KEY TESTIMONY ON LAWLER DEATH EXPECTED IN TRIAL

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000303520007-3
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: July 23, 2010
• Sequence Number: 7
• Publication Date: May 19, 1983
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

STAT
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/07/23: CIA-RDP90-00552R000303520007-3
R I CHM?fOND NEWS LEADER (VA)
19 May 1983
e testimony
on Lawler death
expected in trial
By Jim Mason
N.ws l...d.r ala" rv$
Two weeks ago, lawyers defending
17-year.old John Robert Ballard
called Carl G. Simons, 26, to the wit-
ness stand for questioning about the
beating death of former Richmond
City Councilman J. Edward Lawler,
Simons declined to testify. He told
jurors be was taking his Fifth Amend-
ment right on the advice of his law-
yer. ?
Today, be went on trial in the South
Richmond courtroom of Circuit
Judge William E. Spain and,'from all
pretrial maneuvering, he will offer
some crucial testimony in his defense
against a first-degree murder charge
in.the killing of Lawler.
Pleaded Innocent
As his trial began, Simons, who is
from Powhatan County, pleaded inno-
cent to the murder charge and to
charges of robbery and breaking and
entering Lawler's home at 5011 Riv-
erside Drive the night-of Dec..30.
Lawler, 74, was beaten repeatedly
with bolt-cutters and robbed, and his
body was found the next day in his
kitchen, according to testimony in
Ballard's trial.
After making his pleas, Simons
tried to stop his trial from proceed-
ing. He told Spain a witness be want-
ed was not available to testify. How-
ever, Simons' lawyers told the judge
they had learned of the potential wit-
ness three days ago and decided not to
call the person.
After questioning Simons further,
Spain refused to delay the trial and
screening of the first of 68 prospec-
tive jurors began. Jury selection was
expected to take at least three hours.
In a related development, Ballard,
convicted of first-degree murder in
Lawler's killing, was brought to the
-courthouse. This indicated that the
prosecution intends to call him as a
-witness.
The teen-ager, who faces sentenc-
ing June 16, testified that be acted in
December in duress and fear of Si
inns. Ballard also said Simons kept
telling"him to hit 'Lawler again and
again with the bolt-cutters.
In contrast:, another co-defendant.
Timothy N. Dickenson, 20, testified it
appeared to him that Ballard acted
on his own. However, Dickenson ac-
knowledged that it was Simons who
was "calling the shots" the night of
Lawler's killing. Simons probably
will offer testimony along the lines of
Dickenson's, Simons' testimony in a
pretrial hearing has indicated
Dickenson, of the 200 block Jeffer-
son Village Drive, and Juanita Bal-
lard, 18, of the 400 block LaSalle Ave.,
also entered the courthouse today.
about an hour after deputy sheriff!
escorted Simons inside.
The jury in Simons' trial will have
to decide whom to believe in weigh-
ing the conflicts in the expected testi?
mony.
Testimony in the pretrial hearing
also has pointed to the credibility of a
state police informer pitted against
that of Simons.
The informer, William T. Kirby,
has told of Simons boasting to him as
early as Jan. 3 of having killed
Lawler. Kirby also secretly recorded
Simons bragging about being the kill-
er, according to the pretrial testimo-
my.
Simons denied in the bearing that
be killed Lawler or told Kirby be did
the killing. He also disavowed the
earlier accounts attributed to him
when questioned by Detective James
S. Gaudet Jan. 11.
Shots said given
Simons also said Kirby gave him
shots of amphetamine and heroin be-
fore getting him to talk about
Lawler's killing. Kirby testified be
did not give Simons any drugs.
Arguing that use of the taped con-
versation was proper, Assistant Com-
monwealth's Attorney Warren Von
Schuch said the statements by Simons
contained "elements of truth." -
Spain ruled Monday that a tran-'
script of the taped conversation could
be used as evidence in the prosecu-
tion's case.
Two days have been set aside for
Simons' trial.
Trial dates for Miss Ballard and
Dickenson are to be set June 13.
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/07/23: CIA-RDP90-00552R000303520007-3