Death: BUTLER, Benjamin J.
Author: Don Stowell Date: 7 May 2005 1:15 PM GMT
Surnames: Christenson, Jackson, Griffin, Weaver
Classification: Obituary
Aged Pensioner Murdered By Four Antelope Valley Boys
Benjamin J. Butler, 72, pensioner, was found dead of three bullet wounds on the Bob Zangle property nine miles west of Mojave last Friday afternoon, November 25. Ranch is the first one west of the town on the right hand side of Oak Creek Road.
The body was found in a tool shed approximately 100 yards from the deceased man's cabin. Gruesome find was made by two friends from Los Angeles County who had driven up to visit him.
John Stein of Monrovia and D. R. Turley of Bellflower told Sgt. King of the Mojave Sheriff's substation that they had purchased a set of wagon wheels which they were going to remove from an old wagon on the ranch.
When they arrived at 2:30 p.m. they found no one at home so the two men opened the tool shed to get a wrench for removing the wheels. They saw the body and immediately drove into Mojave to notify the authorities.
Sgt. David King and deputy Tom Shuell answered the call and drove out to the Zangle ranch where they verified the two men's story. Radio communications was contacted and Sgt. Joe Taylor, Coroner Stan Newman and District Attorney investigator, Tom Hildreth immediately drove over from Bakersfield and the investigation began.
Sgt. King remembered a former visit from the slain rancher, who complained a Danny Green had shot a couple of his chickens and stolen some wine out of his cabin after he and his father, Richard Green had been given permission to hunt on the property.
With this slim lead, the officers swung into action and with the aid of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's office in Lancaster, Green, who had lived there, was ordered picked up: He was not at home however and officers located a friend who said that Green and the Sewell boys of Littlerock, paled around together.
Arrest of the Sewell brothers, Lloyd and Weldon, was the next step and, they implicated Darrell Standridge of Bakersfield. Sgt. Taylor obtained a confession from the elder Sewell boy who admitted firing one of the .30-.30 rifles used.
Danny Green was arrested Sunday night when he and his father returned home from a trip to Mexico where they had gone to think the whole thing out, according to a statement made by the father.
Another crime was solved at the same time when it was learned the firearms used in the murder had been stolen from the General Supply Co., in Lancaster in an earlier burglary.
Story of the crime as related by the boys to investigators is as follows: Danny Green told Sgt. Taylor he had planned to kill Butler on two previous occasions and went to the ranch to carry out his plan but changed his mind at the last moment. Danny told the Sewell boys about his plan last Tuesday, Nov. 22 and they made a special trip to Bakersfield to pick up Darrell Standridge and the four returned to the desert to carry out their intentions.
They drove back to the desert Tuesday and late that night went to Butler's cabin and woke him up saying they needed gasoline for their car. Butler got up, put on a jacket and jeans and came outside with a flashlight. He gave the boys some gas and then apparently becoming suspicious, went back to the cabin for his rifle.
While Butler was in the cabin Sewell and Standridge picked up .30-.30 rifles off the floor of their car and as Butler approached started firing. One shot struck the doomed man in the neck, one in the hand and two in the chest.
All four boys then dragged the body more than 100 yards and placed it in the tool shed. The boys then drove back to Lancaster and tossed Butler's rifle, which had been damaged by the hail of bullets, from the car somewhere between Mojave and Lancaster.
'The quartet then went over to Green's home and spent the night there. The guns were found by Green's father the next day and in company with the boys drove out into the desert 16 miles east of Lancaster and buried them.
All four boys will be charged with first degree murder, said Marvin Ferguson of the District Attorney's office, who will prosecute the case.
Under California law, the four will be referred to Juvenile Court as all are under the age of 18. It is thought, however, that the Juvenile authorities will refer them back to stand trial in an adult court.
The boys seem to think the murder a lark and as one of them put it, "Just like shooting rabbits" Another said, as he posed for photographs, "Will this make all the big papers?"
01 Dec 1955
Funeral Pending
Funeral arrangements for Benjamin Butler are pending at the O'Donnell Funeral Home in Mojave. He was born February 18, 1883, in Nevada and ,had lived in and around Mojave for the past 10 years.
Survivors are a daughter, Hilda Mae Christenson; a brother, Newton W. Butler; and three sisters, Nora E. Jackson, Ada E. Griffin, and Martha A. Weaver.
01 Dec 1955
Four Boys Will Enter Their Plea
Four teen-age boys are due to enter a plea to a Mojave murder after a Grand Jury indictment for the killing of Ben Butler, Mojave area ranch caretaker, The four young men were sent to the juvenile authorities, then back again to be treated as adults altho all are less than 18 years old. The innocent or guilty plea will be made before County Superior Court Judge Gordon Howden. If found guilty after a trial, the four boys face possible life sentences or even death in the gas chamber
Represented by top legal talent the boys hope to get off as easily as possible. They remain in jail until the courts decide their fate. The four are Darrell Standridge 17, of Bakersfield; Daniel Green 15, Lancaster, Weldon 15, and Lloyd Swell, 17, of Little Rock. Standridge and the older Sewel boy from Lancaster are accused of the actual shooting while Green also of Lancaster, is pegged as the master-mind of the crime.
22 Dec 1955
Boys Judged Sane At Time Of Murder
Three boys accused of a murder near Mojave last Thanksgiving have been found legally sane by three doctors who examined them. They had tried to escape trial on the grounds they were insane at the time. The fourth boy in the group did not enter such a plea.
The trio included a boy who said he felt weird and mixed up after the fatal shooting-one who admitted he had not taken his mother's good advice-and one who commented to a doctor, "At least. jail is quiet compared to the griping at home." The doctors had been named to learn something about the thinking of the teen-age youths who took the life of aging Ben Butler in what was admittedly a planned killing.
Danny Green, 16, of Lancaster, agrees he planned the whole thing. Green lived in comfortable surroundings with his father who had given him a horse, but he sold it. His father then bought the boy an airplane and he was learning to fly when the killing happened. Green said he liked to hurt things. Of the fatal shooting, he said, "At the time, it didn't seem like killing a human, it seemed sort of fun to hurt something like animals. The boy said he had trouble with his will power, and was always afraid of being made fun of by his friends. He said frankly to Dr. Raymond Herold, "I don't think I'm crazy. I want to do what's right." Green said he and the other boys had been drinking beer and whiskey at the time. In fact, after killing the ranch caretaker, they raided the ice box in his home for more whiskey and drank it on the way to Mojave and Lancaster.
Lloyd Sewell, 17, of Lancaster, was one of the boys who used the guns. He felt he shouldn't be in jail-that he ought to be in the juvenile hall. Sewell said his mother had given him good advice which he didn't follow.
Darrel Standridge, 16, of Bakersfield, was the most hardened of the group. All had violated the curfew and were caught a few times. All had run away from home a few times. Standridge had been in reform schools recently, had been released from Preston in October, a month before the killing. He said he was always the brunt of the complaints around his house, and when he was angry with his family he had to do something bad. If it wasn't a killing, he said, he probably would have committed a robbery or a burglary. The son of .divorced parents, Standridge had lived with one, then the other. He had used marijuana a few times. Standridge has no regrets because of the murder. Asked what he thought his future would be, Standridge thought he would get a life sentence from the court, or would be tried later when he was 21, then sent to the gas chamber. While held in the jail in Bakersfield, Standridge had plotted a jail break. His note of instructions was intercepted and he was put under heavier guard.
The fourth boy was Weldon Sewell, brother of Lloyd Sewell, who is only 15. He claims he had no part in the murder. Superior Judge Gordon Howden did not put much stock in the trite legal move to plea the boys "not guilty by reason of insanity." Even while he named the doctors to examine the boys, the judge kept the trial date for March 5th in Bakersfield.
19 Jan 1956
Three Boys To Be Sentenced Friday, Feb. 10
The fate of three teen-agers who killed a Mojave area ranch caretaker now rests in the hands of Superior Court Judge.. Robert B. Lambert in Bakersfield: Benjamin Butler had been willftilly shot to death by the boys who had a grudge against him because he had warned, them to leave the property earlier.
Legal maneuvers to claim the boys were not guilty because they were.insane at the time, proved useless. Doctors who had examined the trio found they were definitely
responsible for their actions. One of the trio – Darrell Standridge of Bakersfield showed to doctors that he had no remorse over what he had done. Standridge is 16.
Lloyd Sewell, 17, and Danny Green, 15, both of Lancaster, are the other boys who have now claimed they are guilty and are willing, to let a judge set their future. Weldon Sewell, 15, brother of one of the admitted murderers, was freed because he claimed he did s not take part in the shooting, and the investigation supported that.
Green was the ring-leader of the teen-age gang that will appear for sentencing at 10 a.m. on February 10th.
09 Feb 1956
Judge Gives Life Sentence to Teenage Trio For Wanton Murder Here
"Only your age saved you from the state gas chamber," said Kern County Superior Court Judge Robert Lambert when he found 3 teen-agers guilty of. first degree murder in the wanton slaying of Ben Butler near Mojave last Nov. 25th. Judge Lambert had listened to the long reading of statements taken from the boys shortly after their arrest for .the killing. At that time, they had admitted the shooting on the basis of an old grudge against Butler.
Testimony was taken from Sgt. Dave King, Sheriff's deputy of Mojave. Photographs of the dead man the guns used, and the general area of the murder were also introduced at the hearing before the judge set the degree of murder. Altho it was judged to be first degree murder, California law does not allow sentencing to the gas chamber of anyone under 21.
Danny Green, 15, of Lancaster admittedly headed the plot to kill Butler. He rounded up his cronies, Lloyd Sewell, 17 also of Lancaster, and Darrell Standridge, 16 of Bakersfield and they set out purposely to kill the elderly ranch caretaker. Weldon Sewell, 15, had gone along but took no part in the slaying.
The boys said they were insane, but doctors who examined them said they were not. Immediately after the judge called it murder in the first, degree, the boys waived normal time for sentencing and asked for the verdict immediately. Ruled Judge Lambert, "For the rest of your natural life you shall be confined in the state prison." I remand you to the custody of the Sheriff of this county for delivery to the State prison at Chino without undue delay. Chino's a normal staging area for prisoners who are classified then assigned to other state prisons according to the findings made there. It is felt unlikely the trio will be allowed to stay together.
State authorities will screen the murder boys this week.
Posted by East Kern Genealogical Society
Courtesy of Mojave Desert News
California City, Kern, CA
Published: 16 Feb 1956
Author: Don Stowell Date: 7 May 2005 1:15 PM GMT
Surnames: Christenson, Jackson, Griffin, Weaver
Classification: Obituary
Aged Pensioner Murdered By Four Antelope Valley Boys
Benjamin J. Butler, 72, pensioner, was found dead of three bullet wounds on the Bob Zangle property nine miles west of Mojave last Friday afternoon, November 25. Ranch is the first one west of the town on the right hand side of Oak Creek Road.
The body was found in a tool shed approximately 100 yards from the deceased man's cabin. Gruesome find was made by two friends from Los Angeles County who had driven up to visit him.
John Stein of Monrovia and D. R. Turley of Bellflower told Sgt. King of the Mojave Sheriff's substation that they had purchased a set of wagon wheels which they were going to remove from an old wagon on the ranch.
When they arrived at 2:30 p.m. they found no one at home so the two men opened the tool shed to get a wrench for removing the wheels. They saw the body and immediately drove into Mojave to notify the authorities.
Sgt. David King and deputy Tom Shuell answered the call and drove out to the Zangle ranch where they verified the two men's story. Radio communications was contacted and Sgt. Joe Taylor, Coroner Stan Newman and District Attorney investigator, Tom Hildreth immediately drove over from Bakersfield and the investigation began.
Sgt. King remembered a former visit from the slain rancher, who complained a Danny Green had shot a couple of his chickens and stolen some wine out of his cabin after he and his father, Richard Green had been given permission to hunt on the property.
With this slim lead, the officers swung into action and with the aid of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's office in Lancaster, Green, who had lived there, was ordered picked up: He was not at home however and officers located a friend who said that Green and the Sewell boys of Littlerock, paled around together.
Arrest of the Sewell brothers, Lloyd and Weldon, was the next step and, they implicated Darrell Standridge of Bakersfield. Sgt. Taylor obtained a confession from the elder Sewell boy who admitted firing one of the .30-.30 rifles used.
Danny Green was arrested Sunday night when he and his father returned home from a trip to Mexico where they had gone to think the whole thing out, according to a statement made by the father.
Another crime was solved at the same time when it was learned the firearms used in the murder had been stolen from the General Supply Co., in Lancaster in an earlier burglary.
Story of the crime as related by the boys to investigators is as follows: Danny Green told Sgt. Taylor he had planned to kill Butler on two previous occasions and went to the ranch to carry out his plan but changed his mind at the last moment. Danny told the Sewell boys about his plan last Tuesday, Nov. 22 and they made a special trip to Bakersfield to pick up Darrell Standridge and the four returned to the desert to carry out their intentions.
They drove back to the desert Tuesday and late that night went to Butler's cabin and woke him up saying they needed gasoline for their car. Butler got up, put on a jacket and jeans and came outside with a flashlight. He gave the boys some gas and then apparently becoming suspicious, went back to the cabin for his rifle.
While Butler was in the cabin Sewell and Standridge picked up .30-.30 rifles off the floor of their car and as Butler approached started firing. One shot struck the doomed man in the neck, one in the hand and two in the chest.
All four boys then dragged the body more than 100 yards and placed it in the tool shed. The boys then drove back to Lancaster and tossed Butler's rifle, which had been damaged by the hail of bullets, from the car somewhere between Mojave and Lancaster.
'The quartet then went over to Green's home and spent the night there. The guns were found by Green's father the next day and in company with the boys drove out into the desert 16 miles east of Lancaster and buried them.
All four boys will be charged with first degree murder, said Marvin Ferguson of the District Attorney's office, who will prosecute the case.
Under California law, the four will be referred to Juvenile Court as all are under the age of 18. It is thought, however, that the Juvenile authorities will refer them back to stand trial in an adult court.
The boys seem to think the murder a lark and as one of them put it, "Just like shooting rabbits" Another said, as he posed for photographs, "Will this make all the big papers?"
01 Dec 1955
Funeral Pending
Funeral arrangements for Benjamin Butler are pending at the O'Donnell Funeral Home in Mojave. He was born February 18, 1883, in Nevada and ,had lived in and around Mojave for the past 10 years.
Survivors are a daughter, Hilda Mae Christenson; a brother, Newton W. Butler; and three sisters, Nora E. Jackson, Ada E. Griffin, and Martha A. Weaver.
01 Dec 1955
Four Boys Will Enter Their Plea
Four teen-age boys are due to enter a plea to a Mojave murder after a Grand Jury indictment for the killing of Ben Butler, Mojave area ranch caretaker, The four young men were sent to the juvenile authorities, then back again to be treated as adults altho all are less than 18 years old. The innocent or guilty plea will be made before County Superior Court Judge Gordon Howden. If found guilty after a trial, the four boys face possible life sentences or even death in the gas chamber
Represented by top legal talent the boys hope to get off as easily as possible. They remain in jail until the courts decide their fate. The four are Darrell Standridge 17, of Bakersfield; Daniel Green 15, Lancaster, Weldon 15, and Lloyd Swell, 17, of Little Rock. Standridge and the older Sewel boy from Lancaster are accused of the actual shooting while Green also of Lancaster, is pegged as the master-mind of the crime.
22 Dec 1955
Boys Judged Sane At Time Of Murder
Three boys accused of a murder near Mojave last Thanksgiving have been found legally sane by three doctors who examined them. They had tried to escape trial on the grounds they were insane at the time. The fourth boy in the group did not enter such a plea.
The trio included a boy who said he felt weird and mixed up after the fatal shooting-one who admitted he had not taken his mother's good advice-and one who commented to a doctor, "At least. jail is quiet compared to the griping at home." The doctors had been named to learn something about the thinking of the teen-age youths who took the life of aging Ben Butler in what was admittedly a planned killing.
Danny Green, 16, of Lancaster, agrees he planned the whole thing. Green lived in comfortable surroundings with his father who had given him a horse, but he sold it. His father then bought the boy an airplane and he was learning to fly when the killing happened. Green said he liked to hurt things. Of the fatal shooting, he said, "At the time, it didn't seem like killing a human, it seemed sort of fun to hurt something like animals. The boy said he had trouble with his will power, and was always afraid of being made fun of by his friends. He said frankly to Dr. Raymond Herold, "I don't think I'm crazy. I want to do what's right." Green said he and the other boys had been drinking beer and whiskey at the time. In fact, after killing the ranch caretaker, they raided the ice box in his home for more whiskey and drank it on the way to Mojave and Lancaster.
Lloyd Sewell, 17, of Lancaster, was one of the boys who used the guns. He felt he shouldn't be in jail-that he ought to be in the juvenile hall. Sewell said his mother had given him good advice which he didn't follow.
Darrel Standridge, 16, of Bakersfield, was the most hardened of the group. All had violated the curfew and were caught a few times. All had run away from home a few times. Standridge had been in reform schools recently, had been released from Preston in October, a month before the killing. He said he was always the brunt of the complaints around his house, and when he was angry with his family he had to do something bad. If it wasn't a killing, he said, he probably would have committed a robbery or a burglary. The son of .divorced parents, Standridge had lived with one, then the other. He had used marijuana a few times. Standridge has no regrets because of the murder. Asked what he thought his future would be, Standridge thought he would get a life sentence from the court, or would be tried later when he was 21, then sent to the gas chamber. While held in the jail in Bakersfield, Standridge had plotted a jail break. His note of instructions was intercepted and he was put under heavier guard.
The fourth boy was Weldon Sewell, brother of Lloyd Sewell, who is only 15. He claims he had no part in the murder. Superior Judge Gordon Howden did not put much stock in the trite legal move to plea the boys "not guilty by reason of insanity." Even while he named the doctors to examine the boys, the judge kept the trial date for March 5th in Bakersfield.
19 Jan 1956
Three Boys To Be Sentenced Friday, Feb. 10
The fate of three teen-agers who killed a Mojave area ranch caretaker now rests in the hands of Superior Court Judge.. Robert B. Lambert in Bakersfield: Benjamin Butler had been willftilly shot to death by the boys who had a grudge against him because he had warned, them to leave the property earlier.
Legal maneuvers to claim the boys were not guilty because they were.insane at the time, proved useless. Doctors who had examined the trio found they were definitely
responsible for their actions. One of the trio – Darrell Standridge of Bakersfield showed to doctors that he had no remorse over what he had done. Standridge is 16.
Lloyd Sewell, 17, and Danny Green, 15, both of Lancaster, are the other boys who have now claimed they are guilty and are willing, to let a judge set their future. Weldon Sewell, 15, brother of one of the admitted murderers, was freed because he claimed he did s not take part in the shooting, and the investigation supported that.
Green was the ring-leader of the teen-age gang that will appear for sentencing at 10 a.m. on February 10th.
09 Feb 1956
Judge Gives Life Sentence to Teenage Trio For Wanton Murder Here
"Only your age saved you from the state gas chamber," said Kern County Superior Court Judge Robert Lambert when he found 3 teen-agers guilty of. first degree murder in the wanton slaying of Ben Butler near Mojave last Nov. 25th. Judge Lambert had listened to the long reading of statements taken from the boys shortly after their arrest for .the killing. At that time, they had admitted the shooting on the basis of an old grudge against Butler.
Testimony was taken from Sgt. Dave King, Sheriff's deputy of Mojave. Photographs of the dead man the guns used, and the general area of the murder were also introduced at the hearing before the judge set the degree of murder. Altho it was judged to be first degree murder, California law does not allow sentencing to the gas chamber of anyone under 21.
Danny Green, 15, of Lancaster admittedly headed the plot to kill Butler. He rounded up his cronies, Lloyd Sewell, 17 also of Lancaster, and Darrell Standridge, 16 of Bakersfield and they set out purposely to kill the elderly ranch caretaker. Weldon Sewell, 15, had gone along but took no part in the slaying.
The boys said they were insane, but doctors who examined them said they were not. Immediately after the judge called it murder in the first, degree, the boys waived normal time for sentencing and asked for the verdict immediately. Ruled Judge Lambert, "For the rest of your natural life you shall be confined in the state prison." I remand you to the custody of the Sheriff of this county for delivery to the State prison at Chino without undue delay. Chino's a normal staging area for prisoners who are classified then assigned to other state prisons according to the findings made there. It is felt unlikely the trio will be allowed to stay together.
State authorities will screen the murder boys this week.
Posted by East Kern Genealogical Society
Courtesy of Mojave Desert News
California City, Kern, CA
Published: 16 Feb 1956
Death: BUTLER, Benjamin J.
Author: Don Stowell Date: 7 May 2005 1:15 PM GMT
Surnames: Christenson, Jackson, Griffin, Weaver
Classification: Obituary
Aged Pensioner Murdered By Four Antelope Valley Boys
Benjamin J. Butler, 72, pensioner, was found dead of three bullet wounds on the Bob Zangle property nine miles west of Mojave last Friday afternoon, November 25. Ranch is the first one west of the town on the right hand side of Oak Creek Road.
The body was found in a tool shed approximately 100 yards from the deceased man's cabin. Gruesome find was made by two friends from Los Angeles County who had driven up to visit him.
John Stein of Monrovia and D. R. Turley of Bellflower told Sgt. King of the Mojave Sheriff's substation that they had purchased a set of wagon wheels which they were going to remove from an old wagon on the ranch.
When they arrived at 2:30 p.m. they found no one at home so the two men opened the tool shed to get a wrench for removing the wheels. They saw the body and immediately drove into Mojave to notify the authorities.
Sgt. David King and deputy Tom Shuell answered the call and drove out to the Zangle ranch where they verified the two men's story. Radio communications was contacted and Sgt. Joe Taylor, Coroner Stan Newman and District Attorney investigator, Tom Hildreth immediately drove over from Bakersfield and the investigation began.
Sgt. King remembered a former visit from the slain rancher, who complained a Danny Green had shot a couple of his chickens and stolen some wine out of his cabin after he and his father, Richard Green had been given permission to hunt on the property.
With this slim lead, the officers swung into action and with the aid of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's office in Lancaster, Green, who had lived there, was ordered picked up: He was not at home however and officers located a friend who said that Green and the Sewell boys of Littlerock, paled around together.
Arrest of the Sewell brothers, Lloyd and Weldon, was the next step and, they implicated Darrell Standridge of Bakersfield. Sgt. Taylor obtained a confession from the elder Sewell boy who admitted firing one of the .30-.30 rifles used.
Danny Green was arrested Sunday night when he and his father returned home from a trip to Mexico where they had gone to think the whole thing out, according to a statement made by the father.
Another crime was solved at the same time when it was learned the firearms used in the murder had been stolen from the General Supply Co., in Lancaster in an earlier burglary.
Story of the crime as related by the boys to investigators is as follows: Danny Green told Sgt. Taylor he had planned to kill Butler on two previous occasions and went to the ranch to carry out his plan but changed his mind at the last moment. Danny told the Sewell boys about his plan last Tuesday, Nov. 22 and they made a special trip to Bakersfield to pick up Darrell Standridge and the four returned to the desert to carry out their intentions.
They drove back to the desert Tuesday and late that night went to Butler's cabin and woke him up saying they needed gasoline for their car. Butler got up, put on a jacket and jeans and came outside with a flashlight. He gave the boys some gas and then apparently becoming suspicious, went back to the cabin for his rifle.
While Butler was in the cabin Sewell and Standridge picked up .30-.30 rifles off the floor of their car and as Butler approached started firing. One shot struck the doomed man in the neck, one in the hand and two in the chest.
All four boys then dragged the body more than 100 yards and placed it in the tool shed. The boys then drove back to Lancaster and tossed Butler's rifle, which had been damaged by the hail of bullets, from the car somewhere between Mojave and Lancaster.
'The quartet then went over to Green's home and spent the night there. The guns were found by Green's father the next day and in company with the boys drove out into the desert 16 miles east of Lancaster and buried them.
All four boys will be charged with first degree murder, said Marvin Ferguson of the District Attorney's office, who will prosecute the case.
Under California law, the four will be referred to Juvenile Court as all are under the age of 18. It is thought, however, that the Juvenile authorities will refer them back to stand trial in an adult court.
The boys seem to think the murder a lark and as one of them put it, "Just like shooting rabbits" Another said, as he posed for photographs, "Will this make all the big papers?"
01 Dec 1955
Funeral Pending
Funeral arrangements for Benjamin Butler are pending at the O'Donnell Funeral Home in Mojave. He was born February 18, 1883, in Nevada and ,had lived in and around Mojave for the past 10 years.
Survivors are a daughter, Hilda Mae Christenson; a brother, Newton W. Butler; and three sisters, Nora E. Jackson, Ada E. Griffin, and Martha A. Weaver.
01 Dec 1955
Four Boys Will Enter Their Plea
Four teen-age boys are due to enter a plea to a Mojave murder after a Grand Jury indictment for the killing of Ben Butler, Mojave area ranch caretaker, The four young men were sent to the juvenile authorities, then back again to be treated as adults altho all are less than 18 years old. The innocent or guilty plea will be made before County Superior Court Judge Gordon Howden. If found guilty after a trial, the four boys face possible life sentences or even death in the gas chamber
Represented by top legal talent the boys hope to get off as easily as possible. They remain in jail until the courts decide their fate. The four are Darrell Standridge 17, of Bakersfield; Daniel Green 15, Lancaster, Weldon 15, and Lloyd Swell, 17, of Little Rock. Standridge and the older Sewel boy from Lancaster are accused of the actual shooting while Green also of Lancaster, is pegged as the master-mind of the crime.
22 Dec 1955
Boys Judged Sane At Time Of Murder
Three boys accused of a murder near Mojave last Thanksgiving have been found legally sane by three doctors who examined them. They had tried to escape trial on the grounds they were insane at the time. The fourth boy in the group did not enter such a plea.
The trio included a boy who said he felt weird and mixed up after the fatal shooting-one who admitted he had not taken his mother's good advice-and one who commented to a doctor, "At least. jail is quiet compared to the griping at home." The doctors had been named to learn something about the thinking of the teen-age youths who took the life of aging Ben Butler in what was admittedly a planned killing.
Danny Green, 16, of Lancaster, agrees he planned the whole thing. Green lived in comfortable surroundings with his father who had given him a horse, but he sold it. His father then bought the boy an airplane and he was learning to fly when the killing happened. Green said he liked to hurt things. Of the fatal shooting, he said, "At the time, it didn't seem like killing a human, it seemed sort of fun to hurt something like animals. The boy said he had trouble with his will power, and was always afraid of being made fun of by his friends. He said frankly to Dr. Raymond Herold, "I don't think I'm crazy. I want to do what's right." Green said he and the other boys had been drinking beer and whiskey at the time. In fact, after killing the ranch caretaker, they raided the ice box in his home for more whiskey and drank it on the way to Mojave and Lancaster.
Lloyd Sewell, 17, of Lancaster, was one of the boys who used the guns. He felt he shouldn't be in jail-that he ought to be in the juvenile hall. Sewell said his mother had given him good advice which he didn't follow.
Darrel Standridge, 16, of Bakersfield, was the most hardened of the group. All had violated the curfew and were caught a few times. All had run away from home a few times. Standridge had been in reform schools recently, had been released from Preston in October, a month before the killing. He said he was always the brunt of the complaints around his house, and when he was angry with his family he had to do something bad. If it wasn't a killing, he said, he probably would have committed a robbery or a burglary. The son of .divorced parents, Standridge had lived with one, then the other. He had used marijuana a few times. Standridge has no regrets because of the murder. Asked what he thought his future would be, Standridge thought he would get a life sentence from the court, or would be tried later when he was 21, then sent to the gas chamber. While held in the jail in Bakersfield, Standridge had plotted a jail break. His note of instructions was intercepted and he was put under heavier guard.
The fourth boy was Weldon Sewell, brother of Lloyd Sewell, who is only 15. He claims he had no part in the murder. Superior Judge Gordon Howden did not put much stock in the trite legal move to plea the boys "not guilty by reason of insanity." Even while he named the doctors to examine the boys, the judge kept the trial date for March 5th in Bakersfield.
19 Jan 1956
Three Boys To Be Sentenced Friday, Feb. 10
The fate of three teen-agers who killed a Mojave area ranch caretaker now rests in the hands of Superior Court Judge.. Robert B. Lambert in Bakersfield: Benjamin Butler had been willftilly shot to death by the boys who had a grudge against him because he had warned, them to leave the property earlier.
Legal maneuvers to claim the boys were not guilty because they were.insane at the time, proved useless. Doctors who had examined the trio found they were definitely
responsible for their actions. One of the trio – Darrell Standridge of Bakersfield showed to doctors that he had no remorse over what he had done. Standridge is 16.
Lloyd Sewell, 17, and Danny Green, 15, both of Lancaster, are the other boys who have now claimed they are guilty and are willing, to let a judge set their future. Weldon Sewell, 15, brother of one of the admitted murderers, was freed because he claimed he did s not take part in the shooting, and the investigation supported that.
Green was the ring-leader of the teen-age gang that will appear for sentencing at 10 a.m. on February 10th.
09 Feb 1956
Judge Gives Life Sentence to Teenage Trio For Wanton Murder Here
"Only your age saved you from the state gas chamber," said Kern County Superior Court Judge Robert Lambert when he found 3 teen-agers guilty of. first degree murder in the wanton slaying of Ben Butler near Mojave last Nov. 25th. Judge Lambert had listened to the long reading of statements taken from the boys shortly after their arrest for .the killing. At that time, they had admitted the shooting on the basis of an old grudge against Butler.
Testimony was taken from Sgt. Dave King, Sheriff's deputy of Mojave. Photographs of the dead man the guns used, and the general area of the murder were also introduced at the hearing before the judge set the degree of murder. Altho it was judged to be first degree murder, California law does not allow sentencing to the gas chamber of anyone under 21.
Danny Green, 15, of Lancaster admittedly headed the plot to kill Butler. He rounded up his cronies, Lloyd Sewell, 17 also of Lancaster, and Darrell Standridge, 16 of Bakersfield and they set out purposely to kill the elderly ranch caretaker. Weldon Sewell, 15, had gone along but took no part in the slaying.
The boys said they were insane, but doctors who examined them said they were not. Immediately after the judge called it murder in the first, degree, the boys waived normal time for sentencing and asked for the verdict immediately. Ruled Judge Lambert, "For the rest of your natural life you shall be confined in the state prison." I remand you to the custody of the Sheriff of this county for delivery to the State prison at Chino without undue delay. Chino's a normal staging area for prisoners who are classified then assigned to other state prisons according to the findings made there. It is felt unlikely the trio will be allowed to stay together.
State authorities will screen the murder boys this week.
Posted by East Kern Genealogical Society
Courtesy of Mojave Desert News
California City, Kern, CA
Published: 16 Feb 1956
Author: Don Stowell Date: 7 May 2005 1:15 PM GMT
Surnames: Christenson, Jackson, Griffin, Weaver
Classification: Obituary
Aged Pensioner Murdered By Four Antelope Valley Boys
Benjamin J. Butler, 72, pensioner, was found dead of three bullet wounds on the Bob Zangle property nine miles west of Mojave last Friday afternoon, November 25. Ranch is the first one west of the town on the right hand side of Oak Creek Road.
The body was found in a tool shed approximately 100 yards from the deceased man's cabin. Gruesome find was made by two friends from Los Angeles County who had driven up to visit him.
John Stein of Monrovia and D. R. Turley of Bellflower told Sgt. King of the Mojave Sheriff's substation that they had purchased a set of wagon wheels which they were going to remove from an old wagon on the ranch.
When they arrived at 2:30 p.m. they found no one at home so the two men opened the tool shed to get a wrench for removing the wheels. They saw the body and immediately drove into Mojave to notify the authorities.
Sgt. David King and deputy Tom Shuell answered the call and drove out to the Zangle ranch where they verified the two men's story. Radio communications was contacted and Sgt. Joe Taylor, Coroner Stan Newman and District Attorney investigator, Tom Hildreth immediately drove over from Bakersfield and the investigation began.
Sgt. King remembered a former visit from the slain rancher, who complained a Danny Green had shot a couple of his chickens and stolen some wine out of his cabin after he and his father, Richard Green had been given permission to hunt on the property.
With this slim lead, the officers swung into action and with the aid of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's office in Lancaster, Green, who had lived there, was ordered picked up: He was not at home however and officers located a friend who said that Green and the Sewell boys of Littlerock, paled around together.
Arrest of the Sewell brothers, Lloyd and Weldon, was the next step and, they implicated Darrell Standridge of Bakersfield. Sgt. Taylor obtained a confession from the elder Sewell boy who admitted firing one of the .30-.30 rifles used.
Danny Green was arrested Sunday night when he and his father returned home from a trip to Mexico where they had gone to think the whole thing out, according to a statement made by the father.
Another crime was solved at the same time when it was learned the firearms used in the murder had been stolen from the General Supply Co., in Lancaster in an earlier burglary.
Story of the crime as related by the boys to investigators is as follows: Danny Green told Sgt. Taylor he had planned to kill Butler on two previous occasions and went to the ranch to carry out his plan but changed his mind at the last moment. Danny told the Sewell boys about his plan last Tuesday, Nov. 22 and they made a special trip to Bakersfield to pick up Darrell Standridge and the four returned to the desert to carry out their intentions.
They drove back to the desert Tuesday and late that night went to Butler's cabin and woke him up saying they needed gasoline for their car. Butler got up, put on a jacket and jeans and came outside with a flashlight. He gave the boys some gas and then apparently becoming suspicious, went back to the cabin for his rifle.
While Butler was in the cabin Sewell and Standridge picked up .30-.30 rifles off the floor of their car and as Butler approached started firing. One shot struck the doomed man in the neck, one in the hand and two in the chest.
All four boys then dragged the body more than 100 yards and placed it in the tool shed. The boys then drove back to Lancaster and tossed Butler's rifle, which had been damaged by the hail of bullets, from the car somewhere between Mojave and Lancaster.
'The quartet then went over to Green's home and spent the night there. The guns were found by Green's father the next day and in company with the boys drove out into the desert 16 miles east of Lancaster and buried them.
All four boys will be charged with first degree murder, said Marvin Ferguson of the District Attorney's office, who will prosecute the case.
Under California law, the four will be referred to Juvenile Court as all are under the age of 18. It is thought, however, that the Juvenile authorities will refer them back to stand trial in an adult court.
The boys seem to think the murder a lark and as one of them put it, "Just like shooting rabbits" Another said, as he posed for photographs, "Will this make all the big papers?"
01 Dec 1955
Funeral Pending
Funeral arrangements for Benjamin Butler are pending at the O'Donnell Funeral Home in Mojave. He was born February 18, 1883, in Nevada and ,had lived in and around Mojave for the past 10 years.
Survivors are a daughter, Hilda Mae Christenson; a brother, Newton W. Butler; and three sisters, Nora E. Jackson, Ada E. Griffin, and Martha A. Weaver.
01 Dec 1955
Four Boys Will Enter Their Plea
Four teen-age boys are due to enter a plea to a Mojave murder after a Grand Jury indictment for the killing of Ben Butler, Mojave area ranch caretaker, The four young men were sent to the juvenile authorities, then back again to be treated as adults altho all are less than 18 years old. The innocent or guilty plea will be made before County Superior Court Judge Gordon Howden. If found guilty after a trial, the four boys face possible life sentences or even death in the gas chamber
Represented by top legal talent the boys hope to get off as easily as possible. They remain in jail until the courts decide their fate. The four are Darrell Standridge 17, of Bakersfield; Daniel Green 15, Lancaster, Weldon 15, and Lloyd Swell, 17, of Little Rock. Standridge and the older Sewel boy from Lancaster are accused of the actual shooting while Green also of Lancaster, is pegged as the master-mind of the crime.
22 Dec 1955
Boys Judged Sane At Time Of Murder
Three boys accused of a murder near Mojave last Thanksgiving have been found legally sane by three doctors who examined them. They had tried to escape trial on the grounds they were insane at the time. The fourth boy in the group did not enter such a plea.
The trio included a boy who said he felt weird and mixed up after the fatal shooting-one who admitted he had not taken his mother's good advice-and one who commented to a doctor, "At least. jail is quiet compared to the griping at home." The doctors had been named to learn something about the thinking of the teen-age youths who took the life of aging Ben Butler in what was admittedly a planned killing.
Danny Green, 16, of Lancaster, agrees he planned the whole thing. Green lived in comfortable surroundings with his father who had given him a horse, but he sold it. His father then bought the boy an airplane and he was learning to fly when the killing happened. Green said he liked to hurt things. Of the fatal shooting, he said, "At the time, it didn't seem like killing a human, it seemed sort of fun to hurt something like animals. The boy said he had trouble with his will power, and was always afraid of being made fun of by his friends. He said frankly to Dr. Raymond Herold, "I don't think I'm crazy. I want to do what's right." Green said he and the other boys had been drinking beer and whiskey at the time. In fact, after killing the ranch caretaker, they raided the ice box in his home for more whiskey and drank it on the way to Mojave and Lancaster.
Lloyd Sewell, 17, of Lancaster, was one of the boys who used the guns. He felt he shouldn't be in jail-that he ought to be in the juvenile hall. Sewell said his mother had given him good advice which he didn't follow.
Darrel Standridge, 16, of Bakersfield, was the most hardened of the group. All had violated the curfew and were caught a few times. All had run away from home a few times. Standridge had been in reform schools recently, had been released from Preston in October, a month before the killing. He said he was always the brunt of the complaints around his house, and when he was angry with his family he had to do something bad. If it wasn't a killing, he said, he probably would have committed a robbery or a burglary. The son of .divorced parents, Standridge had lived with one, then the other. He had used marijuana a few times. Standridge has no regrets because of the murder. Asked what he thought his future would be, Standridge thought he would get a life sentence from the court, or would be tried later when he was 21, then sent to the gas chamber. While held in the jail in Bakersfield, Standridge had plotted a jail break. His note of instructions was intercepted and he was put under heavier guard.
The fourth boy was Weldon Sewell, brother of Lloyd Sewell, who is only 15. He claims he had no part in the murder. Superior Judge Gordon Howden did not put much stock in the trite legal move to plea the boys "not guilty by reason of insanity." Even while he named the doctors to examine the boys, the judge kept the trial date for March 5th in Bakersfield.
19 Jan 1956
Three Boys To Be Sentenced Friday, Feb. 10
The fate of three teen-agers who killed a Mojave area ranch caretaker now rests in the hands of Superior Court Judge.. Robert B. Lambert in Bakersfield: Benjamin Butler had been willftilly shot to death by the boys who had a grudge against him because he had warned, them to leave the property earlier.
Legal maneuvers to claim the boys were not guilty because they were.insane at the time, proved useless. Doctors who had examined the trio found they were definitely
responsible for their actions. One of the trio – Darrell Standridge of Bakersfield showed to doctors that he had no remorse over what he had done. Standridge is 16.
Lloyd Sewell, 17, and Danny Green, 15, both of Lancaster, are the other boys who have now claimed they are guilty and are willing, to let a judge set their future. Weldon Sewell, 15, brother of one of the admitted murderers, was freed because he claimed he did s not take part in the shooting, and the investigation supported that.
Green was the ring-leader of the teen-age gang that will appear for sentencing at 10 a.m. on February 10th.
09 Feb 1956
Judge Gives Life Sentence to Teenage Trio For Wanton Murder Here
"Only your age saved you from the state gas chamber," said Kern County Superior Court Judge Robert Lambert when he found 3 teen-agers guilty of. first degree murder in the wanton slaying of Ben Butler near Mojave last Nov. 25th. Judge Lambert had listened to the long reading of statements taken from the boys shortly after their arrest for .the killing. At that time, they had admitted the shooting on the basis of an old grudge against Butler.
Testimony was taken from Sgt. Dave King, Sheriff's deputy of Mojave. Photographs of the dead man the guns used, and the general area of the murder were also introduced at the hearing before the judge set the degree of murder. Altho it was judged to be first degree murder, California law does not allow sentencing to the gas chamber of anyone under 21.
Danny Green, 15, of Lancaster admittedly headed the plot to kill Butler. He rounded up his cronies, Lloyd Sewell, 17 also of Lancaster, and Darrell Standridge, 16 of Bakersfield and they set out purposely to kill the elderly ranch caretaker. Weldon Sewell, 15, had gone along but took no part in the slaying.
The boys said they were insane, but doctors who examined them said they were not. Immediately after the judge called it murder in the first, degree, the boys waived normal time for sentencing and asked for the verdict immediately. Ruled Judge Lambert, "For the rest of your natural life you shall be confined in the state prison." I remand you to the custody of the Sheriff of this county for delivery to the State prison at Chino without undue delay. Chino's a normal staging area for prisoners who are classified then assigned to other state prisons according to the findings made there. It is felt unlikely the trio will be allowed to stay together.
State authorities will screen the murder boys this week.
Posted by East Kern Genealogical Society
Courtesy of Mojave Desert News
California City, Kern, CA
Published: 16 Feb 1956
Family Members
Sponsored by Ancestry
Advertisement
Explore more
Sponsored by Ancestry
Advertisement
