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tuesday, October 16, 1979
lincoln nebraska vol. 103 no. 35
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U.S. Supreme Court
refuses Nebraska case
By Kathryn Haugstatter
The U.S. Supreme Court Monday
refused to hear a case contesting the
constitutionality of a new amendment
to the Nebraska state constitution,
.Article one, section nine of the
constitution permits denial of bail on
charges of first degree sexual assault
when proof is eviden or presumption of
guilt is great,
Acceptance by four of the nine
justices is necessary for a case to be
heard before the Supreme Court. Only
thrte, Thurgood Marshall, William
Brennan and Harry Blackmun, agreed to
hear it, -
The appeal stemmed from Parker vs,
Roth, in which Terry Parker of Omaha
was suing Richard Roth, sheriff of
Douglas County, Parker had been
of first degree sexual assault and was
held without bail for 77 days by the
sheriffs office.
The Nebraska State Supreme Court
heard the case earlier this year, It
upheld the denial of bail and the
constitutionality of the amendment,
Bennett Hornstein, chief of the
appeals division of the Douglas County
Public Defender's Office, appealed the
case to the U.S. Supreme Court,.
In the meantime, Hornstein said, a
problem with the evidence arose, There
was doubt that the victim would testify ,
so Parker was allowed to plead guilty to
third degree sexual assault, a misde
meaner, Hornstein said.
SINCr "THE AMENDMENT Only
covers first degree sexual assault,
Hornstein said, this meant that the
Parker case was no longer a good test
case. ' ' '
Hornstein said his office still intends
to contest the amendment. He said the
Douglas County Public Defenders office
has the biggest "criminal defense practice
in the state, so it has the best chance of
getting another case to bring before the
court,
The circumstances of this case would
have to be similar to the Parker case in
that there should be no dispute over
guilt, Hornstein said, since the denial of
bail rests on the presumption of guilt.
He said since the state supreme court
had ruled the amendment constitution
al, the next case would go directly to
the federal courts.
Hornstein said he was surprised that
Justice Blackmun had agreed to hear the
case since, he said, Blackmun was one of
the most conservative justices on the
Supreme Court,
THE AMENDMENT BEGAN as LB
533 during the 1978 legislative session,
It was sponsored by Herb Duis, the
former senator from district 39,
When it appeared on the ballot last
November, the voters passed it 355, 949
to 79, 179.
Duis said he originated the bill
because of two cases of rape and murder
that occurred in his district,
"I hoped it would be effective in
deterring one of the most horrible
crimes there is. It's worse than murder
in some ways. There is a horrifying
" aftermath for the girl involved," Duis
said.
' He "said the amendment has been
found constitutional by the state courts,
so the only avenue the opposition has is
to go to the federal courts.
IF THE U.S. SUPREME Court has
turned it down, he said, then they think
there is no reason to hear the case ancj it
i will have to be dropped, '( '
'Tm not a crusader," Dujs said, "J
just want to be sure 'tfiese' 'girls "liavV
something that works as a deterrent,"
According to Marilyn Kumm,
statistical analyst for the Nebraska1
Commission on Law Enforcement and
Criminal Justice, there were 120
reported cases of forcible rape in
Nebraska from January t June 1978.
From, January to June 1979, (luring
the time the amendment has been in
effect, Kumm said there were 126
reported cases.
Kumm said all crimes have increased
in Nebraska in the first six months pf
this year,
No verdict in Simants case
By Val Swinto'n
The jury in the Erwin Charles Simants
murder trial failed to reach a verdict after
three hours of deliberation yesterday, and
returned to Lancaster County Court at 8
a.m. today.
The jury got the case shortly after 2
p.m. yesterday. The jury has five verdicts
to choose from: guilty of first degree
murder, second degree murder, man
slaughter, innocent by reason of insanity or
innocent.
Erwin Charles Simants was a man with
sexual hangups and the murders of six
members of a Sutherland family began as
an attempt to have sex with a young girl,
according to the prosecutor, in Simants'
trial. - '
Marvin Holscher, Lincoln County chief
deputy attorney, said that Simants feared
women; "so the next best thing was a
young girl,"
Simants was arrested Oct. 19, 1975, the
day after six members of a family who
lived next door to him were found shot in
their heads.
James Henry Kellie, his wife, Audrey,
57, his son, David, 32, and three grand
children, Florence, 10; Daniel Leroy, 5;
and Deanna Lynn, 7, were found shot -in
the head at the Kellie home on Oct. 18,
1975.
Mrs. Kellie and the two girls had been
sexually molested,
The defense had contended that
Simants had intended to take his own life,
but suffered a 'psychotic break," , and
killed the Kellies instead. , '
.Instead, - Holscher - said, Simants -went
next door with the intent of having sex
with one of the girls. He took a loaded
caliber rifle, Holscher told the jury, in case
the girl refused to cooperate.
"Then Henry walked in," Holscher said,
asking the jury to try and imagine the fear
. Kellie must have felt when Kellie saw what
, Simants had done to his granddaughter,
Kellie was shot in the head by Simants,
Holscher said. "Each person who walked
through that door is another threat to
him," Holscher said, telling the jury
Simants shot them all to conceal the crime..
There has hot been any question that
Simants committed the murders. The issue
during the eight-day trial has been his
sanity at the time the murders .were
committed.
Holscher said Simants' conduct before,
during and after the murders was that of a
rational man. ,
The prosecutor said that an hour and
half before the murders, Simants worried .
how he would get to a new job when he
had no drivers license. ,
That, said Holscher, was the act of a
perfectly rational man. .
"This was something the -defendant
volunteered on a night when he was sup
posed to be' stark raving crazy," Holscher
said.
After the murders, Holscher said,
Simants continued to prove he was sane.
The attorney said he hid in bushes behind
the Kellie house, wiped blood off the floor
and told his nephew, who he lived with,
that he had committed the murders and
then named each victim.
But defense attorney David Schroeder
said Simants had left his home with the in
tent of committing suicide. The emotional
pressures on Simants had been building,
Schroeder said.
The birthday of Simants' infant
daughter, who had died several years
earlier, was just four days away, Schroeder
said Simants was obsessed with his
daughter's death; that Simants said once
' that he was afraid of going to the cemetery
because he might not be able to stop him
self ftom digging up his daughter's body.
He felt a need to hold the girl,
Schroeder said.
Simants also believed he was going to
die before his 30th birthday, Schroeder
saidr His -30th birthday was less; than a
month after the murders.
The defense attorney said Simants'
family background and low IQ contributed
to his insanity.
"There is no dispute that this is a dumb
individual," Schroeder said, adding that
' Simants' IQ was 75 or 76; borderline on
mentally retarded. ... ' '
- He came from an impoverished family,
Schroeder said. "His needs were just not
satisfied in the development stages."
The death of his daughter and brother
contributed to his mental condition,
according to Schroeder,
And- the murders themselves pointed to
an insane person, Schroeder told the jury.
Continued on Page 6
-(.... f
market
Wobbly stock
By Wayde Wrich
This month marks the 50th anniversary of the Stock
Market crash of 1929. This anniversary, along with last
weeks' 6 percent decline in the Dow Jones average, has
brought fears of another depression in the next decade,
Fred D, Kalkstein, economist at Elkins, Stoud, Suplee
& Co., said in Monday's Wall Street Journal that last
week's'decline is likely to be just the beginning of a larger
decline,
Lynn Roper, a broker at Merrill, Lynch, Pierce, Fenner
& Smith Inc., said most of the fears about the future are
psychological. v .
"There are many opportunities for investment. The
stock market has been able to absorb many shock waves
like the Arab oil embargo in 1973," Roper said.
Roper also said that because of the laws made in the
1930s, a mass sell-out could not occur again as it did in
929 '
On Oct. 24, 1929, known as "Black Thursday," stocks
on the New York Stock Exchange dropped significantly,
causing the largest sell-out in United States history,
In the following months the nation's economy took a
sharp downturn with unemployment rising to 25 percent,
many banks closing, and a big drop in industrial product-
"vVhat followed was the largest and longest depression in
Before the crash, government regulation was limited.
The stock market, banks, and industry practically were
free to do what they pleased.
In the 1930s, many bills were passed to regulate the
economy and safeguard against another crash. .
The Securities Exchange Act of 1934 allowed
government to oversee the stock exchange and formed the
Securities and Exchange Commission allowing the
stirs memories of Black Thursday
government to police investment markets.
The Glass-Seagull Act of 1933 was the most restrictive
and wide-ranging law of the, depression era. Jt separated
commercial banking, involved in taking deposits and
giving loans,' from investment banking, which is
underwriting and dealing with securities; The law also
created the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation which
insures deposits up to $40,000.
Recently, economists have been looking at the
Kondratyev Wave theory. Nikolai Kondratyev, a Russian
economist of the 1920s, theorized that business activity in
major western nations follows a rhythmic wave pattern
over long periods lasting about fifty years.
Jay W. Forrester, an economist professor at the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, said in Technology
Review that tests with a computer model of the nation's
economy clearly confirm the existence of a long-term (45
to 60 year) cycle in the economy.
The Wall Street Journal said the likely reaso'n for the
sudden Interest in the Kondratyev cycle is the growing
uneasiness about the general economic outlook, for
reasons ranging from torrid inflation to a sagging stock
market.
"Whether you buy Kondratyev or not," said a Chase
Manhattan Bank analyst in the Wall Street Journal, "it's
unnerving that, on top o aJl the other uncertainties, we
happen to be around the point when tjie wave is
scheduled to break and the long, deep slump sets in."
Roper, said the biggest problem is the foreign effects
on the economy. "Our big problem right now is the cost
of Arab oil and it's drain on our economy," she said.
The Wall Street Journal said that nobody can say for
sure whether the 50 year cycle really exists but, with the
wide-spread concern over the business outlook, the views
of analysts who believe in the Kondratyev Wave can
hardly be ignored.
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