Iowa
Old Press
Creston News Advertiser
Creston, Union co. Iowa
November 2, 1934
MT. AYR JURY GIVES VERDICT: MANSLAUGHTER
Decision In Case of Mrs. Johnston Is Reported after 45 Hours.
Mrs. Pearl Johnston was found guilty of manslaughter by
a jury of 12 men in Ringgold county district court this
afternoon. The jury returned its verdict at 3 o’clock after
having been out 45 hours.
Manslaughter carries a maximum prison term of eight years. The
State had asked a verdict of first degree murder which carried
life imprisonment or death as the penalty. Sentence will be
given, Dec. 3. Bond, to appeal for a new trial by Nov. 4, was set
at $6,000. Mrs. Johnston, charged with shooting her husband,
heard the verdict without showing emotion.
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After having been out nearly 42 hours, the jury considering the
fate of Mrs. Pearl Johnston, charged with shooting her husband at
Mt. Ayr, returned to the court room at the Ringgold county
courthouse this morning to ask Judge H. H. Carter for more
instructions. Judge Carter informed the 12 men forming the jury
that he had already given them all of the instructions possible
under the Iowa law and told them to return to the jury room and
reach a verdict. The jury then went back to its consideration of
the fate of the first woman ever to be charged with murder in
Ringgold county.
WENT OUT WEDNESDAY.
The jury originally retired to the jury room for secret study of
the case at 5:40 Wednesday afternoon, after a day spent in
listening to the final arguments of the attorneys and to the
instructions by Judge Carter.
The Ringgold county courthouse has sleeping accommodations for
juries. It was understood here, and it is presumed by court
officials and lawyers in Creston, that the jury had laid aside
its deliberations at least a few hours each of the two nights it
has been out.
Mrs. Johnston is charged with firing the bullets which fatally
wounded her husband, Herbert, the night of June 7. The man died
while in an ambulance, hastening to Creston for hospital
treatment.
Mrs. Johnston tried to take her own life—because the man she
loved was dead, she told the jury during the trial—but the
attempt failed. She was rushed to the Greater Community hospital
here for treatment.
[transcribed by L.Z., November 2015]