European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - December 11, 1987, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page s8 the stars and stripes Friday december 11,1987 spec. 4 gets life for killing German lawyer  Bureau Karlstedt Germany a Young Pennsylvania National guardsman was sentenced to life in prison thursday for strangling a German lawyer during a homosexual encounter in september. A military jury of three officers and four senior enlisted men found spec. 4 Keith Cooper of Philadelphia guilty of premeditated murder Index Cal acts and larceny in connection with the sept. 21slaying of Heinrich Carls of vissel hive do. Cooper sat impassively throughout the trial and senic icing but addressed inc jury in an unworn St Alcmene after he guilty verdict was announced i know that i have Hurt a lot of peo ple not Only the victim but the victim s family and my family he said. Cooper said he had planned to marry next March and bowed his head in his hands after speaking. To addition to the life sentence the news  Board also reduced Cooper in Grade to e 1, gave him a dishonourable discharge and directed him o forfeit 1500 of his paper month Tor the next 50 years. The verdict is subject to Appeal. Cooper was attached to the 1st Cav div. Ill corps which was on september Man Cuvin in Northern Germany in connection with annual return of forces to Germany refer Ger exercises. Cooper 24, and Carls 52, met sunday evening sept. 20, in a bar near fall in Bosie. Cooper was wearing his Battle dress uniform with his name on the jacket. The pair then went on to another bar and a disco where Cooper obtained hash ish before slopping for chinese food in a Wal Srode restaurant not far from the lawyer s Home in  Accord ing to statements Cooper made to police. They arrived at Carls apartment around Midnight according to testimony. It was later during an autocratic sen act in which Carls was bound hand and foot that the lawyer died according tothe defense. Autoro Licis was defined As heightening sexual pleasure by constricting the flow of oxygen to the brain. The prosecutor Cape. John Kent disputed the Auto eroticism theory. What s the accused doing to put it in the vernacular he s rolling this Guy. He s rolling an old homosexual Kent told the jury. Two calculators a Wallet and two watches were Laken from the apartment according to the prosecution. In court one watch and he two calculators which had been linked to Cooper were identified by witnesses As belonging to Carls. The lawyer was bound with a variety of neckties electrical and Telephone Cable. A medical Bandage socks and a Panama piece were found wrapped around the victim s neck said Hamburg Coroner or. Klaus Kihchel in testimony wednesday. A Large part of the government s Case for premeditated murder stemmed from a confession made by Cooper the Day he was arrested. Cooper told  criminal investigation come special agent James Vandoli that he decided to kill Carls White he was masturbating in front of the bound Law yer. The confession was later retracted. The defense countered that Cooper was led on by Vandoli. Urc Jordan homicide specialist forthe German police in Var Dan testified that Cooper did not make a Complete confession but answered yes to questions by Vandoli As to when and Why he decided to kill Carls. The defense also claimed that the amount of alcohol and drugs ingested by Cooper was a mitigating Factor in the crime. However a witness who saw Cooper As late As 2 . The following morning said that Cooper might have been drinking but did not appear drunk. The Case will automatically go for re View before the . Army court of i Lary review. School bus hits kills 7-year-old Sembach boy Sembach a Germany a 7-year-old boy died thursday morning after being struck by a school bus near the base elementary school. A base spokesman said. Stephen r. Ford suffered massive internal in juries after being struck at about 7 50 ., 1st la. Lester t. Carrolljr. Said. Ford had not been a passenger on the bus he said. The child arrived at the base clinic at 8 15 .and was pronounced dead at about 8 48 . He is survived by his Parent Mai. Eldon b. And Linda Ford and a brother Douglas l. Ford Eldon Ford is chief of the exercise operations Branch of the Allied tactical operations Center at  Accident is under investigation. Pm assistant manager in Italy charged with theft Vicenza Italy the assistant manager of the Caserma Ederle Post Exchange in Vicenza Italy has been charged with aggravated theft in connection with 150,000 taken from the Exchange dec. 4.the charges against Michael Ross Kemper 28, resulted from a joint Effort Between the Southern european task Force Carabiniero and local agents of the . Army criminal investigation come said spokesman it. Col. Frank Field. Kemper has been released on his own recognizance pending action by italian judicial author ties. regulations prohibit releasing further details of the investigation unlit evidence is presented in open court. Protesting steel workers Block roads Bridges Duisburg Wesl Germany a tens of thousands of steel workers blocked roads an Bridges in nine Ruhr Valley cities wednesday to protest the planned closure of a Krupp steel Plant near Duisburg. Police said demonstrators blocked main inter sections in Duisburg Essen Gelsenkirchen Oberhausen Dortmund. Hattinger Mihlheim Siegen and Krefeld bringing traffic to a Hall and causing traffic jams of up to 12 Miles. The protests were carried out to demonstrate against the planned shutdown of a steel Mill in the Rhei Hausen Section of Duisburg by the end of the year. The Plant employ s.300 people whose jobs Are threatened by the closure. The Ruhr Valley area already has a 15.3 per cent unemployment Rale nearly double the National average of 8.5 percent at the end of no vember according to statistics released by the Federal labor office in Nairn Borg. Soldier draws life for killing Boyfriend by Joseph Owen Statt Gul Bureau Stuttgart a military court convicted a specialist four of premeditated murder and sentenced Herlo life in prison thursday for the stabbing death of her Soldier Boyfriend june 27 at Wharton Barracks in Heil Bronn. Spec. 4 Pamela d. Nelson 28, of co a 38th signal in also was reduced in rank to Al and Dis honorable discharged from the  in a court martial. Army prosecutors argued that Nelson had killed sgt. Levi Williams 27, of Bury a 4th in 9th Field arty regt As he Wai trying to leave her apartment. Prosecutors said another woman had been making plans to Many Williams. Bui defense attorney Joel Cohen said Nelson was defending herself when she stabbed Williams at her bedroom door. Williams was abusing Nelson physically and was partially Inlo Ica Ted As the two argued Cohen said. Nelson felled Williams in one stroke with a carving knife which she had just gotten from the Kitchen court records showed. Testimony from witnesses during the four Day trial conflicted Over Williams alleged plans to end his relationship with Nelson. But trial counsel maj. Christopher Maher told the court thai Nelson s intent in gelling the knife was the Only relevant Issue. She look 13 Steps into the kill Hon. She had enough time to think about what she was doing. She walked the 13 Steps Back and Slabbed sgt. Williams Maher said in his closing arguments Cohen produced witnesses to show that Williams did not plan to marry another woman. And Nelson claimed Williams had shoved her and tried to choke her a Hospital nurse who treated Nel son after the stabbing testified thai Nelson was admitted to a psychiatric unit with several bruises and neck abrasions. But Maher said the knife had passed through Wil Liams heart and punctured hit fiver so cleanly that Williams could not have been struggling Wilh Neitro when she subbed him. ".sgt, Williams did t see thai knife coming became if he had seen in you d see a Dogleg or a Lear in the heart or liver Maher said. Other testimony showed that Afler the stabbing. Nel son had hidden the knife in a trash can and thai the incident was Over before she began Yelling loudly enough to draw the Alt Ntuba of neighbors who discovered inc murder. Nelson a Houston native joined the  in 1934.her enlistment had been scheduled to end in october. Korn Weshe my gets 5 years for arson by Joseph Owen Stuttgart Bureau Stuttgart a private first class received a five year prison sentence thursday for an aggravated arson conviction in connection with a si.75 million fire which destroyed a Stuttgart commuter train car and severely damaged a train station. Pfc. Steven c. Jansma 19, of the 38th engr co 7lh engr brigade in Kom Westheim already had pleaded guilty to marijuana use earlier in the two Day court martial. Judge it. Col Wade Curtis also sentenced Jansma to a dishonourable discharge reduction in rank to Al and forfeiture of All pay and allowances. Jansma and two Soldier companions boarded a first class compartment of the Stuttgart bound train at 11 29 . July 13 in suburban ludwigs Burg. Jansma told Curtis he and be others disembarked Al the next Stop in Kom Westheim where he set fire to a crumpled Ball of paper and tossed it Back into the car before inc doors closed and the Irain pulled away. However a German railway Engineer testified that the materials in the train car Are designed to Tesija combustion. A chemistry student who had been Riding in the adjacent second class compartment said he discovered the fire Asil started in the first class Seal where Jansma claimed to have been sitting. The train pulled into Stuttgart s Zufle Hausen Sta Tion at 11 37 . Where the fire gulled the car and destroyed electrical cables and part of the station roof. No injuries were reported. German police arrested Jansma and a Friend within minutes at Lud Endrott Casem in Kom Westheim and later turned the Case Over to . Military officials. Curtis dismissed a charge of wilful damage of non military property against Jansma. Charges against the second Soldier were dropped because of a Lack of Evi Dence. Summit from Page 1 shake hands with startled passers by. I had a Chat with a group of americans who slopped our car Gorbachev Laid Reagan. The script for the last in three Days of meetings fell apart when the two sides pressed ahead with discussions on the goal of cutting strategic nuclear weapons the most deadly nuclear  by about half. Any Progress on strategic  would Cap the achievement of tuesday s treaty signing. Before leaving the United slates Gorbachev was to hold a news conference. Reagan was to address the nation from inc Oval office at 9 . Est. The White House talks began after Secretary of stale George p. Sulu conferred with the senior . Arms adviser. Paul h. Nirize and then went to the Sovpel embassy where he met for 45 minutes wit soviet foreign minister Eduard Shevardnadze. Afterwards. Shuttz joined Bush at the embassy breakfast by Mutual agreement the Reagan Gorbachev ses Sion was delayed so the leaders could be briefed on the morning development on  talks. However midle Vel when House aides were at a loss to explain the delay heightening anxiety about what was happening