ITO IS ACQUITTED BY FEDERAL JURY

An All-Caucasion [Caucasian] jury yesterday freed Kenji Ito, Seattle attorney, in Seattle's first war-time trial of a Japanese.

Ito was charged with failing to register with the State Department as an agent of the Japanese government. The jury, given the case at noon yesterday, returned a verdict of innocent late in the afternoon.

The young former University of Washington student, who once toured the Orient as a member of a University debating team, made his own final argument to the jury, closing for the defense after his chief counsel, Henry Clay Agnew, had made the opening argument.

Ito expressed gratification at the verdict, saying he would "do everything in my power to vindicate the confidence and trust that have been placed in me."

Ito was tried before Judge John C. Bowen, who admitted him to practice in the United States courts in 1936. As Ito faced the jury he stood within a few feet of Assistant United States Attorney Gerald Shucklin, who witnessed his petition at that time. Shucklin prosecuted the case against him.