Tales from the Morgue: The Pied Piper of Tucson, Part 12

Gas Chamber Decreed For Murders Of Sisters

JURY FINDS SCHMID GUILTY

Two Hours Taken For Verdict

By Pete Cowgill

An impassive Charles H. Schmid yesterday heard a jury find him guilty of murdering the teenage Fritz sisters and sentence him to die in the gas chamber.

The eight-woman, four-man Superior Court jury deliberated 2 hours and 10 minutes before reaching a unanimous verdict of guilty on two counts of first degree murder. The jury set Schmid's penalty at death.

Judge Lee Garrett will sentence Schmid formally on March 11 and set the date for his execution at that time.

Prosecutor William Schafer III said after the verdict that the state "definitely" will go ahead with the trial of Schmid on the charge of killing 15-year-old Alleen Rowe on March 15. Schafer was the prosecutor during the 11-day trial.

Defense Atty. William Tinney would not comment on the verdict.

Asked if he planned to appeal, Tinney said, "I'm going home to dinner."

A few moments later he said, "I don't know about you, but I'm going home to see my wife and family."

Schmid, 23, was impassive when the clerk read the verdict before a packed courtroom.

His wife, Diane, 15, broke into loud sobs. He turned in his chair and waved at her to be silent as her uncontrolled sobbing filled the room.

The short, stocky, black-haired defendant leaned forward in his chair as the jury filed into the jury box. He was breathing rapidly and he squinted slightly.

While the jury was being polled after both guilty verdicts were announced he rocked back and forth slightly, looked at reporters, court officials and the clerk who called the roll. He only glanced from time to time as each of the jurors affirmed the guilty verdict and the death penalty.

After the jury filed form the room Diane rushed up to Schmid and threw her arms around his neck. Several photographers jumped up to take pictures but Judge Garrett who had not retired from the courtroom admonished them and prevented any pictures being taken.

At the request of Tinney the defendant was allowed to leave the courtoom through the door leading to Garrett's secretary's office while he was on the bench. Only photographers outside the courtroom could take pictures of Schmid.

"You're a bunch of vultures—" a red-haired woman friend of Charles and Katherine Schmid, foster parents of the convicted killer, screamed at a group of photographers who were crowding around the family.

"You got what you wanted — now go," she shouted as the flashbulbs popped and reporters crowded around to catch a glimpse of Schmid's wife Diane who was slumped in a chair in the lobby outside the courtroom.

The denfendant did not say a word in court except perhaps a whispered encouragement to his wife.

His only words outside the courtroom were, "That's the way it goes."

With his hands cuffed behind him he was taken to a waiting car by Deputy Sheriff Henry Booth who has escorted the defendant and guarded him during the entire trial.