Jurors Find Harrison Guilty; Maximum Is 7-Year Penalty

A Superior Court jury found Coleman P. Harrison '74 guilty last Wednesday of larceny of the person and simple assault and battery.

The jury deliberated for eight hours before announcing its verdict which carries a maximum sentence of seven and one-half years. Judge Thomas Dwier has deferred sentencing of Harrison until Wednesday.

The state of Massachusetts charged Harrison with armed robbery and assault and battery of a Boston policeman during the May 7 welfare demonstration. An armed robbery conviction brings a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.

Dwier presented the jury with three alternatives: finding Harrison guilty of armed robbery, guilty of larceny or innocent altogether. Larceny differs from armed robbery because it is stealing without using a dangerous weapon and without intimidating the victim.

William P. Homans Jr. '41, Harrison's attorney, appealed to the jury in an hour long summation to divorce its political beliefs from its consideration of the evidence.

"What the chants were, what the color of the flags were, are not part of the issue in this case." Homans said.

Homans emphasized that Thomas L. Matthews, the officer who charged that Harrison assaulted him and took his revolver, was not in uniform and therefore did not have a club to ward off demonstrators. He suggested to the jury that Matthews used the handle of his gun as a club to defend himself and that be accidentally dropped it during the disruption.

In his summation. Homans stated that the prosecution had not produced a knife, the weapon Harrison allegedly used to wound Matthews. Homans also attempted to prove to the jury that the prosecution witnesses had contradicted each other in their testimony on the precise time periods of demonstration photographs.

In his brief summation. William A. Doherty, the prosecuting attorney, attempted to put the credibility of defense witnesses into doubt. He said that Molly E. Backup '72, who took 15 photographs used by the defense, had an interest in the case because she had participated in the demonstration.

Doherty suggested to the jury that none of the six officers who testified that Harrison was on the steps next to Matthews "had an axe to grind" in the case.