Appellate Court Acquits Washington

A Suffolk Superior Court jury has acquitted folksinger Jackie Washington on a charge of assault and battery of a police officer. The jury deliberated for five hours Wednesday after a three-day trial, and its sealed verdict was opened and read yesterday morning by Judge Robert A. Welsh.

Washington had appealed the finding of the Boston Municipal Court, which last Dec. 11 found him guilty and fined him $10.

On Jan. 9, the Boston Police Review Board had exonerated the arresting officers, Patrolmen John J. Dailey and Robert Harvey, whom Washington had charged with arresting him illegally and beating him, breaking his nose and injuring his ankle. Washington, who objected to the Board's procedures, did not participate in the hearing.

Civil Rights Question

The 24-year-old Emerson College senior told the CRIMSON last night that he has not yet decided whether to sue policemen for deprivation of rights order the Civil Rights Act of 1960. But once the case is relevant to an investigation of police practices now being conducted by several civil rights organizations in the Boston area, it is likely that the matter will be pursued. CORE supplied Washington with his lawyer Edward J. Barshak, and the NAACP and the American Jewish Congress helped raise funds to pay legal costs.

CORE Seeks Revision

Alan Gartner, chairman of Boston CORE, said last night that "whether or not there is a suit, we hope that some serious police reforms will come out of this." One of the changes CORE wants is a revision of Police Review Board procedures to allow the complainant's counsel the right of cross-examination and to apply the rules of evidence at Board hearings.

This week's trial included more elaborate presentations than the original trial, which was before a judge. The physician who examined Washington on Dec. 3, the night of the arrest, testified for the first time. Photographs showing the injuries the singer received were presented, and the photographer who took them testified.

"Yessir, Boss"

The charges and countercharges became increasingly emotional during the two months of trials and hearings. The policemen asserted that Washington had "screamed incoherently about rights" when he was arrested and their lawyer at the Review Board hearing charged the singer with blowing up the case as a publicity stunt to further his career. Washington's attorney claimed his client had been arrested for not having a "yessir, boss" attitude.

CORE Seeks Revision

Alan Gartner, chairman of Boston CORE, said last night that "whether or not there is a suit, we hope that some serious police reforms will come out of this." One of the changes CORE wants is a revision of Police Review Board procedures to allow the complainant's counsel the right of cross-examination and to apply the rules of evidence at Board hearings.

This week's trial included more elaborate presentations than the original trial, which was before a judge. The physician who examined Washington on Dec. 3, the night of the arrest, testified for the first time. Photographs showing the injuries the singer received were presented, and the photographer who took them testified.

"Yessir, Boss"

The charges and countercharges became increasingly emotional during the two months of trials and hearings. The policemen asserted that Washington had "screamed incoherently about rights" when he was arrested and their lawyer at the Review Board hearing charged the singer with blowing up the case as a publicity stunt to further his career. Washington's attorney claimed his client had been arrested for not having a "yessir, boss" attitude.