Cirrotta Rioters May be Readmitted

Dartmouth's murder case received a new development yesterday morning when Vincent Cirrotta, father of the student who was killed in a dormitory brawl last March, bitterly denounced New Hampshire Attorney General William L. Phinney for his handling of the case.

In identical letters to Phinney and the Manchester Union-Leader, Cirrotta charged that "the shocking recommendation to Superior Court Justice William A. Grimes to give a suspended sentence to William C. Felton, who attacked and killed my son, Raymond J. Cirrotta, is a black letter day for justice."

Phinney said, in a front page story in the Union-Leader, that he had no intention of becoming involved in an altercation with the dead student's father.

The Attorney General brushed aside Cirrotta's letter by saying, "All the facts... were presented in full detail to the court, and the recommendations of the court were based thereon."

In reply to an earlier quote of Phinney's to the effect that "It would not have done any good to jail him (Felton)," Cirrotta wrote, "What a farce. What a horrible tragedy. What a travesty on justice. No good to jail a man who pleads guilty to first degree manslaughter."

The letter's denunciation of Phinney continued, "You know that you and County Solicitor Robert Jones have kept facts to yourselves, and held the public generally uninformed."

Referring again to Phinney's "no good to jail him" statement, the letter ended, "By these words you have indicted yourself before a greater Court than the one you addressed when you recommended a suspended sentence first for Doxsee and now for Felton."

The incident began on the evening of March 21, 1949. After a fraternity drinking party, five juniors and a sophomore, "undoubtedly drunk" according to their lawyer, went up to Cirrotta's room. During a short struggle following an argument, Cirrotta struck his head against a table. After being removed to a hospital, he died following an emergency brain operation.

The students involved in the killing were immediately suspended by the college. On June 1, Doxsee, accused of "causing mortal injuries," was fined $500, and given a one year suspended sentence. The same day, Phinney announced that Felton would figure in another trial in the fall.

At the Doxsee trial, Cirrotta's father collapsed and had to be revived by a physician.