Great FReepin' performance of the evening by stratman1969! : )
Posted on 10/09/2002 8:52:16 PM PDT by stratman1969
I would have thought that nearly bankrupt AA would have better uses for its cash than promoting radical pinkos.
"Ed, you're becoming Chuckles the Clown"
or
"Ed = Chuckles the Clown"
He'll get the allusion. So will Mary Tyler Moore show fans.
Or how about:
"Ed, take your meds!"
"Ed, You're Losing It!"
SAN FERNANDO, Calif. (APBnews.com) -- Actor Ed Asner took the witness stand to praise an award-winning screenplay written by a convicted police killer.
Asner, who has made many public appearances to protest the death penalty sentence of convicted Philadelphia police-killer Mumia Abu Jamal, on Tuesday testified in the trial of Kenneth Gay.
Gay, 42, was convicted in 1985 of helping a companion, Raynard Cummings, kill Los Angeles Police Department motorcycle Officer Paul Verna, who had stopped the car the men were driving.
In the murder trial, prosecutors declared that Gay and Cummings had shot and killed Verna because they feared he would arrest them for a string of robberies they allegedly had committed.
Both Gay and Cummings were convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to death.
Arguing against death penalty
In 1998, the California Supreme Court overturned Gay's death sentence on the grounds that his attorney was incompetent. His conviction remained.
Gay's new defense team is arguing against a re-imposition of the death penalty on the grounds that he did not shoot Verna.
Though his guilt or innocence in the case is out of bounds of this week's proceedings in San Fernando Superior Court, his public defenders are arguing for a life sentence.
'Quite a refreshing story'
Asner was in court as a character witness for Gay on the basis of a screenplay Gay wrote while in prison. The play, "A Children's Story," won a $500 prize in a 1994 contest in a writer's workshop connected with the American Film Institute. Asner announced the award in a June 2 ceremony that year.
"I was highly impressed," Asner told the court Tuesday in response to questions from public defender Mark Zuckman. "It is a wonderful story about physically and mentally challenged kids who are brought together to go on an outing, camping, and it goes to very good lengths to show that they learn to trust, depend, and survive with each other under terribly adverse conditions."
Zuckman asked Asner if he had found the screenplay to be an uplifting story. "Very much so," Asner answered. "Quite a refreshing story and unique."
Pressed by prosecutor
Deputy District Attorney Lawrence Morrison asked Asner if he had known that Gay was on death row at the time he made the award presentation in 1994.
"I don't recall," Asner said. "I think I may have known that he was incarcerated, but I do not think -- I cannot say for sure that I knew he was on death row."
Morrison asked Asner if he had actually read the screenplay when he passed out the award.
"No," Asner answered.
"In fact," Morrison asked, "you made a comment during the presentation about it, didn't you?"
Asner said he did not recall the comment.
"You said something to the effect of: 'I hope he doesn't eat the kids at the end of the story,' didn't you?"
"I don't recall," Asner answered. "My charm sometimes works strangely."
Didn't know officer's name
Morrison also asked Asner if anyone had told him when he presented the award on June 2, 1994, that "it was exactly 11 years to the day when the recipient gunned down in cold blood this police officer?"
Asner said no one had told him that.
"Have you ever read a Father's Day card written by Paul Verna to his father?" Morrison asked.
"Could you possibly tell me who Paul Verna is?" Asner asked.
"You don't know, sir?" the prosecutor asked.
"No," Asner answered.
"Do you know the name of the police officer the author of this screenplay murdered?" the prosecutor asked.
"Say that again?" Asner asked.
Morrison again asked if Asner knew the name of the slain police officer. Asner said he did not know.
Asner completed his testimony Tuesday. The case continued today.
David Barry is an APBnews.com correspondent in Los Angeles.
Great FReepin' performance of the evening by stratman1969! : )
HEY!!!
That kleptomaniac Klinton stole your award! Fry the sucka!
Seriously though, thanks for going after AssWipeAsner.
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