John D. Graves
LOWELL MAN IS FOUND GUILTY
JOHN D. GRAVES GETS 1 TO 5 YEARS ON CHARGE OF RECKLESS HOMICIDE
John D. Graves, 25, was sentenced to serve a 1 to 5-year term in the Indiana reformatory late yesterday by Judge William J. Murray in Criminal court on a charge of reckless homicide. Graves was charged with driving a truck which crashed into an automobile on U.S. 41 near Schneider last Sept. 1, killing two Hammond residents.Beryl* Fish, 49, co-defendant with Graves, was found not guilty after the court decided that Graves had been the driver of the truck. Unable to obtain bond, Fish had been in jail since the accident, while Graves had been free on bond.
Herman J. Korlin and his sister, Mrs. Carrie Bassow, were the victims of the crash, the latter succumbing 20 days after the accident.
Fish and Graves were said to have been intoxicated at the time of the crash.
Testimony which he had given at a coroner's inquest regarding an injury he suffered in the crash caused Graves' story to bog down in court yesterday. He had accused Fish of being the driver, and Fish, in turn, had said Graves drove the truck.
After questioning Graves concerning details of the crash, Deputy Prosecutor Paul J. Hawk suddenly asked him about his statement at the coroner's inquest in which he (Graves) testified that he had suffered a bruise on his chest.
"Isn't it true that you suffered that bump when you were thrown against the steering wheel," Hawk asked the defendant.
Graves became confused and his face turned red, but he wouldn't admit that he drove the truck.
Judge Murray said it was "very plain" who drove the truck. He told Graves:
"You wouldn't give Fish the same chance that I gave to you several years ago." He referred to a suspended sentence which was passed on Graves after he had been convicted of grand larceny.
Both Fish and Graves are Lowell residents.
* NOTE -- Mr. Fish's first name is spelled "Beryl" in this article, but in another article about the crash it is spelled "Byrl."
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