The prosecution rested its case yesterday in the trial of a man who allegedly threw a fire-bomb at one of the speakers at a Harvard panel discussion on Vietnamese affairs last April.
Neghio Ngo is charged with assault and battery with a dangerous weapon and "possession of an internal machine," for allegedly hurling a Molotov cocktail at Long V. Ngo '68 after the discussion last April 23.
Injuries
Neghio Ngo allegedly hid behind a tree and threw the bomb at the panelist as two Harvard policemen escorted him to his car The bomb shattered, injuring the policemen but leaving Long Ngo and a friend unharmed.
Defense attorney Judd Carhart completed his cross-examination of Long Ngo, questioning his connection with the communist government of Vietnam. In the second day of testimony before the Massachusetts Superior Court Long Ngo testified that while he supported some Vietnamese policies, he was not a supporter of the government.
Harvard policeman Robert King also testified yesterday, saying that he and officer Thomas Simas had to escort Ngo through a large crowd of hostile demonstrators who chanted and yelled obscenities at him as he left the forum.
Demonstrators had interrupted an earlier talk by Long Ngo, William R. Carter--who is a Leverett House tutor and a friend of Long Ngo--said last April.
He also said that after arresting Neghio Ngo, officer Simas found a second Molotov cocktail--a bottle filled with gasoline and stuffed with a cloth wick--near the tree that Ngo hid behind.
Carter, the final witness for the prosecution, described again the events of the evening. He had attended and taped the discussion and had accompanied Ngo to the car.
Carter's testimony drew repeated objections from the defense for his tendency to go beyond the scope of the questions in his answers. At one point, he volunteered that Neghio Ngo wanted to kill Long Ngo. Judge Walter Steele admonished him several times and struck several comments from the record, finally telling Carter to try to be brief, "although I realize that is difficult for you."
Witnesses and lawyers in the trial, which began Monday and is expected to run until Friday, were ordered not to comment on the case until the trial is over.
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