Rhodes Accuses Guardsmen Of Second-Degree Murder

Joseph Rhodes Jr., Harvard Junior Fellow and a member of the President's Commission on Campus Unrest, said Sunday that two Ohio National Guardsmen "committed second-degree murder" in the shootings of four Kent State University students last spring.

Rhodes made the charge in a guest appearance at the First Congregational Unitarian Church of Northboro, where he spoke to about 50 parishioners.

After the service, Rhodes refused to elaborate to a reporter. "In point of fact," he said, "I'm not supposed to talk about the grand jury report. If you say that I said that, I can turn around and say I didn't."

In his talk to parishioners, Rhodes said, "There were a few Guardsmen who committed second-degree murder. They went there with premeditation- meaning intending to kill students. We know about it. The FBI knows about these two guys, but it wasn't brought before the grand jury. No mention was made of these two Guardsmen. It hasn't been made part of the public record."

Rhodes said last night he spoke at the church because his mother asked him to, and he didn't expect his remarks to be widely quoted. "I got myself into a pickle," he admitted.

In an interview before the service, Rhodes said there were "major discrepancies between the physical evidence found by our investigators and the FBI, and what the National Guard reported."

Gas

Rhodes said National Guardsmen said no tear gas was brought onto the campus, but he said the fact was that tear gas was brought in.

He said National Guardsmen reported they fired 11 shots, but Rhodes maintained 13 persons were wounded and 32 bulled holes were found in nearby cars.

Rhodes said he thought a Federal grand jury should investigate the deaths, but he added that calling for such an investigation would be "largely a political decision, and I don't know if this particular government ... is going to make that decision."