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John Barton Miller, former secretarytreasurer of the First Co-operative Building Association of Georgetown, who was sentenced by Judge Stafford to twenty years in Leavenworth penitentiary, has issued a statement in his own defense. He says: "I have no fears in regard to the outcome of the matter when it is taken to the Court of Appeals. I feel confident that the court will reverse the decision and support my counsel, Henry E. Davis, in his objections to the lower tribunal's findings. Ridicules Whole Affair. "The whole affair is ridiculous, and there is not one instance in the tria] where the prosecution was able to show that any money had been misappropriated. They only succeeded in showing that certain money had been received, which was never denied by the defense. "The sentence is considered as most unusual and a new trial will be asked for on three points: That the jury was improperly impaneled and in direct violation of the District code governing the formation of juries; that If I was guilty of misappropriating a single dollar I was guilty of larceny, and not embezzlement, and that the judge's charge to the jury was a direct invitation to the jury to bring in a verdict of guilty under the intimate promise that he had it in his power to impose a jail or fine sentence, Thrown Out by Judge. "The original charge of the receivers was the misappropriation of $200,000, and the indictment charged the misappropriation of $136,000, involving thirty-four counts. In the preliminary hearing the judge threw out counts representing $104,000, in which he could not find one trace of evidence to support them. "Only thirty-two counts went to the jury, representing money aggregating about $30,000. The jury, after being out six hours, voted on the first ballot by eight to four in favor of the defense. "This was compromised by settling upon a verdict of guilty on two counts, representing about $1,600. The two points upon which the jury agreed were the two weakest in the whole indictment, which covers eighteen months, and the defense paid out $154,000 by checks authorized by the board of directors and countersigned by the president. Cashed by the Payees. "Out of this amount $127,000 was cashed by the payees at the bank, and the remaining sum of $30,000 was paid in checks and cashed over the counter of the association's office. This was done as a matter of convenience to the payees and is a system in vogue in many business offices. "The receiver of the association has in hand at the present time a large sum of money, approximately $75,000, and weekly sums coming in, as the assets of the association. which become, by virtue of the terms under which the association assets were loaned, due and payable to him."