Tales from the Morgue: The Pied Piper of Tucson, Part 7

Mary French Sentenced To 4-5 Years In Prison

Displaying not a flicker of emotion, Mary Rae French, a slender, 19-year-old brunette, heard herself sentenced yesterday to spend four to five years in State Prison for being involved in the slaying of Alleen Rowe, 15.

She stood silent and unbending as the sentence was passed but later she burst into tears as she walked down the stairway leading from the courtroom.

The teenager who was apprehended in Belton, Texas, on Nov. 14 received two concurrent sentences on charges of concealing and compounding a felony and being an accessory to the murder of the Rowe girl.

She had entered a plea of guilty to the charges on Nov. 25.

Superior Court Judge Robert Roylston told the former Palo Verde High School student that he could not give her probation which was urged by Jack Redhair, her court-appointed attorney.

Redhair told Roylston before sentencing that Miss French was only 17 years old at the time of the killing of Miss Rowe on May 31, 1964.

"She was under the influence of an older man (Charles Schmid, 23, also charged with the murder) — she loved this man and he told her not to tell of the crime — loved ones do not tell on each other," Redhair said.

The attorney claimed that Miss French did not know there was going to be a murder until it happened. He said her only crime was in not telling of the murder after it happened. Following the slaying she went to Texas and severed her relationship with Schmid.

"When she was contacted by the police in Texas she told the whole truth about the crime," Redhair said. "She cooperated 100 per cent."

Redhair pleaded for probation for Miss French for about 15 mintues. He claimed the girl should be rehabilitated rather than punished by putting her in prison. He said she should be given the opportunity to complete her high school education so that she can become a useful member of society.

Miss French stood with her head bowed at times before Roylston. The only thing she said was "No, sir" when the judge asked if she had anything to say before sentence was pronounced.

Roylston said he had received preliminary reports from the Adult Probation Office ever since the girl pleaded guilty. He had a very comprehensive report last weekend which included psychiatric reports, letters to and from the girl and various versions of the crime as told to the probation officers by Miss French and others involved in the murder.

The judge said none of these reports are public.

The maximum sentence which could be given Miss French on each charge was five years. In pronouncing the sentence Roylston merely said he could not place the girl on probation and he then set the term at four to five years on each count to run concurrently. The actual sentencing took no more than 20 to 30 seconds.

Saunders Gets Life for Rowe Murder

To Testify At Trial Of Schmid

By Pete Cowgill

A gasping, blinking, white-faced John Saunders was sentenced to life in the state prison yesterday for killing pretty 15-year-old Alleen Rowe.

Saunders, 19, his hands clenched tightly in front of him, swayed erratically before the bench as Superior Court Judge John Collins pronounced the sentence.

Collins could have sentenced Saunders to die in the gas chamber as the youth had pleaded guilty to smashing the petite Miss Rowe with rocks until she died May 31, 1964.

Both Saunders and Mary R. French, also 19, are expected to testify at the murder trial of Charles Schmid Jr. next March 15. Schmid, 23, has pleaded innocent to the killing of Miss Rowe.

Saunders, dressed in a two-toned gray sport jacket, white shirt and tie, in a halting and barely audible voice told Collins, "I dedicate the rest of my life to make myself a better person to live with . . . "

W. Edward Morgan, the court-appointed attorney for Saunders, told the judge the defendant has had a complete reversal of his convictions. He asked that the youth's life be spared.

Collins said he was going to fit the punishment to the man, not the crime.

"There is a place in the bosom of the trial judge for mercy at the time of sentencing," the judge told Saunders.

"You have a deep religious background but when you needed it most, you did not use it," Collins said.

The judge told the youth that he was easily influenced by others and that he was the "passive party in this matter."

Saunders was told that psychiatrists said he could make a readjustment to lead a good life and do justice to the community if allowed to do so.

"You will probably never be able to get it (the murder) from your mind," Collins said, "but this is the way of the good Lord."

Collins said he was extending the wise hand of mercy in sentencing the tall, black-haired Saunders to life in prison rather than to death in the gas chamber.

The average time served in the state prison by persons given a life term on a first degree murder charge is from 12 to 15 years, according to Walter Hoffman, chairman of the State Board of Pardons and Paroles.

At Morgan's request, Saunders life sentence will start the day after Christmas.

Following the sentencing Morgan turned to the youth, wrapped his arms around him and said, "Now we can start a new life."

With newspaper and television photographers popping flashbulbs, Saunders embraced his father and mother. They whispered for several moments, nearly oblivious to the many pictures being taken in the courtroom after the judge left the bench.

Saunders was then handcuffed with his arms behind his back and led from the courtroom by two armed deputy sheriffs. He will be taken to the state prison at Florence on Dec. 26.