Chapter 15 – Verdict
Monday September 26, 1966 – Wednesday September 28, 1966
There are few specifics that I recall about the whole sad saga of the Carrie Layser beating death and the subsequent trial of Dennis Terry Sites, but one of them is turning on the radio when I came home from school on Monday September 26. I knew that the case had gone to the jury and I wasn’t going to wait until tomorrow evening’s paper to find out if they returned a verdict, which I was expecting momentarily—what was taking them so long anyway, from the evidence that same out in the trial and was published in the paper this was an open and shut case of first degree murder the jury shouldn’t take more than a few minutes to reach a verdict, should they?
I would have gotten home somewhere around 4:00 PM, but according to WLBR, there was still no verdict.
My sister would have come home shortly after me, and my parents probably about 5:00 PM, and I was still waiting for a verdict.
Did the jury still continue to deliberate after 5:00? I didn’t know.
Meanwhile, it was sheer torture waiting.
Mainly because I had to listen to WLBR.
Then there was a news bulletin literally just moments just before 6:00 PM.
The verdict was in.
Guilty of murder in the first degree.
Of course, it was the only possible verdict, wasn’t it?
I headed directly to the phone, though I no longer recall whom I called.
The next day James Shellhamer filled in some of the details in his writeup in the Daily News.
When the jury of seven men and five women arrived at its verdict at 5:50 PM, almost three hours after retiring for deliberations, the news was communicated to court personnel. Four minutes later the jury had descended the stairs from the fourth floor jury room and filed into the courtroom jury box.
At 5:56 p.m. court clerk William Viall asked, “Members of the jury, have you arrived at a verdict? Whom have you selected as foreman? Have you dated and signed it?”
“We have, sir!” Clifford Y. Groy replied as he held out the verdict.
Viall took the document, showed it to Judge Gates, and then instructed the defendant to rise and face the jury and the jury to rise and face the defendant. He then read the verdict.
Siles rested his clenched right hand lightly against the defense counsel table.
As Bickel asked for the jury to be polled—to make certain that the verdict returned was the opinion of each of the 12 jurors—Sites and his wife held hands, as they had done throughout his trial.
Viall then asked of Mrs. Amanda Mann, the first juror, “In the issue joined between the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and Dennis Terry Sites do you find the defendant guilty of murder in the first degree?” Mrs. Mann replied, “I do!” and the same reply was successively given by the 11 other jurors.
They were: Clifford Y. Groy, Mrs. Mae Bullock Gruber, Raymond Reigle, Mrs. Clarence Plummer, Daniel F. Wenger, Mrs. Agnes Soresek, Eugene Davis, Benjamin Flory, Joseph L. Shay, Mrs. Cora A. Peiffer, and George C. Bowman.
Whether it was coincidence or design, the sartorial appearance of the jury was as somber as the verdict returned. Almost all of the jurors, both men and women, were attired in dark colored or gray apparel.
Sites received the guilty verdict Monday afternoon with no apparent show of emotion. His wife, Diane, who had been at his side constantly since the trial started Monday morning, September 19, also maintained a stoic composure. Prior to the announcement of the verdict she appeared to be steeling herself for what was to come. Before she entered the courtroom Mrs. Sites was comforted in an adjoining conference room by her father, U. Samuel Welss. After she left the courtroom she lost her composure.
Only a small portion of the approximately 90 seats in the spectator section of the courtroom were occupied when the jury returned its verdict Monday aflernoon. Throughout most of the trial, including the closing address and the judge’s charge Monday, most of the seats were occupied.
Tuesday morning at 9:00 court reconvened for the penalty portion of the trial.
The character witnesses’ testimony in general followed the pattern of eliciting from the witnesses what the reputation of Sites had been prior to his arrest.
The only cross-examination by the commonwealth came after Lyle Krall, Elco High School teacher and baseball coach, testified concerning his knowledge of Sites when the latter played baseball for Elco in 1960 and 1961.
Beaver asked Krall how Sites had reacted under pressure.
“He was very cool and calm. He never showed temper or anger, or gave back talk,” the witness answered.
Mrs. Sites termed her husband “very kind” and she added, “He provided for us…he never hit us.” She said the only time he punished their three year old son was when he needed it. She also said that her husband had never made any demands on her in any way.
Other character witnesses were: Stewart Klopp, president of the Richland National Bank; Mrs. Mary Weik, Newmanstown: George and Martha Hogendobler, Wernersville; John Shultz, Sheridan; Sheriff Claude E. Hartman; Glenn A. Trout, vice president of Whitmoyer Laboratories, Myerstown, by whom Sites was employed, and Emlin Matthew, Newmanstown RD 1, and Robert Clauser, Schaefferstown, Whitmoyer employes.
Hartman told the jury that Sites has been a good conduct prisoner and for the last five months has been a trusty and working in the jail kitchen.
After the character witnesses testified, Bickel addressed the jury for 15 minutes, and Beaver spoke for four minutes but did not press for the death penalty.
The jury deliberated for 12 minutes before returning a penalty of life imprisonment at 11:10 AM.
There was no outward show of emotion on the part of Sites.
His mother, Mrs. George Sites of Sheridan, was crying and apparently on the verge of collapse as she left the courtroom at the conclusion of the proceeding.
Judge Gates dismissed the jurors from further service and termed them a courageous jury. He then hastened lo add that being a good citizen sometimes requires a show of courage.
The jury had been sequestered at the Lebanon Treadway Inn since it was selected the opening day of the trial.
After the verdict was received, Judge Gates told the defense counsel he would allow a four day period for the filing of motions for a new trial.
It was indicated that the guilty verdict will be appealed by the defense. Since the defense compiled a lengthy trial record of alleged violations of the constitutional rights of Sites at the time of his arrest last December 26, it was anticipated that the appeals would be carried to the Federal Courts. This means, according to some court observers, that the outcome of the trial could be in doubt for some time to come. The “some time” might actually he several years, one observer of the legal scene said.
Pending the disposition of his appeals Sites was expected to continue as an inmate in the county jail, where he had been confined since his arrest.
On Wednesday September 28 Defense Attorneys Bickel and Miller filed a motion requesting a new trial for Dennis Terry Sites. This was a pro forma appeal based on the “stock” reasons that the jury’s verdict was against the evidence. Bickel said more specific reasons will be filed at a later date.
It was also reported that a spokesman for the State Parole Board at Harrisburg stated that in his experience the average sentence served by “lifers” before they are released ranges from 17 to 26 years.
And of course, this was Lebanon County, so readers of the Daily News were most interested in the cost of the trial.
It was expected the proceeding cost the taxpayers about $5,000. The fees for jurors who served during the court session were listed at $1,574.80.
That $5000 would be nearly $50,000 in 2024 dollars.
And finally Sites was reported as following the same routine in jail here as he pursued prior to his trial. “Nothing has changed,” it was related by Warden Victor Basehore. Sites was still working as a trusty in the jail kitchen. He reportedly had not discussed the death of Mrs. Layser with anyone.
It was expected that Sites would remain in jail until his new trial appeal was resolved.
[Portions of this post were transcribed nearly verbatim from the Lebanon Daily News coverage of the trial written by James Shellhamer.]
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