The Trial of the Chicago 7: The Official Transcript - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1982155086 ISBN 13: 9781982155087

Verlag: Simon & Schuster, 2020

Inhaltsangabe

Republished fifty years later to coincide with the release of the Academy Award–nominated film of the same title written and directed by Aaron Sorkin with an all-star cast, this is the classic account of perhaps the most infamous, and definitely the most entertaining, trial in recent American history.

In the fall of 1969 eight prominent anti-Vietnam War activists were put on trial for conspiring to riot at the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago. One of the eight, Black Panther cofounder Bobby Seale, was literally bound and gagged in court by order of the judge, Julius Hoffman, and his case was separated from that of the others.

The activists, who included Abbie Hoffman, Jerry Rubin, and Tom Hayden, and their attorneys, William Kunstler and Leonard Weinglass, insisted that the First Amendment was on trial. Their witnesses were a virtual who’s who of the 1960s counterculture: Allen Ginsberg, Timothy Leary, Arlo Guthrie, Judy Collins, Norman Mailer, among them.

The defendants constantly interrupted to protest what they felt were unfair rulings by the judge. The trial became a circus, all the while receiving intense media coverage. The convictions that resulted were subsequently overturned on appeal, but the trial remained a political and cultural touchstone, a mirror of the deep divisions in the country. The Trial of the Chicago 7 consists of the highlights from trial testimony with a brief epilogue describing what later happened to the principal figures.

Über diesen Titel

Über die Autorinnen und Autoren

Mark L. Levine is a lawyer, writer, and teacher who practiced corporate banking and publishing law in New York City for over forty years. He is also an experienced voter protection lawyer. His previous books include Negotiating a Book Contract and The Complete Book of Bible Quotations. A graduate of Columbia College, NYU School of Law, and Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, he has taught at Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law and Zicklin School of Business/Baruch College.

George McNamee is Chairman of Plug Power, a pioneer of the hydrogen economy.  He has served as venture investor and board member of emerging growth companies including iRobot. In 2011, he was the first history major awarded the Yale Science and Engineering Association Distinguished Service Award. He served on the board of the New York Stock Exchange and is a Trustee of The American Friends of Eton College. He is a 1969 graduate of Yale University.

Daniel Greenberg is head of pro bono at Schulte Roth & Zabel, a major New York law firm. From 1994 to 2004, he was attorney-in-chief of the Legal Aid Society. Prior to that he was director of clinical programs at Harvard Law School after being a legal services lawyer on New York’s Lower East Side. He is a former president of the New York City chapter of the National Lawyers Guild. Danny received his law degree from Columbia in 1969.

Aaron Sorkin is a writer, producer, and director who has worked in film, television, and theater. He first gained attention for his play A Few Good Men, a major success on Broadway, which he later adapted into an acclaimed movie. He is the author of many screenplays including Malice, The American President, Charlie Wilson’s War, The Social Network (winner of an Academy Award for best-adapted screenplay), and Moneyball. His well-known work in television includes the highly acclaimed The West Wing, which won nine Emmy Awards in its first season alone, and The Newsroom. Sorkin made his directorial debut with Molly’s Game, which he adapted from a memoir by Molly Bloom (and which was nominated for an Academy Award for best-adapted screenplay). In 2018 Sorkin’s adaptation of Harper Lee’s classic To Kill a Mockingbird premiered on Broadway, and was nominated for nine Tony Awards.

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I. Opening Statements I Opening Statements

TRANSCRIPT PAGES 1–81

SEPTEMBER 26, 1969

Officer of the Court:

THEREUPON a panel of twelve veniremen and four alternates were called to the jury box and duly sworn for examination upon their voir dire, and examined until twelve jurors and four alternate jurors were accepted by the Counsel for the Plaintiff and Counsel for the Defendants.

AND THEREFORE, the panel of twelve jurors and four alternates was duly sworn to try the issues.

[Prior to the introduction of evidence and testimony of witnesses, the attorneys for the opposing parties are granted the opportunity to explain to the jurors the issues they intend to prove—ed.]

Opening statement on behalf of the Government by Mr. Schultz

Mr. Schultz:… The Government, ladies and gentlemen of the jury, will prove in this case, the case which you will witness as jurors, an overall plan of the eight defendants in this case which was to encourage numerous people to come to the city of Chicago, people who planned legitimate protest during the Democratic National Convention which was held in Chicago in August of 1968, from August 26 through August 29, 1968. They planned to bring these people into Chicago to protest, legitimately protest, as I said, creat[ing] a situation in this city where these people would come to Chicago, would riot… [T]he defendants, in perpetrating this offense, they, the defendants, crossed state lines themselves, at least six of them, with intent to incite this riot.

[Without the presence of the jury]

The Court: This will be but a minute, Mr. Marshal. Who is the last defendant you named?

Mr. Schultz: Mr. Hayden.

The Court: Hayden. Who was the one before?

Mr. Schultz: Davis, and prior to that was Dellinger.

The Court: The one that shook his fist in the direction of the jury?

Mr. Hayden: That is my customary greeting, your Honor.

The Court: It may be your customary greeting but we do not allow shaking of fists in this courtroom. I made that clear.

Mr. Hayden: It implied no disrespect for the jury; it is my customary greeting.

The Court: Regardless of what it implies, sir, there will be no fist shaking and I caution you not to repeat it.

[Mr. Schultz continuing with his opening statement—ed.]

Mr. Schultz:… The Defendants Dellinger, Davis and Hayden joined with five other defendants who are charged in this case in their venture to succeed in their plans to create the riots in Chicago during the time the Democratic National Convention was convened here.

Two of these defendants, the Defendant Abbie Hoffman who sits—who is just standing for you, ladies and gentlemen—

The Court: The jury is directed to disregard the kiss thrown by the Defendant Hoffman and the defendant is directed not to do that sort of thing again.

Mr. Schultz:… Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, the Government will prove that each of these eight men assumed specific roles in it and they united and that the eight conspired together to encourage people to riot during the Convention. We will prove that the plans to incite the riot were basically in three steps. The first step was to use the unpopularity of the war in Vietnam as a method to urge people to come to Chicago during that Convention for purposes of protest. The first was to bring the people here.

The second step was to incite these people who came to Chicago, to incite these people against the Police Department, the city officials, the National Guard and the military, and against the Convention itself, so that these people would physically resist and defy the orders of the police and the military.

So the second step, we will prove, was to incite, and the third step was to create a situation where the demonstrators who had come to Chicago and who were conditioned to physically resist the police would meet and would confront the police in the streets of Chicago so that at this confrontation a riot would occur.…

First they demanded, when these people arrived in Chicago, to sleep in Lincoln Park. At one point they were talking in terms of up to or exceeding 500,000 people who were coming to Chicago to sleep in Lincoln Park and they demanded free portable sanitation facilities, they demanded free kitchens and free medical facilities.

The second demand, non-negotiable demand which was made by those defendants I just mentioned, was for a march to the International Amphitheatre where the Democratic National Convention was taking place. They said they were going to have a march of up to or exceeding 200,000 people. Although they were told that the United States Secret Service which was charged with the protection of the President of the United States, the Vice President of the United States and the candidates for nomination—although they were told that the Secret Service said that a permit could not be authorized because of the danger to the security of these individuals, the President and the Vice President and the candidates, the defendants demanded a permit for a march.…

So, ladies and gentlemen, of the jury, the Government will prove with regard to the permits that I have just mentioned that the defendants incited the crowd to demand sleeping in Lincoln Park and to demand that [they] march to the Amphitheatre so that when the police ordered the crowd out of Lincoln Park at curfew and when the police stopped the march, the crowd, having been incited, would fight the police and there would be a riot.

… The Government will not prove that all eight defendants met together at one time, but the Government will prove that on some occasions two or three of the defendants would meet together; on other occasions four would meet; on some occasions five of them would meet together to discuss these actions, and on several occasions six of the defendants met together to discuss their plans.…

In sum, then, ladies and gentlemen, the Government will prove that the eight defendants charged here conspired together to use interstate commerce and the facilities of interstate commerce to incite and to further a riot in Chicago; that they conspired to use incendiary devices to further that riot, and they conspired to have people interfere with law enforcement officers, policemen, military men, Secret Service men engaged in their duties; and that the defendants committed what are called overt acts in furtherance of the conspiracy—that is, they took steps, they did things to accomplish this plan, this conspiracy.…

The Court: Is it the desire of any lawyer of a defendant to make an opening statement?

Mr. Kunstler: It is, your Honor.

The Court: All right. You may proceed, sir.

Mr. Kunstler: Your Honor, it is 12:30.

The Court: I know, I am watching the clock. You leave the—What does that man say—you leave the time-watching to me—on the radio or TV—leave the driving to me. Mr. Kunstler, I will watch the clock for you.

Mr. Kunstler: Your Honor, will you permit us to complete the opening statements?

The Court: I will determine the time when we recess, sir. I don’t need your help on that. There are some things I might need your help on; not that.

Opening statement on behalf of certain defendants by Mr. Kunstler

Now the Government has given you its table of contents. I will...

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: Simon & Schuster
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2020
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 1982155086
• ISBN 13: 9781982155087
• Einband: Taschenbuch
• Anzahl der Seiten: 384
• Herausgeber: Levine Mark L., McNamee George C., Greenberg Daniel
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Nicht verfügbar
• Verantwortliche Person: Simon and Schuster Netherlands BV; info@simonandschuster.nl; ; Herculesplein 96; Utrecht; 3584 AA; Niederlande