The two police decoys took lie detector tests administered by Dr. Richard Raskin of the University of Utah. Raskin--a big man in lie detection who was ready to testify for the defense in the Patty Hearst trial until her defense discovered California doesn't accept lie detector tests as evidence even from Raskin--found that both decoys were telling the truth about the Howe incident.

Still, Howe kept his counsel, though his poll ratings dropped steadily. Mormon Church leaders issued a statement regretting the "embarassment" caused the church by the whole incident. And the rumors started flowing.

One story said that Howe had been called home from a mission and excommunicated from the Mormon Church because he had been playing around with a woman in violation of the church's strict rules about missionary behavior. Howe's secretary in his Salt Lake congressional office said Monday that he was in fact excommunicated "a long time ago," but termed the idea that he had been called back from a mission "ridiculous." She refused to detail Howe's offense, but emphasized that he has since been reinstated in the church and holds several church offices.

Another report suggested that Elizabeth Ray named Howe in her revelations of congressional improprieties. Most people who heard that rumor just laughed and referred to Howe's statement several days before his arrest that Utahns need not worry about their congressional delegation as regards the Washington sex scandals. "An elected official's public and private standards should be equally high," Howe had told his constituency reassuringly.

Howe consistently refused to respond to the rumors, or anything else connected with the case. He told the electorate that he did not consider it appropriate to comment before the trial, but promised to tell his story in court.

The trial came, the prosecution presented its case. And the congressman offered no defense. To no one's great surprise the four-man jury found him guilty.

After the trial, Howe's attorney explained that in Utah a defendant is entitled to an automatic appeal to District Court and a trial with an eight-man jury. The attorney said Howe could not have received a fair trial in City Court and hence decided to wait until District Court to present his case.

Howe's attorney is also his campaign manager now, because Howe's first campaign manager resigned shortly after the arrest. But the decision to remain silent in city court was politically disastrous. Most of the rest of his campaign staff resigned. "I quit because I knew he couldn't be elected and I didn't want to waste my time," one ex-staffer said. "My decision was not based on whether or not he was guilty. The way he's handled it is the problem; he's said one thing and done another."

Another former staffer said that while he admires Howe, he doubts the congressman was framed. "I just don't see a conspiracy of that sort," he said.

Democrats from all around the state called upon Howe to withdraw before he damaged the chances of the rest of the ticket. The party discussed ways to get another name on the ballot, but was stymied--the state convention had already been held and Howe was unopposed for the nomination. Because Utah law prohibits write-in votes in primary elections, Howe's name would not even be listed. Several Democrats offered their names as alternatives, but none was well-known enough to win a write-in campaign in the general election. Wayne Owens, who gave up the seat now held by Howe when he ran unsuccessfully for the Senate in 1974, was unavailable for the job: he is running a mission for the Mormon Church.

Four weeks after the first trial, the second trial started. This time the prosecution presented another witness, Howe's former campaign manager. He testified that immediately following his arrest Howe was worried that the police had a tape recording of the incident. (One reporter had seen the transcript of the conversation as recounted by one of the decoys and had misread a notation at the top. He reported that there was a tape of the encounter.) When Howe found that there was not a recording of the conversation, he told the campaign manager that he was going to stay in the race.

At the second trial Howe took the stand in his own defense. He said he had been attending the county convention at the Terrace Ballroom, about six blocks from where he was arrested. A "Chicano" approached him, (though Howe can't remember his name), introduced himself, and invited Howe to a party where the congressman could pick up some votes and maybe raise a little money. The man told Howe to go to that corner of West Second South where a car would meet him and lead him to the party.

Howe says he went to the corner and pulled up next to the parked car. They exchanged greetings and Howe told the women he was looking for a party. After some brief conversation Howe realized that the women were not the people who were supposed to meet him. He told them he thought they looked familiar and wondered if they were police decoys. (Salt Lake's decoy program had been well-publicized for years.) The women denied that they were decoys until one recognized Howe as her congressman. She said that the two of them worked as airport security guards during the day and that she had seen Howe at the airport.

They conversed for a few more minutes. Howe admitted that he was curious about their jobs as decoys and questioned them to find out what sort of things men said to them. The women finally said that Howe had blown their cover and that they were going to leave. Howe said that he friends evidently weren't going to show up and that he was going to go home, too. He testified that he drove toward a freeway entrance, but was arrested before he could reach it.

The jury was confronted with conflicting testimony: either Howe or the two decoys was lying. They took 22 minutes to find Howe guilty.