Jail Threat Helps Change Mom’s Mind

The mother of a man accused of murder refused Tuesday to testify against her son, until the judge ordered her to jail.

Marion Armstrong at first refused to take the witness stand during her son Noel’s preliminary hearing and would not recite the oath or answer questions from Deputy Dist. Atty. Mark Pettine.

Municipal Judge Terry J. Knoepp ordered Armstrong, of Reno, Nev., to serve five days in jail and pay a $1,000 fine after she refused to cooperate.

While the scene was being videotaped by staff members in the district attorney’s office, Pettine asked Armstrong a series of questions about her son’s arrest in May and a phone call that he made while on his way to jail in San Diego.

“During that conversation, did your son admit to participating in the killing of Patricia Schmidt?” Pettine asked.

“I refuse to answer the question,” Armstrong said, repeating the answer she had given more than 20 times.

As Knoepp was about to order Noel Armstrong and co-defendant Charles Schmidt to stand trial in Superior Court, he ordered Marion Armstrong to be held in lieu of $10,000 bail.

But after the judge’s order and a promise of immunity from prosecution, she changed her mind. She was still on the witness stand after more than one hour of testifying when Tuesday’s court session closed.

“He said, ‘I was arrested and I confessed and I’m going to San Diego for sentencing,’ ” she testified.

She was released without bail after promising to return to court this morning.