European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - January 28, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 10 columns the stars and stripes James j. Kilpatrick the Troub no Case of Joe Giarratano murderer let me get Back to the troubling Case of Joe Giarratano. He is sentenced to die in Virginia s electric chair. One troubling thing is that he May not have committed the crime at All. There Are other troubling things. I am very uneasy about this Case. On dec. 7, Giarratano lost what May be the next tothe last round in his prolonged fight to escape the chair. The . Court of appeals for the 4th circuit rejected his most recent motion for Relief. Only a fur ther Appeal to the . Supreme court remains and his chances there arc next to Zero. Maybe Joe deserves to be put 19 death. Maybe  crime for which he was convicted was a horrible crime. He was found guilty of raping and strangling 15-Ycar-old Michelle Kline and stabbing her Mother bar Bara Kline to death on the night of feb. 5, 1979, i Norfolk. A. Joe s Story May be summed up briefly. He survived sordid rearing in a sordid household he became addicted to alcohol and to drugs As a boy of 11. Got i trouble with the Law attempted suicide wound up As a Fisherman on a Scallop boat in Chesapeake Bay. On the night in question he woke up in a drug and Vodka induced stupor in the Kline apartment where he had lived for the preceding two weeks. He saw the two bodies and assumed he was responsible for the crime he then travelled by bus to Jacksonville Fla. Where his family once had lived. At the bus station believing in his guilt he turned himself in to a Deputy sheriff. Designed the first of five confessions 45 minutes later. Walter r. Mears the confessions were inconsistent and contradictory on material Points. Reading them i Felt the first gnaw Ings of reasonable doubt. Tor the documents had the faint Echo of an officer s saying. It could have happened this Way could t it Joe was t this How twas to compress a tangled Story indicted for murder Giarratano pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. State psychiatrists found him competent to stand  prosecution introduced confession no. 5 and offered photographs showing bloody footprints near the Mother s body then the prosecution introduced the boots Joe was wearing when he arrived in  Scrol Gisl identified spots of Type o blood on the Side but the relevance was doubtful no one had Trou bled to determine the woman s blood Type. The trial was Over by lunchtime. Joe refused to cooperate with his lawyer. At the time he wanted to be punished he wanted to die. A circuit court judge sit Ting without a jury found him guilty on May 22, 1979. On aug. 13 he was sentenced to death by elect Rock persons who had their own reasonable doubts contributed Money. Lawyers were retained and they sought new evidence. They found it evidence having to do with the absence of bloodstains on the soles of the boots a critical Point. They obtained expert evidence on the Stab wounds. The wounds were consistent with an attack by a right handed person. Joe islet handed and has Only limited use of his right Arm. There was More. Attorneys sought a new trial. Thus the Long litigation through state and Federal courts began. For the past six years while Giarratano has recovered from his mental illness everything has revolved around procedural  the most recent opinion from the 4th circuit turned upon a motion under Rule 60 which restricts consideration of newly discovered evidence to that which by due Diligence could not have been discovered in time to have moved for a new , the claim of ineffective representation does not amount to a cause justifying avoidance of the procedural  that sort of thing. It is All dry As the dust on old Law  Don t know. I truly Don t know. In its opinion the court relied upon his confessions and the evidence corroborating  and this was Odd for there was no evidence corroborating the confessions. No weapon. No witnesses to place Giarratano on the scene. Look. I have covered courts As a Newspaperman for nearly 50 years. I understand that the Law must have rules of procedure. At some Point litigation must end and sentences must be carried out. A panel appointed by chief Justice William Rehnquist headed by retire Justice Lewis Powell has made some sensible recommendations toward this  the same in capital cases with a prisoner s life on the line there ought to be an obligation to go a extra mile beyond  the Commonwealth of Virginia in its determination to execute a Man who has become a Model prisoner is unwilling to go an extra Inch. C us Vert press Syndicate social Security a unique political can of Worms in one form or another the social Security Issue has been giving republicans recurrent headaches for a generation. It s Back this time wrapped in dispute about taxes. And for All their efforts Over the past 25-plus years successive gop campaigners and administrations have not found a Way to Deal with the subject except by denying that they arc going to Cut anybody s Bene  time. President Bush and his people argue that a lax Cut proposed by sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan,. Would jeopardize future benefits. They claim to be the real defenders of the system. But Moynihan said in introducing his tax Cut Bill on tuesday that the government is mortgaging future benefits by borrowing away the reserves that Are suppose to be accumulating to make those social Security pay  questions usually wind up in simplest terms in an election year debate and in the Case of social Security it All gets Down to protecting benefits now paid to about 39 million americans. Always be fore that has put republicans on the defensive. Vice president Dan Quayle thinks it can be turned around this year on grounds that the Moynihan proposal would threaten future benefits. Historically we be been attacked on this and no this is the first real opening to show the american people that the republicans Are not going to Foo around with the benefits that people expect Quayle said in an interview. Cut these taxes the Way that Moynihan is talking about you have to Cut benefits at some time and the president and the Republican party now have an Opportunity to show the american people once and for All that the republicans Are As committed to the integ Rity of this social Security Trust fund As  House Republican Leader Bob Michel of Illinois said the Moynihan plan could inspire even More drastic threats to the system and ultimately bring  sen. Lloyd bin Lson. A Texas. Chairman of the i Nanic committee called hearings on the proposal for next month but warily sidestepped an endorsement saying he first wants to make certain that we never have to Cut social Security benefits for future  this debate is a descendant of an earlier Politi Cal settlement on the Issue a nagging problem for for Mer president Reagan who turned it Over to a com Mission which recommended the buildup of Reserve funds that is at Issue  served on that panel but he contends that the Long term financing plan it drafted in 1983 i being undermined because the government is borrow "speakin6 of b00k peals ing against the social Security Trust fund using it for current spending and at the same time masking the True size of the Federal deficit. So he says the govern ment should Stop imposing the extra tax about j55 billion a  administration contends that is a play to Force a general tax increase to make up the $55 billion a  Way the government is going to have to come up with the Money eventually to pay benefits or to repay the Money that is being borrowed from the Trust  eventually that Means taxes. Democratic congressional leaders Aren t yet sure whether they will sign on with the Moynihan plan. But they arc sure they like the Issue and the tactics in . George Mitchell of Maine the democratic Leader said the Moynihan proposal will complicate Bush s Effort to Cut the capital gains tax and could even Block it. It already has forced the administration to come out against an election year tax Cut for the 130 million workers who pay social Security taxes and the employers who match their payments. The latter Point has fractured some administration tax alliances. For example the . Chamber of com Merce a staunch ally in Bush s Effort to Cut the capita gains tax has endorsed the social Security tax Cut too. Republicans Are looking for an alternative with tax Cut flavor. Some including rep. Newt Gingrich of Georgia the House minority whip want to begin Chan Ging social Security into a system of retirement savings accounts mandatory but eventually private. The ideas to Start making the change by requiring that the amount of any social Security tax Cut be put into such retirement accounts. That s risky business a suggestion that social Security be changed into a private voluntary system dug the republicans into trouble on the Issue More than 25 years ago and they be been trying to dig out Ever since. Barry Goldwater the 1964 Republican presidential nominee suggested voluntary social Secu Rity. That led to a simple devastating. Democratic Campaign commercial two hands tearing up a social Security  have been repeat performances with variations in most campaigns since. Reagan made his Polit ical debut in the Goldwater Campaign and signed on to the suggestion that it be made voluntary a position he later disowned and denied. In his 1976 and 1980 presidential campaigns Reagan said the system was headed for eventual bankruptcy unless action was taken to put it on a sound financial basis in preparation for increasing Benefit loads after the turn of the Century. That led to the 1983 commission proposal for in creased  in his administration Reagan to cd to restrict some ancillary benefits and to delay a Cost of live increase in Basic benefits. Congress would t buy it and the democrats made it a major Point of Campaign attack. Sen. Bob Dole of Kansas the Republican Leader has said the Issue was a major Factor in undoing gop control of the Senate in 1986. The democrats raised it against Bush in the 1988 residential Campaign saying be wanted to raid social purity to Cut the budget. Bush said those were shop worn scare , perhaps. They also have been shop tested to democratic advantage so far. C the associated Prew