University of Virginia Library

In Three Day Trial

Greenfield Convicted Of Murder

A six-man, six-woman jury
in Charlottesville Corporation
Court convicted Ronald W.
Greenfield, 18, of second
degree murder June 15 and
sentenced him to 20 years in
the penitentiary for the knife
slaying of fourth-year woman
Mary Frances Jordan last
November.

Before Judge George M.
Coles delivered his sentence,
Greenfield said that he believed
that he had been given a
"pretty fair" trial, and that he
thanked the court for "its
patience" during the three-day
trial.

"Open and Shut"

Although Greenfield's case
had at first been termed "open
and shut" by Charlottesville
Commonwealth's Atty. John
T. Camblos, testimony during
the trial and legal questions
surrounding procedures used
within the trial made the
process somewhat difficult.

Defense lawyer Gerald
Tremblay has indicated that
the case will probably be
appealed.

Information gathered by
police officers on the day of
the murder showed that Miss
Jordan and Greenfield worked
at Poe's, on the Corner, and
that their coworkers had seen
the two leave the tavern about
12:25 a.m. after Miss Jordan
had offered Greenfield a ride
home.

Testimony

Thomas J. Keevan Jr., a
third-year student, saw a man
wearing clothes similar to those
taken from Greenfield after his
arrest running from the
Westminster Presbyterian
Church parking lot about 12:45
a.m. However, Mr. Keevan's
physical description of the man
did not match Greenfield's in
height, or in the fact that
Greenfield wears glasses and
has a mustache.

Mr. Keevan then discovered
Miss Jordan's body lying beside
her car in the parking lot.

Ghost House

Police officers also found
that Greenfield had been in a
Charlottesville residence on
Wertland St., known as the
Ghost House, near the time of
the murder with a badly cut
hand. He allegedly had told
several persons there that he
had killed a narcotics agent.

After Greenfield had been
warned that anything he said
could be used against him, he
described the details before
and after the slaying to
Richmond Detective Harry W.
Duke, who had arrested him at
St. Luke's Hospital in
Richmond where Greenfield
had gone for treatment of a
cut.

Greenfield allegedly told
Mr. Duke that he could not
recall stabbing Miss Jordan, but
confessed to the murder and
admitted that the knife taken
from his coat pocket was the
murder weapon.

But the case soon met
complications, when, unaware
that Greenfield was a juvenile,
Mr. Camblos released his name
and description as a suspect in
hopes that the publicity would
aid his apprehension.

However, when Mr.
Camblos found that Greenfield