Regarding the above named defendants,
please be advised of the following facts:
The Texas authorities discovered an
automobile in Texas covered with blood near a bus station. A check was
made and they discovered that the driver was from Fry, Arizona. They
wired to Fry, Arizona, to determine if anyone was missing there.
It was then found that Coy Collier
Qualls, the deceased, had been missing a few days, he being the owner of
the automobile according to the tag on the steering post. The Fort
Huachuca authorities found that the three individuals named hereinabove
were AWOL, and also found their home addresses to be in Texas.
The Texas authorities immediately
arrested the three defendants and secured a confession from each of the
three of them, in effect as follows:
The three defendants secured the
services of Coy Collier Qualls and his taxi on the night of January 7,
1942, to take them to Maco, Arizona, without their having secured
permits to leave the Post.
They returned to Fort Huachuca early
on the morning of January 8, 1942. They then determined to take the day
off and go to Douglas, Arizona, to do some more drinking and dancing.
Grady B. Cole had given Qualls his watch to hold as security for money
to be paid later for the transportation to be furnished.
Qualls was waiting for them at the
Post gate after they had secured a loan of further monies in the Fort
from friends. Before they left the Post and got into the automobile it
was stated by Charles Sanders that they discussed the matter of killing
and robbing Coy C. Qualls. Grady B. Cole picked up a rock near the Post
Exchange which fitted into his hand neatly for the purpose of using it
as a club.
On the way into town Coy C. Qualls
purchased some gin with the money of the defendants which the four of
them, including Qualls, were drinking. According to their statements
they told Qualls (according to their prearranged plan) on the road to
Douglas that they had to answer a call to nature.
Immediately
upon his stopping the automobile, Grady B. Cole struck him with a rock
and Charles Sanders struck him with a bottle. Coy Collier Qualls got out
of the car and Grady D. Cole and Charles Sanders then began striking,
beating and kicking him in the course of which he was knocked down.
Grady B.Cole stated that A C. Levice kicked the driver, Qualls, when he
was down. (Levice and Sanders denied striking deceased at any time).
The blow on the right side of the head of the
deceased after examination by a physician was determined to have been
made with a bottle which Sanders was to have been carrying at that time.
The bottle neck in our possession is covered with blood which would
indicate that the bottle was used to beat deceased with, and in view of
the fact that Grady B. Cole used the rock, Sanders must have used the
bottle, and according to the confessions, Levice kicked the deceased and
struck him also.
The body of the deceased was then loaded into the
automobile and the three defendants continued on the road, Grady B. Cole
sitting in the back of the car with his feet on the deceased, and
according to the statements, kicking the deceased's head in. Grady B,
Cole also thinking that possibly Qualls was not dead, had pulled out his
pocket knife and pushed it into the throat on the right side of
deceased's body. He then threw the knife away.
The money of deceased was extracted from his body and
turned over to J. C. Levice, who was apparently driving. All three of
the defendants participated in the loading of the body into the
automobile and the unloading of the body from the automobile.
The body was taken about nine miles on the other side
of Douglas and dragged off into the bushes where it remained for about
four days; that is to say, until after the apprehension of the
defendants and their confessions as to the above stated facts, at which
time they told where the body was.
The County Attorney’s Office entered a complaint in
the Superior Court on the 17th day of January, 1942, and defendants
being represented by counsel, J. D. Taylor of Tombstone, Arizona, waived
preliminary hearing in the Superior Court and were bound over for trial
in the Superior Court by Judge John Wilson Ross.
It was then indicated by the defendants and their
attorney that they wished to enter a plea of guilty and throw themselves
on the mercy of the Court. An information was then filed by the County
Attorney's Office on January 17, 1942, at which time defendants and
their attorney, J. D. Taylor in their behalf, entered a plea of guilty
to the charge of murder.
On January 21, 1942, the Court held a hearing on the
matter of the culpability of the three defendants in order to determine
if there were any mitigating circumstances to be considered on their
behalf. The County Attorney's Office presented certain facts to the
Court and a statement was made to the Court by John Pintek, County
Attorney, Each one of the defendants was then permitted to state
whatever he wished to the Court and also their attorney was permitted to
make a representation on their behalf.
The Court after having examined the facts and heard
the statements then passed sentence of death on the three named
defendants on the 21st day of January, 1942, with the sentence of death
to be executed on the 3rd day of April, 1942, at the state prison.
