Valley News from Van Nuys, California • Page 15

Sunday. April 10,1977 Van Nuys, Calif. VALLEY NEWS Easter gesture Employes of Broadway department store, Northridge Fashion Center, filled Easter baskets for Valley Child Guidance Clinic. From left are Rudy Campos, house- keeping chief; Frances Pollock, store's executive secretary; Jan Doak, public relations, and Shirley Samson, volunteer director. Carmichael sentenced to prison, fined $30,000 Geraldine Elizabeth Carmichael, the transsexual who tried to revolutionize the auto industry, has been sentenced to state prison and fined $30,000 for defrauding investors through her promotion of the controversial, three- wheeled Dale car.

Three other defendants convicted along with Miss Carmichael on grand theft and other charges were sentenced Friday to County Jail and fined. The fifth defendant in the case was fined $5.000 and placed on probation for five years. Under the state penal code as it now stands. Miss Carmichael would serve between two and 20 years in prison. But under the new determinate sentencing law (Senate bill 42) which goes into effect on July 1, prosecutors estimated she would spend 20 months behind bars.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Harold J. Ackerman sentenced Miss Carmichael to prison despite a plea from her attorney that she had been "persecuted" because she is a transsexual and that no prison in the state could accommodate her. "This was a persecution of Miss Carmichael on a personal basis." argued Joseph Shemaria, the defendant's co-counsel, who called Miss Carmichael a "brilliant, hardworking, aggressive, industrious woman," who headed up the 20th Century Motor Car Corp- Grand theft and conspiracy charges were lodged against the 49-year-old Miss Carmichael simply because she is a transsexual, Shemaria continued. The attorney argued that Miss Carmichael couldn't be kept in a men's prison because "she would be raped." Confinement in a women's prison also was out, he said, noting: "She'd be attacked there probably worse than in a men's There is no place to send Elizabeth Carmichael except home." But the judge wasn't swayed by Shemaria's argument and sentenced Miss Carmichael to the state men's prison at Chmo on two counts of grand theft, ordering the prison terms to run consecutively. The fines resulted from her conviction on three counts of violating the state corporations code.

Miss Carmichael remained free on appeal, posting bond for $500,000 bail minutes after the sentence was handed down. Outside the courtroom, she blasted the prosecutor, Deputy Dist. Atty. Robert Youndahl. The DA is an unethical, lying, slimy individual who has taken a personal interest of vindictiveness toward me," she told reporters.

Miss Carmichael also said she would prefer to be sentenced to a woman's prison because "I am a woman." The County Grand Jury indicted the defendants on 34 felony counts on May 29, 1975, alleging they swindled investors out of 864,000 by promoting a car which would not perform as promised. Miss Carmichael and the others contended the Dale car would go up to 70 miles on a gallon of gas, cruise along at 85 miles an hour and withstand collisions of up to 30 m.p.h. Jurors last Jan. 24 convicted Miss Carmichael and the others on grand theft and other charges following a seven-month trial. Sentencing originally was set for March 18, but was delayed un- til Friday as the defense raised allegations of bailiff misconduct and jury tampering because the lone juror holding for acquittal was dismissed from the panel.

Judge Ackerman excused Mrs Mary Thayer last Jan. 19 after she was hospitalized for an ear infection. However, because someone amended a note from the examining physician to say Mrs Thayer might need more than three days of rest, defense attorneys contended the woman was dismissed on tainted evidence. Thursday--following four days of hearings--Judge Ackerman ruled Mrs. Thayer was ill when she was dismissed.

The judge rejected the motion for a new trial and scheduled sentencing for Friday. Miss Carmichael was the last of the defendants to be sentenced. Edward J. Comstock, 34, of Redondo Beach, a vice president with 20th Century, and Samuel Schils- man, 64, of Los Angeles, a vice president and treasurer, both were sentenced to one year in County Jail, fined $10,000 and placed on 10 years probation. Jay Gardner, a 29-year-old salesman with the firm from Los Angeles, was sentenced to six months in jail, fined $5,000 and placed on probation for five years.

The only defendant to escape jail was 63-year-old Edward Ferrell, an engineer from Thousand Oaks, who was fined $5,000 and placed on five years probation. Sentences against all defendants--including Miss Carmichael-- were stayed pending appeal. All said they would appeal and, with the exception of Miss Carmichael, were released on their own recognizance. Viking 2's 'tucked in' for winter Scientists at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena Friday sent out the first of thousands of commands required to shut down the Viking 2 lander for the bitter martian winter. A project spokesman said the spacecraft will use most of its power to generate heat and prevent the sensitive instruments from freezing, according to a United Press International report.

"We will suspend operation of all but a few experiments for the winter," Don Bane explained, "in order to use all available power to keep the lander warm." The series of commands will be sent through next Thursday and stored together in the lander's computer memory. The computer will activate them on April 17, severely curtailing the spacecraft's operations until next fall when the frigid air begins to warm up again Viking 2 landed last September on the plains of Utopia, a rocky area about halfway between Mars' equator and north pole Viking 1. which landed last July in the Chryse Basin near the Martian equator, does not have to shut down for the winter because temperatures do not get nearly so cold at its site. "If we could compare Mars to Earth," Bane said "Viking 2 is sit ting in International Falls Minn, while Viking 1 is in a warm tropi cal area tike Havana Puba The comparison could be mis leading. Temperatures around Viking 1 will drop to 100 degrees below zero at night.

Those around Viking 2 will drop below 190, the freezing level for carbon dioxide, component the Mars atmosphere Besides the primary of keeping the Viking 2 lander from freezing, the shutdown procedure will continue operation of the craft's meteorology station and siesmology instrument. Ollie arrives for Easter With a little help from an attendant, Ollie, the first ostrich chick to be hatched this season at Lion Country Safari, emerges from his shell Officials said there are 63 more ostrich eggs incubating in the park's hatchery 3 free lectures at UCLA this week The UCLA Committee on Public Lectures will cosponsor three free lectures, beginning tomorrow The first, in conjunction with the Women's Studies Program ill feature Linda Gordon, associate professor of history at the Unner- sity of Massachusetts, who wi 1 discuss "Sexuality. and the Impact of Birth Control. 18701970. The lecture will be Tuesday at 3'30 in Dodd Hall.

Room 146 Poet Marvin Bell will read from his works Wednesday at 8 in UCLA's Sun Canyon Recreation Center. I De Neve Circle Cosponsoreci by the department of English, DalesKi. professor of English and for Overseas Students at Hebrew Uni- veriity. Jerusalem, will discuss "Conrad's 'Heart of Darkness' Abandon and Restraint." He will appear Thursdav. at 4 p.m in Rovce Hall, Room 246.

The Homer Formby kit, It takes the elbow grease put of refinishing furniture. 3 convicted of Great Western $20,000 heists By ARNIE FRIEDMAN A federal court jury has convicted a Sylmar man and two other persons of robbing WoVaUey savings and loan institutions of more than $20,000 in cash. The verdict was returned Friday after a trial in Los.Angeles for defendants Roger P. Oa- baugh. 30, of Sylmar.

Hugh T. Cbiomfc 23. of Rutland VL. and Earl McGeorjte. 27.

of Toledo, Ohio. The prosecutor in the case, Asst- U.S. Atty. Darrell Maclntvre noted that the convictions followed testimony bv an FBI expert on fibers linking strands found on the defendants' faces to ski masks allegedly worn in committing the robberies. U.S.

District Court Judge Malcolm Lucas, who presided over the trial, scheduled sentencing for Apnl 29 in his downtown Los Angeles courtroom The men. each convicted on two counts of armed bank robbery, face maximum sentences of 50 years" in prison $20.000 fines. ClatMiigh also faces a second trial in connection with a third Valley holdup--a 16.502 heist last Dec. 10 from the Mission HiHs branch of the Great Western Savings and Loan Association. No date has yet been set for that tnal.

A Jan 11 robbery at the same Great Western branch was one of the holdups for which the Oiree defendants were convicted Friday. A toialof $14,41 was taken in that robbery. The other robbery occurred the following day at the Southwest Savings and Loan Association Granada Halls, yielding the handits $5,781. Ciabaugli and Colornb were arrested about 20 minutes after the Southwest robbery when their car was spoued by Angeles police narcoucs investigators who had heard a poihce radio broadcast of the heist, sand prosecutor Maclnlyre. Recovered from the ear was $8.849 in cash allegedly taken in the robberies along witn a handgun and ski masks used in the holdups.

Maclntvre said McGeorge, wbo was believed to have escaped on foot before the narcotics investigators arrested the other two, was taken into custody Feb. 14 at his Toledo home. None of the money taken in the Dec. 10 Great Western holdup was recovered, Maclntyre said. I'M -M STUB, cttpnnu nun HSE ANT SIZE LIVING ROOM, DINING ROOM, MALI and 2 BEDROOMS AF 7J MILLERS CARPET CARE 881-3580 987-1800 873-6110 (Offer good 1 weeM All AfS Sobei.

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