Defense attorneys for the 174 people charged with criminal trespass in the occupation of University Hall began their case yesterday in the Middlesex County Third District Court. A decision is expected today.
The attorneys outlined the defense case in three motions for acquittal following the last prosecution witness. Judge M. Edward Viola denied the motions. Three lawyers, each speaking for all the defendants, asked for immediate acquittal on the following grounds:
* That insufficient warning--in accordance with the laws of criminal trespass--was given to the defendants before they were arrested;
* That even if the warning was sufficient, there was not enough time for those inside to leave voluntarily before the police entered;
* That Dean Glimp's bullhorn warning clearly gave the occupiers license to remain in the building for five minutes, and that police moved in before the five minutes had elapsed;
* That the Commonwealth had been unable to establish that the owners of the building had authorized Dean Watson and L. Gard Wiggins, executive vice president of the University, to have the building evacuated;
* That the Commonwealth had been unable to prove that everyone who was charged was actually in the building after Dean Glimp's warning, either by identifying individuals or by demonstrating that three had been "a vice-like chain of proceedings" to insure only those in the building were arrested.
The defense presented 10 witnesses who testified to having seen people taken into custody outside of University Hall and outside the police perimeter around the Hall.
Four members of the press, who were taken into custody and later released, testified that Glimp's 5 a.m. warning was either barely audible or completely inaudible inside the building and that the time between that warning and the entrance of police was under three minutes.
John F. King '70 testified that he saw Jose A. Gomez-Ibanez '70 taken into custody outside the police perimeter near Memorial Church at 5:40 a.m. On cross-examination, prosecutor Edward D. McCarthy asked King why, if Gomez-Ibanez was his friend, he did not follow him to see if he was placed in a police van.
McCarthy interrupted King's answer twice. The student was flustered for a few seconds, regained his composure, and said "because I was being struck by a police officer." The defendants burst into cheers and applause. When it ceased, Viola said "next time that happens, I'll clear the court."
Most of the morning was taken up by the last five prosecution witnesses. They were all police officers who detailed the organization and execution of the raid and booking procedure.
Cambridge police captain Chester E. Hallice, organizer of the raid, continued his testimony from Monday. He said that municipal and Metropolitan District, police arrived at Memorial Hall at 4 a.m. Thursday and were given instructions "to remove certain individuals from University Hall who had gained entrance by force and violence." They were instructed to cordon off an area around University Hall to give the State Police "clear sailing" and to allow anyone to leave the area, but no one to enter it.
Hallice said 200 policemen left Mem Hall at about 4:52 a.m., arrived in the Yard by 4:56 a.m., and proceded to clear the steps of people and set up a perimeter around the building. He said that it was Colonel Murgia of the State Police who instructed Dean Glimp to warn the occupants, and that he himself entered the building by the southeast door with the State Police at 5:02 or 5:03 a.m. Under cross-examination, Hallice said that when he entered the building, police at the southwest entrance were already working on the chain on the door.
Hallice said that when he entered the building he told the occupants that they had been warned and if they did not leave they would be placed under arrest. The only response, he said, was a chant of "we will not move, we will not go." At that point in his testimony, some of the defendants hissed "liar." Hallice said it took about ten minutes to clear University Hall.
