Last Act at Kent State

My Lai. Kent State. Attica.

In each case, under different pressures, Americans in uniform used "excessive force"--a legalistic euphemism often used to describe official killing. Yet the legal system has had great difficulty in pinpointing responsibility. In all three celebrated cases, the only man convicted of criminal conduct was Lieut. William Calley, who served just 40 months for the My Lai massacre, mostly under comfortable house arrest. Last week, what may be the final legal action against any officials in the three incidents ended in a Cleveland courtroom. The record of absolving representatives of the state did not change.

Last Resort. The nine surviving student victims of the Kent State shooting and the parents of the four youths who were killed on May 4, 1970, had filed a $46 million civil suit against Ohio Governor James Rhodes, former Kent State University President Robert White, Ohio National Guard Commanders Robert Canterbury and Sylvester Del Corso and a number of Guardsmen involved in the firing. They did so as a last resort. An Ohio state grand jury that looked into the case had indicted only students for their part in the rioting that preceded the shooting. Former Attorney General John Mitchell had refused even to convene a federal grand jury. His successor, Elliot Richardson, had done so, and eight Guardsmen were indicted. But after hearing the evidence, Federal Judge Frank Battisti had thrown out the charges on a technicality.

So the students and their families pressed the civil suit. The trial, which began last May, presented the jury with the difficult task of assessing the varying roles of each of the 29 defendants in the confused campus events of 1970.

Had Governor Rhodes, then running (unsuccessfully) for the U.S. Senate, inflamed the campus situation for political purposes when he denounced the students protesting against the recent U.S. invasion of Cambodia? Had President White abdicated his duty to protect the rights of his students by letting the Guard take over the campus? Was the student rally that day peaceful and legal, or was it properly dispersed by the soldiers? Did the commanders negligently permit their men to carry loaded weapons? Were the students endangering the Guardsmen's lives with their rock throwing?

On every point, the testimony was conflicting. Although every investigation had discredited the original Guard claim that a civilian sniper had opened fire first, one former student, Joy Bishop, testified that she saw a gunman shoot in the air just before the Guard volley. Other students standing beside her testified that they had seen nobody on the spot where she said she had seen the gunman. One student, Harry Montgomery, said a Guardsman identified as Sgt. Myron Pryor had fired first; Pryor denied it. Guardsman James Pierce, who had said in 1970 that Pryor had instructed the troops to shoot if rushed, could no longer recall hearing such an order, but stood by his original impression.

Loaded Guns. Governor Rhodes testified that he went to the campus mainly to get firsthand information on the disturbances. A former Guard sergeant, Michael Delaney, said that Rhodes had angrily ordered officials in to prevent even as many as two students from walking together on campus. Del Corso and Canterbury said it was the responsibility of troop unit leaders to decide whether guns should be loaded; the unit commanders testified that they had only followed orders from above. The most common defense of the Guardsmen was that students were rushing them just before they retaliated with gunfire. "I felt my life was in danger," claimed former Sgt. Lawrence Shafer. Yet Guardsman James W. Ferriss testified: "I saw no necessity to shoot."

In the welter of testimony, the jurors might well have been bewildered. It was up to the plaintiffs to convince at least nine jurors that a preponderance of evidence showed that the defendants had been negligent and that the plaintiffs were entitled to collect damages.

The jury decided that none of the defendants could be held responsible. As the verdict was announced, one woman juror wept; she and two other women said "no" when polled on whether they agreed with the decision. Judge Don Young told the jury: "You are owed the gratitude of everyone in the courtroom, regardless of whether they benefited by your decision, and of everyone in this free land." Shouted Thomas Grace, a wounded student: "What freedom? This trial has been a sham in every way." Arthur Krause, whose daughter Allison died at Kent State, delivered a similar verdict: "Thanks to these jurors, murder by the state is correct."

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so viewer discretion is required.