This story was first published in the Toronto Star on March 11, 1978:

Werner Gruener walked out of a courtroom a free man last night, leaving two of the only friends he has in the world behind in the prisoner’s dock.

Gruener was acquitted of first-degree murder in the slaying of shoeshine boy Emanuel Jaques. His co-defendant Josef Woods, a man Gruener describes as “a good friend,” was found guilty of second-degree murder, while Saul David Betesh was found guilty of first degree-murder.

The 11-member jury took two hours to reach its verdict in the Supreme Court.

As he was being led away from the courtroom, Gruener, the 29-year-old who reads the Bible continuously, murmured “God bless.”

After walking past the homicide detectives who arrested him last summer, Gruener told reporters “I’m not the type of person to hold a grudge. I’m a rather friendly person.”

York Crown Attorney Peter Eickaby said he “will be recommending” the Crown appeal the verdict on Gruener.

Jury foreman James Spencer stood up before Mr. Justice William Maloney at 10:23 p.m. to read the verdict. Gruener then shuffled out of the court-room a free man.

Homicide detectives outside the courtroom, their faces showing obvious shock, shrugged their shoulders.

Gruener was taken to a small anteroom on the fifth floor of the University Ave. courthouse by his lawyers.

Only a few spectators, including Emanuel Jaques’ 17-year-old sister, Valdemira, were in the courtroom to hear the verdict announced.

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As it was read, Valdemira, who had been in court since the trial began Jan. 16, showed little emotion.

The 26-year-old Woods, appearing impassive as his own verdict was read, showed obvious pleasure on hearing Gruener was acquitted.

Murmuring under his breath, with a slight smile on this face, Woods nudged Gruener several times in the ribs.

At the other end of the dock, an empty seat away from them, sat 27-year-old Betesh.

His hair tousled, a little paler that usual, the man who was the first to rape and assault Emanuel showed absolutely no expression.

He stood to hear his conviction (which carries a minimum term of 25 years) with his hands clasped in front of him, as calm as he appeared a week ago on the witness stand.

Judge Maloney complimented the jury on a “wise and just” decision, one which he had instructed them to find.

In his five-hour address to the jury earlier in the day, he told them to find Woods guilty of second-degree murder and to acquit Gruener.

With Betesh, the judge said there were only two possible verdicts — guilty as charged or not guilty because of insanity.

Missing from the prisoners’ dock, as he had been since his conviction in mid-trial was 29-year-old Kribs, the thin, bearded man who pleaded guilty to first-degree murder.

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As the trial drew to a close this week, Kribs was painted by other defence lawyers as the villain in the slaying — the man whose aggressive instincts triggered an impulse in Betesh.

Although Kribs and Betesh originally told police they together drowned Emanuel in a sink last July 29, when he was on the witness stand last week Betesh told the jury he could remember nothing about the night, claiming he had blacked out after trying to strangle the boy.

The trial that a lawyer last night described as a “pressure cooker” very nearly bubbled over in the excitement after Gruener’s acquittal.

Shortly before 10 o’clock, when police were planning to arrest Gruener on a charge of being an accessory after the fact and take him downstairs to a holding cell, one Metro detective was alerted to leave the courtroom as soon as the verdict was announced.

Outside the courtroom, one policeman said prosecutor Rickaby had told them “not do anything. Gruener? He’s a free man.”

Betesh and Woods were remanded until next Friday for sentencing. Also to be sentenced is Robert Wayne Kribs, who pleaded guilty to first-degree murder earlier in the trial.

He did so, then came back in apparent confusion. A few minutes later, Gruener made his way out.

Crown prosecutors were almost as disappointed in Maloney’s charge to the jury as policemen were in the verdict.

Prosecutor Frank Armstrong, obviously angry, argued eloquently after the jury had retired, that Maloney should re-instruct the 11 members about Woods.

“There is not a thing your lordship can do to correct the damage done in the case of Werner Gruener,” Armstrong said.

In fact, Maloney was prepared to re-instruct the jury when it returned with a verdict.

“The jury reached a verdict about the time I had decided I had decided I would recall them, to instruct them that Woods could be guilty of first-degree murder,” Maloney told lawyers before the jurors returned.

“But it would not have affected the result... they would have to have had no reasonable doubt that Woods was privy to an intention to kill, and on the evidence that would have been difficult,” Maloney said.

Armstrong had argued in a closed-door argument: “Your Lordship has gone far beyond your right to give an opinion. This is a fatal charge in the sense that it cannot be corrected.”

Armstrong, visibly angry, said the judge had placed the jury “in an impossible position” by suggesting the verdict of second-degree murder for Woods.