— The Attorney General today recommended that three senior police officers should be put on trial for giving false evidence which led to the conviction of a man now serving a life sentence for the murder of a woman seven years ago. Amos Baranes has consistently claimed that he was not guilty of the murder of Rachel Heller, a soldier. He has refused a pardon, saying this would indicate guilt, and demanded a retrial.
The Attorney General’s statement today said the question of a retrial should be raised by the authorities only after the trial of the three police officers. If found guilty of giving false evidence at the time, the state could then re-open Baranes’ trial. In the meanwhile, he could himself apply to the Supreme Court, the Attorney General said. Suggestions of false evidence on the part of the police investigators into the murder were raised a year ago, by another police officer concerned with the investigation.
CORRECTION: An article in the April 22 Daily News Bulletin inadvertently referred to April 13 as the day the National Security Council made its decision on the AWACS to Saudi Arabia. The date of the decision should have read, correctly, April 3.
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