Philip True, the Mexico bureau chief of the San Antonio Express-News, died more than two-and-a-half years ago while on assignment in a remote part of the country. His body was found in a hidden grave, a bandana left around his neck like a garrote.

Two Huichol Indians, Juan Chivarra and Miguel Hernandez, were found with True's possessions and confessed to murdering him. Late last week a Jalisco state judge ruled that True died of a head injury that could have been accidental. The judge based this ruling on a third interpretation of the autopsy. Earlier interpretations supported murder charges.

"The attention of the United States to this case is extremely important not as a matter of nationalism but as a matter of justice," concludes the ASNE letter to Powell, signed by Tim J. McGuire, ASNE president and editor of the Star-Tribune, Minneapolis; and Tony Pederson, who chairs ASNE's International Committee and is executive editor of the Houston Chronicle.

ASNE is the principal organization of American newspaper editors. It is active in a number of areas, including open government, freedom of the press, journalism credibility, ethics, newsroom management, diversity and readership.