Who's Who? | eblock

Who's Who in the George Milton Trial?

Lennie:

Who is he? Lennie Small, a worker on Tyler Ranch, was shot and fatally injured Sunday evening in Soledad, California. The gun was the property of a fellow ranch worker. Born and raised as a child in Salinas Valley, it was clear the 6’4 giant was mentally slow. Although he was treated differently because of this, he had no known enemies, his cousin and only known living relative, Frank recalls. George Milton, the accused and alleged best friend of Lennie Small, claims Lennie was “the nicest guy in the world”.

How is he involved? Mr. Small is the deceased victim in this case. His body was found in a clearing in 2 miles away from Tyler Ranch. Mr. Milton was allegedly present in a conversation with the victim before the murder, but declined to comment on any details. He is charged with the murder of Mr. Small.

Chuck:

Who is he? Meet Chuck, a 33 year old unemployed father of 3. He was born in Pawnee, Indiana, then transferred to Weed High School before receiving his diploma and moving on to college. Chuck says he’s been unemployed for 6 months, despite having a full education. Before this, Chuck worked on a farm in order to fully support his children, Sam (age 4), Chuck Jr. (age 5), and Theresa (age 2). In this day and age, their father seems like quite the average joe. Yet what he has witnessed sets him apart from the rest.

How is he involved? Chuck, though not related personally to the victim or the accused, bore witness to multiple important interactions between them. Chuck tells me that, on his first encounter with the deceased Lennie Small and George Milton, he had just enrolled in Weed High School. He was at a bridge suspended over a river, and vividly remembers both men strolling up to him. Within the first few sentences, Chuck got the impression that Lennie was struggling mentally, and that despite his struggles, George never gave him a chance to speak for himself. Chuck notes that George acted disrespectful, selfish, and described him as “rough around the edges”. After a few minutes of chit-chat, George told Lennie to jump off the bridge, and Lennie complied. It was apparent afterward that Lennie was not able to swim. George proceeded to jump in and saved him. The interviewee called the accused “emotionless”, while describing Lennie as a “gentle giant”, implying that the kind man was also quite large. While concluding the interview, I ask Chuck how he feels about the verdict, and he claimed as long as justice is served, he’ll be satisfied.

George:

Who is he? George Milton is a 33 year old migrant worker who has traveled side by side with Lennie since he was 18. George is from Weed, California. He works at the Tyler Ranch in Salinas Valley, California with Lennie and has worked there for 3 days. Lennie is his best friend, as he was neighbors with him and George considers them to be extremely close.

How is he involved? George is suspected as the murderer of his best friend Lennie Small. The police and other people suspect him because he was the last one with Lennie before they found out Lennie had been murdered. Everyone who suspects George makes him feel frustrated and sad which leads to him feeling hurt, but he can understand why they think it's him. George doesn't have any other suspects in mind but he did mention that Curley threatened to kill Lennie.

Carlson:

Who is he? Carlson, a 42 year old barely-bucker from Salinas Valley, California, has been working on Tyler Ranch for seven years, and has only known Milton and Small for a little while. However, in that time, he did notice Small’s unyielding obedience to Milton, even with the latter displaying signs of frustration with him. According to Carlson, Small had done nothing to deserve what his best friend allegedly did to him. “Not that I know of,” Carlson explains. He was unsure of any hidden motives until the corpse of Curley Tyler’s spouse was found in the stables.

How is he involved? During the time of the murder, Carlson was on the hunt for Small after hearing word that he had killed Tyler’s wife. Apparently, before the murder of Lennie Small, Milton had seemed irritated about something. Even though Carlson had only known Small for a few days, he says he sympathized with him, and is sorry to hear about his death.

Justice:

Who is she? Justice price, age 24 and the wife of Curly Tyler was found dead in a barn with a broken neck next to a dead puppy on Sunday . She was a nice woman with the reputation of being a “tart”. “It was just because she was the only girl on the ranch”says Curly. Price, whose hometown is Weed, met Mr.Tyler when she had just gotten out of college and has been married to him for about 1 year.

How is she is involved? She is a major part in this trial because she was found dead on the same day as Lennie Small, her alleged killer, It is believed that the murder of Price caused the manhunt for Lennie which lead to his eventual murder.

Marie:

Who is she? Marie Jones is a 20 year old woman who lives in Weed, California and works on a ranch. Marie's family died because of the black plague and she currently lives on the ranch doing the laundry for the men on the ranch such as Lennie Small and George Milton.

How is she involved? One day she wore a soft red dress to work. Lennie Small who lived on the ranch, loves to touch soft things. But as a result of a mental disability he has, he decided to grab Marie’s dress which caused her to freak out and start yelling for him to get off. She was not hurt but terrified. Her screams made all of the men come running to her only to find her yanking for control of her dress. Immediately the men and George went after Lennie. George Milton (his friend) started beating him for this. Later that day, both Lennie Small and George Milton ran away from Weed.

What happened? In the days after George Milton and Lennie Small ran away from Weed, Lennie was shot by George at the same spot they went to after Lennie had grabbed Marie’s dress and ran away from Weed. George Milton shot Lennie because hours before, Lennie killed Curley Tyler's wife. He grabbed her dress just like Marie’s dress, but this time Lennie didn't let go. He put his huge hands over her face and told her not to tell George anything because it will get them fired from their jobs. But when Lennie let go of her face she was not breathing, so Lennie Small decided it was best to run back to the brush where George had told him to go if something happened. When George and all of the men at the Tyler Ranch found out about her death they all went looking for Lennie. George knew exactly where he would be. Lennie Small was shot later that night by his best and only “friend” George Milton.

Curley:

Who is he? Curly Tyler, age 26, was born in Soledad California, and is the head supervisor of the Tyler ranch and the son of the owner. Curly has been a supervisor at the Tyler ranch for the past two years after he retired from his past job as a lightweight boxer. After getting a job at the ranch he began to use his fighting skills to pick on other workers on the ranch and he had the reputation of a bully.

How is he involved? He will be participating in this trial as a witness. Although he didn’t want to say much, he told us that he will start by saying that he knew George Milton, the alleged murderer and Lennie Small, the victim because of his job as their supervisor and then will continue to say how he witnessed George Milton, the alleged murder, standing over the dead body of Lennie Small with the murder weapon in his hand.

Candy:

Who is he? Candy Rogers, a 67 year old man grew up in the state of Ohio and became a migrant worker. He ended up migrating to the Tyler Ranch where he was a buckwheat until his hand was crushed by a horse. He now works as a swamper.

How is he involved? When George and Lennie came to the ranch, Candy immediately became friends with them. At one point he even said that they together had a plan to buy a farm in which they would live in together. Candy describes the pair as being in a owner (George) and dog (Lennie) relationship. Candy is confident in siding with the defense. Candy stated that he believes that Carlson or Curley Tyler murdered Lennie. Since they both worked on the ranch and had a motive to kill Lennie, especially Curley because Lennie broke several bones in his hand (did not specify which one) in a fight. In the interview Candy also stated that both George and Lennie had a big sense of hate towards Curley.

Frank:

Who is he? Frank Small, a 42 year old man, resides in Wheat, California and is the cousin of the victim, Lennie Small. He inherited a hardware store from his father and he has been working there for his whole life. Frank Small never worked at the Tyler ranch. The last time he saw Lennie and George was when they left to go become migrant workers.

How is he involved? Mr.Small had a great relationship with Lennie. Frank told me that Lennie was always a gentle giant. But he didn’t know his own strength. He wasn't as smart as everyone else. I asked Frank if Lennie could have killed Curley's’ wife, and He told me that he definitely could have because Lennie sometimes didn't know what he was doing, whether if it was good or bad. I asked Frank if he thought that George killed Lennie. He said that George would always do what's best for Lennie, even if he had to kill him. The publicity could hear Frank say that Lennie was always a good person, but his lack of intelligence can lead him into bad situations like the one he found himself in.

Chuck:

Who is he? Chuck Long was born and raised in his hometown of Pawnee, Indiana. He became a migrant worker at the age of 18 due to financial troubles at home. Mr. Long, a 33-year-old former high school acquaintance with George Milton and Lennie Small, has worked with them for six years as a migrant worker. Though Long hasn't seen either of the men in 15 years and didn't anticipate to anytime soon, he revealed in court that he had witnChuck Long was born and raised in his hometown of Pawnee, Indiana. He became a migrant worker at the age of 18 due to financial troubles at home. Mr. Long, a 33-year-old former high school acquaintance with George Milton and Lennie Small, has worked with them for six years as a migrant worker. Though Long hasn't seen either of the men in 15 years and didn't anticipate to anytime soon, he revealed in court that he had witnessed Milton physically and verbally abusing Small. He claims he had attempted to take Lennie away from the abuse that he was receiving from Mr. Milton. After watching Milton’s reaction to the mentally disabled Lennie’s mistake of touching a woman’s dress, Mr. Long suspects that he understands the relationship between the two men. “I had to get away from that toxic friendship,” explains Mr. Long. He realized this after Milton had allegedly beaten Small viciously with a metal bar for his blunder. Not only did Long admit to feeling unsafe around George, but gave the court an emotional recollection of the many ways in which Small was abused by his dear friend. According to Long, “It wasn't right to treat a human that way.” He speculated that Milton was using his intelligence to take advantage of Small, and has no trouble believing that this was instrumental in the gentle giant’s murder. No doubt about it, Lennie’s was a chilling tale, and as the case progresses, more is revealed. Is Milton innocent, or is it true that, in the passionate words of Chuck Long, “Only a psychopath would take advantage of someone's disability, not a true friend”?essed Milton physically and verbally abusing Small. He claims he had attempted to take Lennie away from the abuse that he was receiving from Mr. Milton. After watching Milton’s reaction to the mentally disabled Lennie’s mistake of touching a woman’s dress, Mr. Long suspects that he understands the relationship between the two men. “I had to get away from that toxic friendship,” explains Mr. Long. He realized this after Milton had allegedly beaten Small viciously with a metal bar for his blunder. Not only did Long admit to feeling unsafe around George, but gave the court an emotional recollection of the many ways in which Small was abused by his dear friend. According to Long, “It wasn't right to treat a human that way.” He speculated that Milton was using his intelligence to take advantage of Small, and has no trouble believing that this was instrumental in the gentle giant’s murder. No doubt about it, Lennie’s was a chilling tale, and as the case progresses, more is revealed. Is Milton innocent, or is it true that, in the passionate words of Chuck Long, “Only a psychopath would take advantage of someone's disability, not a true friend”?

Frank: