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 5, 2004
• Sequence Number: 32
• Publication Date: July 20, 1965
• Content Type: NSPR

WASHINGTON STAR
Approved For ReI ks22040i' /10 :!CIA-
in Meyer Murder Trial
Prosecutor Sets Sage
ByWILLIAM BASIIAM chest, severing the aorta, he
The government today'opened
its case in U.S. District Court
against Ray Crump Jr., charged
with first-degree murder in the
shooting last Oct. 12 of Mary
Pinchot Meyer.
Assistant U.S. Att. Alfred
Hantman took 38 minutes for
this opening statement and set
,the scene of the murder on the
Chesapeake & Ohio Canal
towpath, where Mrs, Meyer was
found dead of'two bullet wounds
`inflicted by. a .38-caliber pistol.
Hantman said it was a "classic
textbook case In circumstantial
evip,"
Crump, 26, of the 1900 block of
Stanton Terrace SE, listened as
Hantman spoke what he said
were the last words shouted by
Mrs. Meyer before she . was
,shot: "God, somebody help
me,"
i Addressing Judge Howard F.
'Corcoran and a. jury of seven
Mrs. Meyer, a niece of the'
late Gifford Pinchot, the noted;
conservationist and Governor of,
Pennsylvania, was in the nighi
noon of her lifetime when death
struck viciously and violently,"
Hjantman 'said. Her body was
found less than a mile west of;
Key Bridge.
The government attorney said
two men working on a disabled
car on Canal Road above the
towpath heard the screams and,
the shooting. He said one of the,
witnesses later identified Crump;
as the man seen standing over:
the victim's body immediately
.after the second shot was fired.'
Hantman said the witness,
couldn't identify a dark object
in Crump's hand. The murder,,]
gun was never found.
Hantman ripped into! Crump's!
claim at the time of the murder';;,
that he had been fishing nearby'
'and had slipped into the Poto-
mae River. ;He was arrested''
les than on hour after the!
women and five men, Hantman
said the 43-year-old victim, who
`lived , at 1623 34th St. NW,
,suffered the shock of being shot
in the head, but rbmaimng
conscious.
murder and was soaking wet.'. ,
The prosecutor said that more;
than one witness could identify;
the plaid cap and tan jacket he
claimed Crump threw away as
he fled from the scene. He
Tree With Blood Promised
Hantman said she was first
shot in the head near the left
ar about 12;23 D.M. He said
e
she grabbed her head, then held
'on to a tree.
"We will bring that tree into
,the courtroom with blood on it,"
;he added with emotion.
The prosecutor said Mrs,
er fought her assailant after
Me
y
the shot, and resisted being
pulled down the embankment.
She ran back across the tow-
path toward the canal when the
unman, fired a seeandi: bullet
uti It;harback, ally throw.Ulle her.
added that police blocked offs
the area mhlutes after the:
murder and that the only logical';
route of escape was the river.!
He also hit at Orump's claim'`
that he Clad fallen asleep and,
that his fishing gear must Navel
fallen into the river. No, gear,
was over found. .
Mrs. Dovey.. Roundtree
Crump's defense attorney;'. told;
Judge Corcoran that she would,
withhold her opening remarks'
until ?.later in the trial, Govern
ment witnesses were: to- begin
toda_Y,
their testimony.
Apprpved For Release 2004/02/10 CIA-RDP75-00149R000500240032L9;