Abilene Reporter-News from Abilene, Texas • Page 58

20-A THE ABILENE REPORTER-NEWS 6,1977 Priscilla Aided Witness, Davis Court Told By MIKE COCHRAN AiMclited Prcn Writer A A I A A young prosecution witness in the capital murder trial of Fort Worth millionaire Cullen Davis testified Wednesday that Priscilla Davis assisted her with a "personal problem" in 1975 and loaned her money to resolve that problem. The disclosure by Beverly Bass came after attorneys debated the use of records subpoenaed from a Fort Worth clinic, Pregnancy Control Inc. Mrs. Davis, the millionaire defendant's estranged wife, testified previously that she accompanied Miss Bass, 19, to a clinic in August 1975, but denied providing her financial assistance. The'' "problem 1 was never revealed.

Prnecuton filed a motion Wednesday seeking to block use of the records by the defense until they are introduced into evidence. Miss Bass, her eyes cast downward, said she also was accompanied to the clinic Aug. 26,1975, by Dee Davis, her friend and Mrs. Davis' elder daughter who was adopted by D.avis. Davis on trial for the slaying of his stepdaughter Andrea killed along'with Stan Fair in an August 1976 shooting spree at Davis' Fort Worth mansion.

Mrs. Davis, 36, was shot in the chest and Miss Bass' boyfriend Gus Gavrel, 22, was partially paralyzed in the midnight ambush. Defense attorney Richard "Racehorse" Hiynes sought to show Wednesday that the relationship between Mrs. Davis Miss Bass wti of a "personal" nature, that it extended beyond friendship. "I don't know what you mean," the blonde coed said at one point.

"August 175 wai a period in your life that you had some sort of personal problem?" Haynes asked, triggering this exchange between Haynes and Miss Bass. "Yes," she replied. "And you went to Priscilla Davis with that problem?" "Yes." "And she assisted you with that problem?" "Dee went with us." "It was not Dee's problem was it?" "No, sir." "In reaching a resolution to that problem, you used the name Priscilla Davis, did you not?" "I don't remember." Haynes showed her a document, then repeated the question. Witness Says He Was Told Hill Gave Drugs HOUSTON (AP) A Dallas man now serving a prison sentence in another case testified Wednesday that Marcia McKittrick once told him she had dated Dr. John Hill and that the plastic surgeon had provided drugs for her.

Howard Douglas Sullins, 34, testified in the J7.6 miDion wrongful death civil suit trial in which the family of Hill alleges his slaying was arranged by his former father- in-law, oilman Ash Robinson. Sullins also testified Miss McKittrick told him in 1973 Hill's 1972 murder was a robbery that "went sour." Miss McKittrick now is serving a 10-year sentence for her conviction as an accomplice in the Hill slaying. Twice during the civil suit, Miss McKittrick has testified Robinson supplied the money for the murder-for-play slaying of Hill. She also has testified she never met Hill. The Hill family alleges Robinson sought Hill's death as revenge for the 1969 death of his daughter, Joan Robinson Hill, the plastic surgeon's first wife.

No criminal charges have been filed against Robinson and he has denied involvement in the murder. At the time of his death, Hill was awalt- 1 ing a second trial on a charge of murdering his wife through medical neglect. A first trial ended in a mistrial. Until Wednesday, Sullins had never testified in any of the civil or criminal proceedings that followed Hill's death. He said he first learned of the civil court trial while watching television in prison and that another inmate contacted Robinson's lawyers.

Sullins was asked what kind of drugs Hill had supplied Miss McKittrick. "I assumed it was heroin," he answered. "She had a heroin habit." Sullins said it was in July 1973 that he met Miss McKittrick and that he complied with a request he "score some dope" for her. He said they also had a discussion about a mutual friend, Bobby Wayne Vandiver, who was charged in Hill's death but was fatally shot by Longview police prior to being tried. Sullins said he asked Miss McKittrick about rumors that Vandiver had confessed to police that he had shot Hill and that she told him, "The robbery turned sour, and Bobby shot him." Sullins said he has spent 12 years in prison on three burglary convictions and one for counterfeiting.

He is scheduled to be released from his current prison term in March. Murder Defendant Asks To Buy Pictures of Self BROWNSVILLE (AP) A three-time murder defendant asked a newspaper reporter if he could buy pictures of himself Wednesday while attorneys took a break in a tedious jury selection process. Jerry Joe Bird, 3J, of Corpus Christi, is or. trial for the third time in connection with the Jan. 12,1974, death of Harlingen farmer and gun collector Victor Trammell.

A 1975 conviction and death sentence was thrown out in an appeal and a second attempt at trial was aborted last April after irregularities were cited in the dismissal of several prospective jurors. Bird's requests for photos taken earlier in the week touched off an argument between attorneys. Chief prosecutor Joe Hendley reminded State. District Judge Harry Lewis that defense attorney Douglas Tinker requested a motion restricting news coverage of the capital murder trial. "It seems to me, your honor, that they're treating their motion very lightly," 1 Hendley said.

He said Bird's conversation was "no more than granting of an view." Tinker said Bird asked him if he could question the re- porter. ''It was my understanding that the trial was not discussed," he said. Lewis reminded Tinker that the defense had requested the ruling on trial publicity and reiterated that no facts concerning the case should be discussed with the news media. So far, 27 persons have been interviewed and only two seated on the jury. stum it fwt.

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It makes me angry and it makes me sad that those two men have tarnished the badge of every good policeman. They are wolves behind a badge. Joe Torres had his trial and it lasted only 56 minutes these policemen were the judge, jury and executioners. "Denson executed him. Joe Torres died only because he was a public drunk.

Most policemen are good, but those two have made it harder for every other officer to do their job." Defense attorneys Mike Ramsey and Bob Bennett finally argued along the lines of the defense they presented that Torres, either jumped from a 16-foot-wall Into the bayou or slipped and fell. "When arrested, Torres was kicking, screaming and violent," Ramsey told the: jury. "He tried to kick windows out of the police car. He was acting like a madman." Witnesses hi the case included other former officers, dismissed after the Incident and granted immunity in exchange for their testimony. Those officers said Torres was refused admittance at the after his arrest, and was then taken to the bayou where he was beaten.

"Yes, sir," she replied the second time. "She stayed with you as you worked out the mechanics of resolution of that problem?" "Yes, sir." "Did she extend some financial assistance to you?" "She loaned me some money." "Did you pay the money back?" "She said 1 could pay her back when I started working." "How old were you at the time?" "Sixteen or seventeen, I don't know." Min Bass also provided testimony contradicting Mrs. Davis' account of a conversation between the two women when their paths crossed at a nightspot about two hours before the shootings. BibleC.il! Telephone Tape Library lial 678-1671 Itk Fir Tipi 14 Look for these snacks in the chip To the Relliter; Coupon will Lie ie deemed (or IOC plus 5c for handling when you comply with oiler terms Any other application constitutes fund Invoices proving sulli- cicul purchases' ol I his product to covci coupons presented must be available on request. Consume! pay applicable sales t.n Coupon may io1 be assigned 01 ti.in5feucd by you Coupon void when presented liy ouISicfc agency 01 bioVci 01 where use is prohibited, tcslticted 01 t.ncd Good only MI USA Casli v.ilue Waitto HrtiiKo.lnc.PO Boi 1754.

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