Word: joans
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...dark-paneled courtroom in Raleigh, N.C., the 21-year-old black defendant testified in a voice that was so low that jurors often had to cup their ears to catch her words. She clutched a tissue but broke down in tears only once. Otherwise, Joan Little remained remarkably self-possessed through two days of painful testimony and crossexamination, sticking stoutly to her story that she had been defending herself from rape when she stabbed white Jailer Clarence Alligood to death with an ice pick in the Beaufort County Jail in Washington...
Weeping Jurors. Joan Little's version of what happened was far different and so affecting that two of the black women jurors wept. According to her story, Alligood came to her cell in search of sex three times between 10 p.m. on Aug. 26 and 3 a.m. on Aug. 27. Rebuffed the first time, he returned with a present of cigarettes and sandwiches. He left, but soon came back. "By then," she testified, "I had changed into my nightgown. He was telling me I really looked nice in my gown, and he wanted to have sex with me." Alligood...
Pointing to the Joan Little trial and the disappearance of Jimmy Hoffa. Gregory punctuated his comedy routines with occasional serious notes concerning the "sick, insane, degenerate society we live...
...Whether Joan had indeed engaged in sex with the jailer, willingly or under force, will be a basic issue at the trial. She claims she successfully fought off the attack. The county medical examiner reported finding what appeared to him to be semen on Alligood's thigh-an inconclusive point, certain to be argued. Joan could not be examined for evidence of rape because she ran out of the jail after the killing, surrendering eight days later with her lawyer...
Book Notes. The verdict apparently will hinge largely on whether the jury is most persuaded by Joan, who may be impressive on the stand, or by the state's circumstantial evidence. The state will stress a note that Joan made in a crossword-puzzle book, which it will contend indicates she intended to escape. The defense will insist that the note referred to her hope for release on bail while appealing her conviction...