The Burlington Free Press from Burlington, Vermont • Page 18

63 The Burlington (Vt.) Free Pre, Sunday, May 14, 1989 urder conviction set for court challenge this summer Appeal based on judge's instaictions to hear an appeal based partly on District Court Judge Linda Levitt's instructions to the jurors who convicted Wright of felony murder. Oral arguments were scheduled this week, but were postponed because of a legal battle Wright's lawyers alleged Giroux's boyfriend killed her in a lovesick rage after, they said, she had an abortion. Hinton said efforts to implicate the boyfriend were unfairly hindered by Levitt's denial of access to medical records, that might have showed an abortion. The Supreme Court made an emergen--cy ruling during the trial that Levitt could view the records and then decide. They: were never made public.

Hinton said the victim's privacy: should be outweighed by Wright's right to -information for his defense. Hinton's fourth argument is that Ver-: mont's marital-privilege law was broken by some questions to Wright's wife. Barbara. Wright testified her husband: came home late the night of the appeared high on cocaine and changed his clothes. She said a knife was missing from -their kitchen.

Levitt ruled those details were usable! because they were observations, not confidential husband-wife matters. degree of homicide, the defendant is entitled to proper jury instructions on that," Hinton said. He also plans to argue the state failed to prove the robbery element. "It is not at all clear that Ms. Giroux's killer killed her during a robbery.

The money could have been stolen from the office sometime before she was killed," he wrote to the high court. Evidence showed Wright went to a cocaine dealer's home with wads of cash after the murder. He left a fingerprint in blood on a fire extinguisher used to smash the woman's skull after she was stabbed 11 times. Wright testified he discovered the body in the store office, moved the extinguisher for a closer look, panicked and fled. Hinton said that although jurors would have cleared Wright of all charges if they bought his story, in many cases "the jury doesn't believe the extremes, but thinks the truth lies somewhere in between." Shingler said the evidence clearly showed Wright committed both robbery and murder.

gler said she will argue the Duff and Wright cases are worlds apart. Duff never denied killing bis wife, but said he was driven by jealousy and hoped for a manslaughter verdict if not acquittal. Wright denied killing anyone. "The defense in Wright was not entitled to 'lesser included' offenses," Shin-gler said. "It was felony murder or nothing.

Our theory of the case was that he killed Kim Giroux during the course of the robbery. There is no other explanation for the murder." She said of the appeal, "I think they are attempting to capitalize on the fact that it was the same judge and the same "We feel pretty good about our chances for success on appeal." Hinton conceded the cases differ, but said Wright could conceivably have been convicted of a lesser crime. He said a jury could decide Wright murdered Giroux but find, for example, no proof it was during a robbery a necessary part of the felony murder charge. "If the evidence supports a lesser By Ian Polumbaum Free Press Staff Writer Samuel Wright conviction for one of Burlington's most savage murders is set for a court challenge this summer, but a. prosecutor says she is confident the verdict will stand.

Wright was convicted 16 months ago of stabbing and bludgeoning to death Kimberly Giroux, one of two clerks slain at the downtown Champlain Farms store on Nov. 29, 1986. Trial evidence indicated Wright killed Giroux while robbing the store of $2,100 to buy cocaine. He received a prison term of 60 years to life, the longest ever imposed in a Vermont state court. Charges never were filed in the fatal beating of the other clerk, 18-year-old Richard Aiken.

Wright's lawyers tried to implicate Giroux's boyfriend in her The Vermont Supreme Court is slated over whether 70-year- WRIGHT old Justice Louis Peck can be forced to retire from the high court. Appellate Public Defender Henry Hin-ton said Levitt erred by telling jurors they must acquit Wright of felony murder before debating lesser charges of second-degree murder or manslaughter, then gave wrong instructions about manslaughter. Levitt gave the same instructions in the 1986 murder trial of John Duff of South Burlington. The high court last year reversed his conviction, saying the instructions violated the presumption Duff was innocent. Deputy State's Attorney Karen Shin- Opponents in gun-control battle work toward compromise 10-day waiting period for buying a handgun.

"We believe that the bill will, come up next year because there's sufficient public support for it and it's an issue that deserves a hear-, ing. I think it will get one," he said. Free Press Staff Writer Lisa Scagliotti contributed to this, article. Herb Conley said he still believes getting tough on criminals was the best solution. "I think we're pretty much in agreement that (it's) time for some tough mandatory sentences to be imposed," he said.

Gun control legislation will reappear in the Vermont Statehouse next year, said Sen. Stephen Reynes, D-Windsor, who this year introduced an unsuccessful bill that would have required a Race and others spoke Friday during a forum on gun control at the annual meeting of the Chiefs of Police Association of Vermont. The session continued Saturday at Ascutney Mountain Resort with a speech on crime and gun control by Rep. Peter Smith, R-Vt. In prepared remarks, Smith reminded the chiefs that he has co-sponsored a bill to restrict semi-automatic assault weapons.

He also said he has co-sponsored a measure calling for mandatory prison terms for violent felonies committed with such weapons. First-time offenders would receive 30 years in prison, while a second offense would draw a life from staff, wire reports BROWNSVILLE Opposing Sides in the gun control debate say they are making progress toward a compromise. South Burlington Police Chief John Race said talks have been held with the help of Sen. Patrick Leahy, and much progress has been made in reaching agreement on some sort of legislation. "I would estimate we're 80 percent there at the moment," said Race, who acknowledged one major sticking point is finding a solution that does not interfere with the right of responsible people to own firearms.

sentence. "People can argue about which approach is better control guns or get tougher on those who use them illegally," Smith said. "But my approach is to go both ways." His speech drew on recent violence in the nation's capital to demonstrate his belief that such measures are needed. "I remember one elderly woman complaining that she couldn't get to sleep because of all the gunfire, and another saying that she could recognize when the police were around because their weapons sounded like pop guns in the midst of the high-powered assault rifles of the drug gangs they were after," Smith said. Asked about the extra burden that his proposed mandatory prison sentences would impose on already crowded prisons, Smith said, "I think, clearly, we are going to have to build more prisons but there are other ways to pay the penalties.

People need to know if they commit a felony or attempt to commit a felony with a gun that they're going to get the book thrown at them, that they're going to be taken out of circulation." During the gun control forum, the president of the Vermont Handgunners Association agreed progress was being made. But TV show leads to 200 tips on missing teen The Associated Press PLATTSBURGH, N.Y. -More than 200 phone tips came in from across the country after a segment on missing Ausable Forks teen-ager Kari Lynn Nixon aired on a prime-time network television show, police said. "There are definitely some that- require further investigation," said Investigator Richard Sypek of the New York State Police Bureau of Criminal Investigation in Pittsburgh. "There are three or four that justify sending a police officer to a location." Kari Lynn Nixon was running an errand to a local grocery store when she disappeared June 22, 1987.

Police investigators said at the time, "It's like she vanished off the face of the earth." There was no evidence of a struggle, no suspects, no witnesses, and no signs she planned to run away. The segment of "Unsolved Mysteries" aired last week and used Kari's 15-year-old sister, Lo-ri, in a dramatization. The first telephone calls were referred from state police division headquarters in Albany to Sypek's home Wednesday night as the Nixon segment of the show ended. Sypek, who has been working on the case since the beginning, said the calls and sightings have come from places including Hawthorne, N.Y., Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Texas and Canada. By Thursday's end, the show had generated more than 200 tips, he said.

David Rajter, a research assistant with "Unsolved Mysteries," said he had monitored some of the calls and he didn't see any particular pattern or specific location. "They were from all over the country," he said. Gary Nixon, Kari's father, said Thursday the family had received a number of calls from family and friends following the broadcast. He also said there had been some prank calls. Judge may issue warrant for arson suspect who missed hearing down another building "besides the one on Federal Street," the affidavit said.

A proposed plea agreement in the case was rejected in February by Judge Frank Mahady. The charge carries a maximum sentence of two to 10 years, a $2,000 fine, or both. ST. ALBANS A Vermont District Court judge said Friday that he would issue an arrest warrant for a St. Albans woman who failed to appear for a scheduled Friday morning sentencing hearing on a first-degree arson charge.

"The state does want to get this over and done with," said James Hughes, deputy Franklin County state's attorney. He asked Judge Edward J. Cashman to is fire to an upstairs apartment of a Federal Street building that was destroyed in the Dec. 6, 1987, blaze. The fire left about a dozen people homeless, and injured an elderly man in whose apartment Levick allegedly set the fire, according to a state police affidavit.

Levick was charged after she later allegedly told a city police officer who had arrested her for trespassing that she would burn sue an arrest warrant for Terri L. Levick, 34. Cashman said he would issue the warrant if Levick fails to appear by Monday at 4:30 p.m. He set bail at $200. Levick also failed to appear for a previous court date.

However, her lawyer, Franklin County Public Defender Steven Dunham, said she wasn't aware of the scheduled court date. Levick is charged with setting Colchester couple convicted on drug charges A Colchester man and woman CORRECTION: Railroad Ties were incorrectly priced in Friday's ad. Correct prices are: 1 U0.50 2 8.50 3 $5.00 ELM HILL FARM Open 7 Days Rt. 7, Colchester 878-4111 gaining arrangement, the cultivation charge against Baldwin was dismissed by the state's attorney. She pleaded no contest to the possession charge and was sentenced to up to 60 days, suspended.

Pomplin pleaded no contest to both charges against him, and was sentenced to three to five years for each charge, of which he will serve a six-month concurrent court. The bushes were supported with stakes and wire, and several were missing their tops and leaves, police said. Investigators also found 48 marijuana branches and stalks strung between the rafters in the garage to dry. Drying marijuana also was found in a bedroom during the Oct. 19 search.

Baldwin and Pomplin were charged with cultivating and possessing marijuana. In a plea bar- were convicted in Vermont District Court Thursday of drug charges. Police, acting on an anonymous tip, found 117 pounds of live and harvested marijuana at the home of Dorothy E. Baldwin, 39, and Louis F. Pomplin 44.

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