Farmer Whose Legal Ordeal Inspired A Movie Has Died

MUNNSVILLE, N.Y. - Delbert Ward, a simple dairy farmer who became a cause celebre and the topic of an award-winning film when he was charged with murdering his brother, has died. He was 67.

Ward, who was eventually acquitted of the 1990 death, died yesterday at a hospital in Cooperstown. Cause of death was not disclosed; he had been hospitalized about a week.

The film about his case, "Brother's Keeper," was recognized as the best documentary at the 1992 Sundance Film Festival and by the New York Film Critics Circle, but it was snubbed by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for an Oscar nomination.

Ward was one of four reclusive brothers, all bachelors, who lived on a 90-acre dairy farm southeast of Syracuse that had belonged to their parents.

Their home was a rough, unpainted four-room house that had running water and electricity but no phone.

"They live off by themselves, but they're not hermits or recluses," a friend, Emilie Stilwell, said in 1990. "They're a throwback to the pioneer days. They stick to themselves but if you were raising a barn, they'd be the first to arrive and the last to leave."

Their quiet life changed when William, 64, died in June 1990. Delbert, who had been particularly close to William, was accused of smothering his ailing brother to spare him from suffering.

Delbert Ward maintained that his brother had died naturally, and the town rallied around him. Supporters collected nearly 900

signatures on petitions calling on the county prosecutor to review the autopsy results. When a judge set bail at $10,000, supporters raised the entire amount in a few minutes.

At his trial in 1991, his lawyer argued that Ward was learning-disabled and isolated from the modern world. He said Ward was confused when he confessed to the killing. After he was acquitted, supporters chanted "Delbert! Delbert!" and tearfully kissed him.

Ward, with his usual grizzled beard and rumpled suit jacket, kept a tight-lipped smile on his face. When asked of his plans for the future, he said simply, "Sleep in."

Harry Thurston, a family friend, said Delbert's other brothers, Lyman and Roscoe, were at the hospital yesterday.

"Lyman had to give permission to turn the machines off," Thurston said.

Shortly after Ward was charged in his brother's death, a nephew of the men, Moses Frank, said: "I've known Bill and Delbert all my life. They never even had one argument. This is nuts. Delbert couldn't even give the cows shots of medicine. How could he kill his brother?"