Padgett Found Guilty Again; Is Given Life

Padgett Found Guilty Again; Is Given Life

Second Trial Results In Sentence Identical With That Of 1936

William H. Padgett, diminutive 50-year-old former Detroiter, was found guilty yesterday afternoon of first degree murder less than art hour after a circuit court jury of 11 men and one woman began deliberations.

Judge James E. Chenot immediately sentenced Padgett to life imprisonment for the murder of Clifford A. Stang, Ann Arbor police officer, who was slain during an attempt to hold up the Conlin and Wetherbee clothing store at 118 E. Washington St. March 21, 1935. It was the second time Padgett was convicted of the slaying. He has already served seven years of a life sentence on the previous conviction in 1936. Judge Chenot said the sentence is mandatory for first degree murder.

"I still maintain, your honor, that I am innocent. I never was in Ann Arbor when this thing happened," Padgett said just before Judge Chenot, who supplanted Judge George W. Sample on the bench, pronounced sentence. The prisoner appeared agitated when he heard the verdict.

Sentence Mandatory

"I don't know, Mr. Padgett . . . There is nothing I could do if I wanted too. It's mandatory upon the court to pronounce sentence, and it is not a pleasant task. I think, however, that the verdict of the jury was justified," Judge Chenot replied before pronouncing sentence upon the man who had devoted much of his time in prison to efforts to obtain the retrial which ended yesterday in its third day. Padgett was granted the new trial by a state supreme court decision last October. The court found two errors in the first trial, and ordered Padgett to be tried again for the crime. Judge Sample presided at the defendant's first trial.

"I've done all I can for him now," Walter M. Nelson, one of Padgett's attorneys, said when asked whether he would attempt to appeal Padgett's case. Nelson had been appointed by Judge Sample as the defendant's counsel.

Following Padgett's removal to the county jail after the trial, the prisoner asked to see his two attorneys, Nelson and Isaac M. Smullin, both of Detroit, Police Chief Sherman H. Mortenson, Prosecuting Attorney Francis W. Kamman, and Special Prosecutor Albert J. Rapp. When they met with him, Padgett offered to undergo a lie-detector test, but Rapp, who was appointed to act as prosecutor in the case since he was prosecutor at Padgett's first trial, told the prisoner that the matter is now outside his jurisdiction, pointing out that Padgett, prior to the first trial, was given an opportunity to submit to such a test but refused.

Will Leave Soon

Sheriff John L. Osborn indicated Padgett, who has served a total of 11 years in prison, would be taken to Southern Michigan Prison near Jackson as soon as commitment papers have been prepared. It was believed the prisoner would leave for Jackson tomorrow.

Padgett, who has used the names William Hayden and William Bowman as aliases admitted on the stand he had served four years in prison on an armed robbery charge from Detroit prior to his arrest for the murder of Stang. He said he was released on parole on the robbery conviction "sometime in 1934." When he testified in his own behalf yesterday, he claimed to have been in York, Pa., at the time of the holdup here.