The Trial

When Judge Joseph Bradley opened court on October 4, 1965, for the murder trial of Alex Arnold, he found amost unusual situation: a courtroom without a single empty seatand with an overflow crowd standing against the walls. The prosecution stated that the state’s evidence would provide details about the discovery of Betty Gail’s body in her own car on the Transylvania campus and that the evidence would leave no room to doubt that the young student had been murdered, and would attempt to prove Alex Arnold was guilty of the murder. This chapter details the witnesses, testimony, and evidence presented by the prosecution and defense. After the jury could not come to a unanimous decision, Judge Bradley dismissed the jury, declared a mistrial, and announced that the case would be put on the court’s January 1966 docket for retrial.