A very large, well-attended rally preceded today's packed San
Francisco 8 court hearing. Four of the SF 8 - Ray Boudreaux, Richard
Brown, Hank Jones and Francisco Torres - joined in leading chants
outside the 850 Bryant Street courthouse along with supporters from
all over the Bay Area and from other West Coast cities. The main
defense arguments focused on the prosecutors' request to conduct
"conditional exams" of 5 witnesses who are old and in poor health and
so may not be available at trial. There are legal bases for their
testifying in advance of the preliminary hearing and trial. But the
defense is arguing that they have full rights to court-ordered
discovery pertaining to these witnesses allowing them to prepare to
cross examine them – particularly exculpatory evidence. Judge Philip
Moscone seemed to indicate that the standards for these exams would
have to meet trial standards, and that he will address the related
discovery issues, but would not issue a written ruling until next
week's court hearing. Defense subpoenas make clear reference to
missing exculpatory evidence including "negative comparisons" of
latent prints by FBI fingerprint examiners from 1971 and 1975. "I
believe that the FBI has been deeply involved in the investigation of
the Ingleside murder," according to defense attorney Chuck Bourdon,
who represents Francisco Torres. Bourdon also thinks that all FBI
files "have not yet been provided." Several agencies made reports of
negative results over the years. The only positive identification of
any latent print (the same latent print) was made recently by an
'expert' that was previously disciplined for making false fingerprint
reports. Stuart Hanlon, representing Herman Bell in this case,
referenced his previous defense of Geronimo Ji-Jaga Pratt - a major
target of FBI's COINTELPRO program. Geronimo "was falsely imprisoned
for 27 years by the withholding of FBI exculpatory evidence," argued
Hanlon. "This request demanding full discovery and particularly FBI
evidence is more than reasonable in light of this history. This case
is no different," Hanlon pointed out. "The FBI and COINTELPRO are
relevant to this case as COINTELPRO is a continuum through today's
Phoenix Taskforce," argued Jalil Muntaqim's lawyer, Daro Inouye. The
Phoenix Taskforce is a multi-agency force that is difficult to
formally define. It is known that it includes the US Attorney, the
FBI, local police agencies including the SFPD, and the California
Department of Justice. It is the umbrella organization that has
reopened this case, empaneled various Grand Jury investigations and is
overall responsible for this 37-year old Panther prosecution. Dave
Druliner, the lead State prosecutor, replied to defense references to
COINTELPRO dismissively as "an aura that exists out there," and "just
something that the defense brings up from time to time." Apparently
congressional investigations revealing the illegality of the FBI's
COINTELPRO program in the 1970s are part of that aura. Next week's
hearing will also address requests from Herman Bell and Jalil Muntaqim
to be returned to New York State between now and the start of the
preliminary hearing in this case (likely to be scheduled for early
September), in order to pursue their parole hearings. Judge Moscone
indicated a willingness to agree to these requests if Herman and Jalil
were to waive their rights to be present at any interim hearings in
San Francisco. The next hearing in the San Francisco 8 case is
scheduled for Tuesday, April 29th at 9:30 am in Department 26, 3rd
floor, 850 Bryant Street.
_______________________________________________ Please support these
brothers by sending a donation. Make checks payable to CDHR/Agape and
mail to the address below or donate on line:
www.freethesf8.org/donate.html Committee for the Defense of Human
Rights (CDHR) PO Box 90221 Pasadena, CA 91109 (415) 226-1120
FreetheSF8@riseup.net
