September 13, 1980
Student is indicted in slaying of actor
 The Cook County Grand Jury Friday indicted Paul DeWit, a 21-year-old drama student, for murder and armed violence in the stabbing death of old-time radio actor and drama coach Everett Clarke.
 Clarke, 68, who was the radio voice of "The Whistler" and starred in numerous old radio mystery dramas, was killed Tuesday on a practice stage in his studio in the Fine Arts Building, 410 S. Michigan Av.
 His death rivaled any of the roles he played in life, with cries of "No, Paul! No!" coming from behind locked doors, and his killer escaping out a 10th floor window and walking a ledge 100 feet above the street.
 Police found DeWit's name in the dead man's appointment book and arrested the suspect Thursday in his apartment at 3520 N. Lake Shore Dr.
 Clarke was stabbed to death with scissors, on which police sources said they found DeWit's fingerprints.
 Associate Judge Joseph J. Urso in Criminal Court ordered DeWit held in lieu of $500,000 bond.
 DeWit's father, Steven, a tooling engineer, who was in court with other family members, said he would post the necessary $50,000 (10 percent) to obtain his son's release pending arraignment Oct. 3 before Chief Judge Richard J. Fiitzgerald.
 Clarke's body lay unclaimed Friday in the Fishbein Institute's morgue.

 

October 2, 1980
 Paul DeWit, a 22 year-old drama student, was found "guilty but mentally ill" Thursday of murdering his acting coach, radio actor Everett Clarke, last year.
 A criminal court jury deliberated nearly six hours before reaching the verdict, which was in effect a compromise between finding DeWit guilty of murder and acquitting him of the slaying by reason of insanity. It was the first time this new verdict has been reached in Cook County since it became an option in criminal cases under a new Illinois law that is only two weeks old.
 DeWit's defense attorney, Lorna Propes, did not deny that DeWit murdered Clarke in his 10th-floor studio in the Fine Arts Building, 410 S. Michigan Av., on September 9, 1980.
 At issue during this nine-day trial in the courtroom of Judge Arthur J. Cieslik was DeWit's mental state at the time.
 Clarke, 68, was a noted actor in old-time radio mysteries and once the radio voice of "The Whistler." He was found lying on  the stage of the studio where he had taught acting lessons for nearly 30 years, stabbed to death with a pair of scissors.
 DeWit's case had become something of a battle of psychiatrists by the end of the trial. Jurors heard the opinions of three psychiatrists who had examined the unemployed actor: Two had diagnosed DeWit as a paranoid schizophrenic who suffered from paranoid delusions that everyone, including his own mother, was out to kill him. They said DeWit believed Clarke was a Mafia figure who wanted to kill him and destroy his career. They said DeWit was insane at the time.
 A third psychiatrist took issue with their opinions and said it was his opinion that DeWit knew precisely what he was doing, and that "no mental illness existed."
 "If it was up to the psychiatrists, we wouldn't need a judge or a jury at all," prosecutor Michael Goggin told the jury. "We'd all be confused."
 Judge Cieslik will sentence DeWit on Oct. 28. He will receive at least the minimum sentence for murder, which is 20 years, but will be required under the new law to serve his time in a mental facility until he is "cured." He then would be transferred to prison for the remainder of his time.

 

November 19, 1980
 Paul DeWit, a 22 year-old unemployed drama student, was sentenced to 22 years in prison Wednesday for the murder of his acting coach, noted radio actor Everett Clarke.
 A jury last month found DeWit "guilty but mentally ill" in the Sept. 9, 1980, slaying, which occurred in the 68-year-old Clarke's acting studio in the Fine Arts Building, 410 S. Michigan Av.
 DeWit, who said nothing during his nine-day trial, began weeping as Judge Arthur J. Cieslik imposed the sentence, which was two years more than the minimum required under law for murder. Cieslik said he would personally see that prison officials receive all available information about DeWit's psychiatric problems. He did not set up guidelines or orders to be followed by prison officials despite such requests from defense attorneys.
 "I will personally see to it that Mr. DeWit will not be put into the maze of prison life and lost there," Judge Cieslik said.
 Over objections by assistant State's Attorneys Michael Goggin and Richard Kaplan, the judge granted a request by defense attorney Lorna Propes that DeWit be provided free transcripts of his trial at public expense, despite the fact that Propes told the judge it is likely the DeWit family will retain a private attorney, not the public defender, to represent DeWit during his appeal. Propes filed an affidavit with Judge Cieslik stating that DeWit was indigent and without funds.
 DeWit's parents, Mr. and Mrs. Cornelius DeWit, were not present for the sentencing. They are living in Brazil, where the older DeWit works for Ford Motor Co.
 Propes had asked for leniency, telling the judge DeWit was "tortured confused and upset" when he killed Clarke. Both during and after the trial she had argued that the guilty but mentally ill verdict was not appropriate in DeWit's case. (submitted by Source #96)