In
the great tradition of Clarence Darrow, Charles Garry, Ernest Goodman,
William Kunstler, Carol Weiss King, Arthur Kinoy, Constance Baker Motley
and Michael Ratner, legendary people’s lawyer Leonard Weinglass
defended the poor and disenfranchised who struggled for social justice.
Weinglass
is now immortalized in “Len: A Lawyer in History,” a valuable graphic
historical work by cartoonist/writer Seth Tobocman. The book features
some of Weinglass’ most significant cases, analyzing them in the
historical context of the political movements in which they took place.
“I
want to spend my time defending people who have committed their time to
progressive change. That’s the criteria,” Weinglass said. “Now, that
could be people in armed struggle, people in protest politics, people in
confrontational politics, people in mass organizations, people in
labor.” Weinglass’ calling, editor Michael Steven Smith noted in the
book’s introduction, was defending people against “the machinery of the
state.”
Weinglass,
a longtime member of the National Lawyers Guild, was a brilliant
attorney who empowered his clients. Unlike many lawyers, he understood
that the case belongs to the client, who must live with the consequences
of the result. His clients had the final say about what strategy and
tactics to employ. Weinglass took cases other lawyers would not,
sometimes for no fee.
“[Weinglass] wasn’t drawn to making money. He was drawn to defending justice,” said Daniel Ellsberg, whose leak of the Pentagon Papershelped
end the Vietnam War. “He felt in many cases he was representing one
person standing against the state. He was on the side of the underdog.
He was also very shrewd in his judgment of juries,” Ellsberg added.
A
former military analyst and Marine who served in Vietnam, Ellsberg
worked at the Rand Corp. and the Pentagon. He risked decades in prison
to release 7,000 top-secret documents to The New York Times and other
newspapers in 1971. The Pentagon Papers demonstrated how five presidents
consistently lied to the American people about the Vietnam War that was
killing thousands of Americans and millions of Indochinese.
Ellsberg’s
courageous acts led directly to the Watergate scandal and President
Richard Nixon’s resignation. Henry Kissinger, Nixon’s national security
adviser, called Ellsberg “the most dangerous man in America” who “had to
be stopped at all costs.” But Ellsberg wasn’t stopped. Facing 115 years
in prison on espionage and conspiracy charges, he fought back.
Weinglass
represented Ellsberg and Tony Russo, who helped Ellsberg copy the
Pentagon Papers. The case was ultimately dismissed due to egregious
misconduct by the Nixon administration. Ellsberg’s story was portrayed
in the Oscar-nominated film, “The Most Dangerous Man in America.” Edward
Snowden told Ellsberg that film strengthened his resolve to release the
National Security Agency documents.
Another of Weinglass’ cases highlighted in Tobocman’s book is the Chicago Eight trial.
Tens of thousands of people protested the Vietnam War outside the 1968
Democratic Convention in Chicago. In the face of widespread police
brutality captured on television, Nixon charged eight people with the
federal offense of crossing state lines to incite a riot. Weinglass and
Kuntsler represented seven of the defendants. Black Panther Party
co-founder Bobby Seale, denied the right to represent himself when his
attorney, Charles Garry, was unable to appear, was bound and gagged by
the ruthless judge Julius Hoffman.
The
seven were Tom Hayden, Abbie Hoffman, Jerry Rubin, David Dellinger,
Rennie Davis, Lee Weiner and John Froines. “Judge Hoffman was not
impartial, but an activist seeking combat. He took things personally and
turned the court into an armed camp,” Tobocman wrote. The judge refused
to allow the defense to call police experts to testify about police
overreaction or ask potential jurors whether pretrial publicity would
affect them.
Froines
and Weiner were acquitted, but the jury convicted Hayden, Hoffman,
Rubin, Davis and Dellinger. Weinglass succeeded in getting the appellate
court to reverse their convictions. “Bobby Seale soon beat the murder
rap too,” Tobocman noted.
Weinglass’ final case was the appeal of the convictions of the Cuban Five.
For more than 40 years, anti-Cuba terrorist organizations based in
Miami had engaged in countless terrorist activities against Cuba and
anyone who advocated the normalization of relations between the U.S. and
Cuba.
Terrorist
groups, including Alpha 66, Omega 7, Comandos F4, Cuban American
National Foundation, Independent and Democratic Cuba, and Brothers to
the Rescue, operated with impunity in the United States.
Five
Cuban men—Gerardo Hernández, Antonio Guerrero, Ramón Labañino, René
González and Fernando González—traveled from Cuba to the United States
in the 1990s to gather information about terrorist plots against Cuba.
The Cuban Five peacefully infiltrated these organizations. They then
turned over the results of their investigation to the FBI.
But
instead of working to combat terrorist plots in the United States
against Cuba, the U.S. government arrested the Five and charged them
with conspiracy to commit espionage and conspiracy to commit murder.
They were convicted in a Miami court in 2000 and sentenced to four life
terms and 75 years collectively.
“Conspiracy
has always been the charge used by the prosecution in political cases,”
Weinglass said. “In the case of the Five, the Miami jury was asked to
find that there was an agreement to commit espionage. The government
never had to prove that espionage actually happened. It could not have
proven that espionage occurred. None of the Five sought or possessed any
top secret information or U.S. national defense secrets,” Weinglass
added.
A
three-judge panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously
overturned their convictions in 2005, ruling that the Five could not
get a fair trial in Miami due to pervasive anti-Cuba sentiment there.
Nevertheless, the 11th Circuit, sitting en banc, upheld the convictions.
But,
Weinglass stated, “It is inexplicable that the longest trial in the
United States at the time it occurred, hearing scores of witnesses,
including three retired generals and a retired admiral, as well as the
president’s adviser on Cuban affairs (all called by the defense) and a
leading military expert from Cuba, all the while considering the
dramatic and explosive 40-year history of U.S.-Cuba relations, did not
qualify for any media attention outside of Miami.”
Weinglass
was in Cuba, working on the case, when he was diagnosed with cancer. He
continued to work for the freedom of the Five until his death in March
2011. Two of the Five were released after long prison sentences. The
remaining three were freed as part of the historic agreement between
Cuban President Raul Castro and President Barack Obama in December 2014.
On
a visit to Cuba in 2015, Guerrero told me he was overwhelmed with
sadness at Weinglass’ death. “He was my brother,” Guerrero said.
Weinglass’
close friend Susan Schnall said, “His personal, political and
professional life combined to be an inspiration to all who knew him.”
She described Weinglass as “meticulous, tireless, dedicated and
brilliant when defending his clients. Even as he got older,” she added,
“he got reinvigorated and refreshed after spending 16-hour days pouring
through boxes and boxes of trial files on behalf of his clients.” In the
spring of 2010, Weinglass wrote to her, “Having accomplished something
is really all I need to work past exhaustion.”
Tobocman’s
unique book is required reading for all who seek to learn about the
remarkable legal career of Leonard Weinglass. It also provides a
valuable history lesson of people’s struggles that will inspire a new
generation of political activists as we face the daunting task of
resisting Donald Trump’s dangerous, frightening, mean-spirited,
downright cruel agenda.
Source: Truthdig.
Source: Truthdig.
