<Begin Segment 23>

CO: So what happened at the trial? And when was the trial?

JO: The trial began on October 23, 1944. And lasted 'til November 2, 1944. The Fair Play Committee members, seven of them, testified first. I testified last.

CO: I understand that you were under a separate -- you had a separate... didn't you move for a separate trial?

JO: We moved for separate trial twice. And both times it was denied. The second time it was denied, my Wyoming attorney was the secretary of the Wyoming bar association. And it was his opinion that the judge had violated the ethics of his commission. And he explained to me that if there are evidence in my favor just as strong as the evidence produced by the prosecution, that he should declare... what do you call that verdict? Well, anyway, the verdict from the bench and let me go. Which he did not. Now after the trial, the judge told my attorney -- now this is what my attorney told me -- that the judge had said to him that if the jury had convicted me, he would have sustained it although he knew that it would be overturned by a higher court. So my goose was cooked if I had a judge decide the case.

CO: You had a jury trial?

JO: I had a jury trial.

CO: And what was the outcome?

JO: I was acquitted on the charges of the government.

CO: And then what happened after that?

JO: Well, after that, naturally I'm flat broke by now. So I went back to Denver, moved in from Lakewood where I lived, into Denver.

[Interruption]

JO: I, I didn't, I was in the same courtroom, but I didn't say goodbye to them because I was pretty well shook up about the Fair Play Committee.

CO: What did you think of them?

JO: Well, you see there were a couple of incidents leading up to the trial and I, we decided to forget about them and go our own way.

CO: So you had a... it was not a convivial get-together?

JO: No, no.

CO: They didn't appreciate the fact that you'd been supporting them?

JO: I don't know what they really thought. I only know what happened.

<End Segment 23> - Copyright © 1994, 2003 Densho and Emiko Omori. All Rights Reserved.