-Caveat Lector- 'VOICE' TOLD DAD TO KILL SON, FAMILY, JURY IS TOLD Arizona Republic - THURSDAY April 24, 1986 by VENITA HAWTHORNE JAMES [Arizona Republic Staff ] Page number B7 There's no doubt that John Kenton Perry, distraught over the breakup with his common-law wife, put a .44-caliber revolver to the head of his 12-year-old son and pulled the trigger. What a jury will be asked to decide, attorneys said Wednesday in opening arguments of Perry's first-degree-murder trial, is whether he was insane at the time or deliberately killed Gabriel Perry as the first step in a plan to wipe out his family and himself. "Kent was driven to the point where he lost his mind, and his son by his own hand," Jeffrey Myer, a deputy Maricopa County public defender, told jurors. Perry, he said, heard a voice that told him to kill his son. Tom Simon, a deputy county attorney prosecuting Perry, 42, detailed events that he believes show that Perry planned the murder and also wanted to kill his wife, Dahna Larsen, and a baby son at a Phoenix clinic where the woman was undergoing treatment for drug dependency. Perry also is charged with four counts of aggravated assault in connection with threats made against clinic residents with a gun and in the shooting of another resident in a scuffle. Shortly after Perry was arrested Aug. 7, 1985, at New Arizona Family Inc., 1320 N. Second Street, his son was found dead in Perry's pickup truck, which was parked a half-block away from the clinic. The family dog also had been shot dead. Simon told a story of a family in turmoil, of problems that ultimately led to the death of Perry's son near Interstate 17 by Happy Valley Road in west Phoenix: Perry and Larsen started living together in August 1984 on a ranch outside Prescott. Their son, Jess, was born the next April. For weeks, their woodcutting business had been plagued with problems. In addition, Larsen was fighting a drug dependency, while Perry battled with alcohol. The relationship became strained, Simon said. In July, Larsen left Perry and checked into New Arizona for a long-term drug-treatment program. Perry saw Larsen for the last time on Aug. 4, when she came to the ranch to pick up her property. The next day, he started drinking, and his son called an uncle in Phoenix, who picked up his nephew and took him home with him. On Aug. 7, Perry drove to Phoenix and picked up his son. He had a sawed-off shotgun and a .44-caliber revolver in the pickup truck, Simon said. Perry "gave Gabriel the shotgun for the purpose of distracting him, took the .44-caliber revolver, put it to the back of Gabriel's head and shot him," the prosecutor said. Perry drove to the New Arizona clinic and confronted three residents, demanding to know where he could find Larsen. A resident, Gary Prior, grabbed the gun, and other residents scuffled with Perry. They managed to disarm him. Myer said questions arise, not over whether Perry committed the crimes, but over Perry's state of mind that day. He suggested that mounting business and personal difficulties made Perry "snap." "There was a voice telling him that what he had to do was destroy everything he created . . . his son, his dog," Myer said. "He didn't know right from wrong. He was doing what the voice in his head told him to do." Sometime during the trial before Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Stanley Goodfarb, Perry will tell his side of the story, Myer said. Copyright Copyright 1986 Phoenix Newspapers Inc. <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/";>www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'—with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright frauds—is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at: http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html <A HREF="http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html";>Archives of [EMAIL PROTECTED]</A> http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ <A HREF="http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/";>ctrl</A> ======================================================================== To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
