The following originally appeared as a letter to the editor in the Daily Journal; I don’t have a link:
In Support of Tookie: Distortions of Fact, Distortions of Justice
There was a serious historical error in Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s statement denying Stanley “Tookie” Williams clemency.
Among the reasons given for allowing Williams’ execution to proceed was the dedication of Williams’ book, Life in Prison, to, among others, George Jackson.
it continues:
Schwarzenegger singled out this reference as “a significant indicator that Williams is not reformed and that he still sees violence and lawlessness as a legitimate means to address societal problems.”
According to Footnote 2 of Schwarzenegger’s statement: “Jackson was charged with the murder of a San Quentin correctional officer. In 1970, when Jackson was out to court in Marin County on the murder case, his brother stormed the courtroom with a machine gun, and along with Jackson and two other inmates, took a judge, the prosecutor and three others hostage in an escape attempt.
“The prosecutor was paralyzed from a police bullet, and the judge was killed by a close-range blast to his head when the shotgun taped to his throat was fired by one of Jackson’s accomplices.”
George Jackson was not present during the bloody Aug. 7, 1970, Marin courthouse shootout. Having already served 10 years of a one-year-to-life sentence for driving the getaway car in a $71 service station robbery committed when he was 18, Jackson was facing charge along with two other inmates, Fleeta Drumgo and John Clutchette, for allegedly murdering a Soledad prison guard, John Mills – not a San Quentin guard. The “Soledad Brothers” became a cause celebre, with
Angela Davis the chairperson of the defense committee. Jackson’s 17-year-old brother, Jonathan Jackson, was one of her bodyguards. That case was pending in Monterey County, not Marin.The shootout occurred during the trial of an inmate named John McClain, who was standing trial for an alleged offense committed at San Quentin.
There were two other inmates present as witnesses, William Christmas and Ruchell Magee. The proceedings had nothing to do with any of the Soledad Brothers. Jonathan Jackson did not “storm” the courtroom with a machine gun, he casually walked in carrying flight bag filled with pistols and a sawed off shotgun, and suddenly armed the three inmates. Jonathan Jackson, McClain and Christmas died, along with Judge Harold Haley, in the shooting which followed.
Angela Davis was subsequently accused of complicity and became a fugitive.
After two months on the FBI most wanted list, she was captured, and then acquitted. George Jackson was shot and killed by prison guards in the yard at San Quentin on August 21, 1971, following a disturbance that left three guards and two other prisoners dead. The two surviving Soledad Brothers were then acquitted of murder on March 28, 1972, raising a significant issue regarding whether George Jackson was responsible for anyone’s death.
Finally, Stephen Bingham, the lawyer accused of smuggling a pistol to George Jackson, triggering the San Quentin bloodbath, emerged from almost 15 years of hiding. In 1986 he too was acquitted.
Schwarzenegger’s flippant treatment of such well documented history [his office later issued a correction] underscores the cynicism and disregard of facts which too often pervades the justice system, even in matters of life and death with the whole world watching. For this reason alone, the barbaric practice of state executions should be discontinued.
John Burton
Pasadena
