August 7, 1970 August 7, 1970 Marin County Courthouse Attack Jonathan Jackson, 17-year-old brother of prison revolutionary George Jackson, carried four guns into a courtroom just down the hall from the scene of Friday's shooting. Jonathan Jackson freed three prisoners, and with them took five hostages, including Judge Harold Haley, in a bid to free George Jackson from prison. A shoot-out ensued, and three Black Panthers the younger Jackson, two of the prisoners and the judge were killed. The judge was killed by a shotgun to the head attached by the terrorists but may also have been wounded when police shot at the escape van. Propagandist and professor Angelas Davis bought the guns days before registered in her name, and was charged as an accomplice to conspiracy, kidnapping, and homicide. In 1972, she was tried and found not guilty on all counts.
October 8, 1970 Weathermen Bombing of Marin County Courthouse was bombed. A group known as the Weathermen later claimed responsibility for the action, which was carried out in retaliation for the Black Panthers killed in the August 7, 1970 Marin County Courthouse Attack. The Weathermen were classified by the FBI as "domestic terrorist group."[3] and had issued a "Declaration of a State of War" against the United States government. Their title came from a 1969 document "You Don't Need a Weatherman to Know Which Way the Wind Blows" which called for a "white fighting force" allied with the "Black Liberation Movement" to destroy U.S. imperialism and achieve a classless world: world communism".[9]
Soledad Brothers founder George Jackson allegedly organized an armed assault on the Marin County courthouse to demand George Jackson's immediate release. The assault took place during a trial for James McClain, who had been named accused in the stabbing of a prison guard, with Judge Haley presiding As Jonathan Jackson drove the hostages and three convicts away from the courthouse, front passenger McClain shot at the police stationed in the parking lot. The police shot back. Judge Haley died as a result of potentially fatal wounds from both the shotgun which had been taped to his neck, as well as a pistol shot to the chest that was fired either by the kidnappers or by the police. Gary Thomas, one of the hostages, grabbed a gun from Jackson and began shooting at the kidnappers. A shooting melee ensued, in which three Black Panthers were killed. The sole Black Panther abductor to survive was Ruchell Magee. Prosecutor Thomas was paralyzed for life by a bullet through the spine. Maria Elena Graham, one of the jurors being held captive, suffered a bullet wound to her arm. Davis who bought the guns days before and registered in her name was charged as an accomplice to conspiracy, kidnapping, and homicide. In 1972, she was tried and found not guilty on all counts. On October 8, 1970, the Marin County Courthouse was bombed. A group known as the Weathermen later claimed responsibility for the action, which was carried out in retaliation for the killing of Jackson and the other abductors.
Wikipedia 5/30/2019
Soledad Brothers founder George Jackson allegedly organized an armed assault on the Marin County courthouse to demand George Jackson's immediate release. The assault took place during a trial for James McClain, who had been named accused in the stabbing of a prison guard, with Judge Haley presiding.[10]
The person in charge of the kidnapping was George Jackson's younger brother, Jonathan Peter Jackson, aged 17.[11] Two days before the kidnapping, ex-UCLA acting assistant professor Angela Davis had bought a shotgun from a pawn shop in San Francisco. After Davis paid for the shotgun, its barrel was sawed off so as to be concealable.[12]
On the day before the kidnapping, Davis and Jonathan Jackson were alleged to have been in a rented yellow utility van at the Marin Courthouse. Jonathan went into the courtroom where James McClain (aged 37) was on trial. He was wearing a long buttoned-up raincoat, despite the heat and lack of rain. The van had troubles running, so Jonathan and Davis drove to a gas station down the street from the courthouse to get the van repaired.[citation needed]
On August 7, 1970, a heavily armed Jonathan Jackson returned to the courthouse in the yellow van. He entered the courtroom again wearing the long raincoat, and brought three guns registered to Angela Davis[13] into the Hall of Justice.[12][14]
Jackson sat among the spectators for a few minutes before opening his satchel, drawing a pistol and throwing it to Black Panther defendant McClain. Jackson then produced a M1 carbine from his raincoat as McClain held the pistol against Judge Haley's head. Jackson was reported as saying "Freeze. Just freeze." He then told court officials, attorneys and jurors to lie on the floor while another San Quentin inmate, Ruchell Cinque Magee, who was to have witnessed at McClain's trial, went to free three other testifying prisoners from their holding cell. A couple with a baby was also ordered into the judge's chambers.[15]
After being freed by Magee, a fourth man, Black Panther William A. Christmas (aged 27), joined the other three kidnappers. Haley was forced at gunpoint to call the sheriff Louis P. Mountanos, in the hopes of convincing the police to refrain from intervening. Road flares, which were used to simulate sticks of dynamite, were held against Judge Haley's neck before being replaced with a sawed-off shotgun which was fastened under his chin with adhesive tape. The kidnappers, after some debate, then secured four other hostages whom they bound with piano wire: Deputy District Attorney Gary Thomas and jurors Maria Elena Graham, Doris Whitmer, and Joyce Rodoni.[15][16]
The four kidnappers and five hostages then moved into the corridor of the courthouse, which at this point had become crowded with responding police who had been summoned by a bailiff.[10][16] No action was taken against them at this point. Around this time, Jim Kean, a photographer for the San Rafael Independent Journal, arrived at the building after he had heard news of the incident from police radio in his car. He stepped off an elevator directly adjacent to the hostages and kidnappers, and was reportedly told by one of them, "You take all the pictures you want. We are the revolutionaries." Kean and his colleague Roger Bockrath took a series of photographs of the group, apparently after some brief discussion as to whether the two journalists should be added to the ranks of the hostages.[15]
The group then entered the elevator, informing the police that "[they wanted] the Soledad brothers freed by 12:30 today."[15] When the hostages were forced out onto the sidewalk in front of the Hall of Justice, Judge Haley asked where they were being taken. He was told they were being taken to the airport where they would get a plane. The kidnappers then forced the hostages into a rented Ford van which they began to drive towards an exit leading to the U.S. 101 freeway.[15]
The police had set up a road block outside of the civic center in anticipation of the group leaving. As Jonathan Jackson drove the hostages and three convicts away from the courthouse, front passenger McClain shot at the police stationed in the parking lot. The police shot back. Judge Haley died as a result of potentially fatal wounds from both the shotgun which had been taped to his neck, as well as a pistol shot to the chest that was fired either by the kidnappers or by the police.[11][17] Gary Thomas, one of the hostages, grabbed a gun from Jackson and began shooting at the kidnappers. A shooting melee ensued, in which three Black Panthers were killed. The sole Black Panther abductor to survive was Ruchell Magee. Prosecutor Thomas was paralyzed for life by a bullet through the spine.[how?][18] Maria Elena Graham, one of the jurors being held captive, suffered a bullet wound to her arm.[16]
Aftermath[edit]
Following the events of August 7, a warrant was issued for the arrest of Angela Davis. She became a fugitive and fled California. She was secreted to Chicago to meet up with fellow Communist leader David Poindexter Jr., who took her to Miami, Florida. In an effort to hide from authorities, Davis used false identification, cut off her afro, wore a wig, plucked her eyebrows, wore makeup, and donned business eyeglasses. On October 13, 1970, FBI agents found her at the Howard Johnson Motor Lodge in New York City.[19] President Richard M. Nixon congratulated the FBI on its "capture of the dangerous terrorist, Angela Davis".[14]
Davis was charged as an accomplice to conspiracy, kidnapping, and homicide. In 1972, she was tried and found not guilty on all counts.
Ruchell Magee pleaded guilty to the charge of aggravated kidnapping for his part in the assault. In return for his plea, the Attorney General asked the Court to dismiss the charge of murder (of Judge Harold Haley). Magee later attempted unsuccessfully to withdraw his plea, and was sentenced in 1975 to life in prison.[20] He is currently imprisoned in Corcoran State Prison and has lost numerous bids for parole.
| Marin County Civic Center bombing (October 1970) | |
|---|---|
| Location | Marin County Civic Center, San Rafael, California |
| Coordinates | 37.9983418°N 122.5315442°W |
| Date | October 8, 1970 |
Attack type
| Bombing |
| Perpetrator | Weather Underground |
| Motive | Retribution for law enforcement response to August attack and glorification of its perpetrators |
On October 8, 1970, the Marin County Courthouse was bombed. A group known as the Weathermen later claimed responsibility for the action, which was carried out in retaliation for the killing of Jackson and the other abductors.[21]
In 1971, three days before he was to go on trial for the Mills murder, George Jackson was fatally shot in the prison yard of San Quentin during a riotous escape attempt. Officials claim that Jackson had smuggled a 9mm pistol into the prison and he and nearly two dozen other prisoners were attempting to escape. During the conflict, three corrections officers and two other inmates were killed. Six of the inmates (known as the San Quentin Six) were later tried for their participation.[citation needed]
Susie Edwards, Perry and Sadie Miller, and O.C. and Addie Nolen, the parents of Cleveland Edwards, Alvin Miller and W.L. Nolen, respectively, eventually filed a $1.2 million dollar damage suit against Opie G. Miller for the deaths of their sons.[22] Jet magazine reported in its May 22, 1975 edition that the families ultimately received a total of "$270,000 from the state of California after an all white jury decided that eight prison employees had caused the inmates' deaths".[23]
Jonathan P. Jackson - Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonathan_P._Jackson
Known for, Marin County courthouse incident. Jonathan Peter Jackson (June 23, 1953 – August 7, 1970), was a self-proclaimed revolutionary who died of gunshot wounds suffered during his armed invasion of a California courthouse. At age 17, Jackson stormed the Marin County Courthose with automatic ... with two inmates already in the courtroom, who had readily joined the attack; ...
Ruchell Cinque Magee, sole survivor of the Aug. 7, 1970, Courthouse ...
https://sfbayview.com › Behind Enemy Lines
Feb 2, 2017 - Although critically wounded on Aug. 7, 1970, Magee was the sole survivor ... parking lot when Marin County police and San Quentin guards opened fire. ... tortuous conditions, despite having no assault or murder convictions!
Courthouse Shootout Linked With Radical Movement and Killing of ...
https://www.nytimes.com/1970/.../courthouse-shootout-linked-with-radical-movement-a...
Aug 24, 1970 - August 24, 1970, Page 40Buy Reprints The New York Times Archives. SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 23—The shootout at the Marin County Courthouse did not grow out of ... 7, to the killing of three black inmates by a guard at Soledad Prison .... Black prisoners began a hun ger strike, and their anger grew when ...
The Marin County courthouse incident was... - cuckooworldwide.com ...
https://www.facebook.com/...marin-county-courthouse...august-7.../10152615107006...
The Marin County courthouse incident was an event which occurred on August 7, 1970, ... by kidnapping Superior Court judge Harold Haley from the Marin County Civic ... leaving black inmates' cells unlocked to put them in danger of assault.
Woman, 67, Kills Former Son-in-Law in Courtroom, Then Turns Gun ...
https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1986-05-24-mn-7487-story.html
May 24, 1986 - ... fatally wounded herself Friday in a crowded Marin County courtroom as ... Rafael, was hit in the head and died seconds after the 1:45 p.m. attack. ... took the lives of a Superior Court judge and three others on Aug. 7, 1970.courtroom shooting occurred six weeks after a Los Angeles man and victims-rights advocate, Jack Spiegelman, shot at and wounded the suspected killer of his daughter during a court hearing in San Francisco. Spiegelman is awaiting trial on an attempted murder charge.
Friday's shooting occurred during an arraignment before Municipal Judge Ernest Zunino in San Rafael, about 25 miles north of San Francisco.
"A bailiff on the scene said there was no sign of trouble until they all heard the first shots," said Karen Driscoll, spokeswoman for the Marin County Sheriff's Department. "She then turned the gun on herself so quickly that the bailiff could not get to her (to stop her).
"It all happened very, very quickly."
Driscoll said witnesses in the nearly full courtroom said the assailant got up from her seat and casually walked over near where Lafont was seated, then produced a .38-caliber revolver and fired without warning.
She stood about five feet from her victim when she fired, Driscoll said. The gunfire sent spectators scrambling for safety.
1970 Shootings
The sound of gunfire echoing down the halls of the Marin County Civic Center reminded many here of another deadly shoot-out in the structure that took the lives of a Superior Court judge and three others on Aug. 7, 1970.
On that day, Jonathan Jackson, 17-year-old brother of prison revolutionary George Jackson, carried four guns into a courtroom just down the hall from the scene of Friday's shooting.
Jonathan Jackson freed three prisoners, and with them took five hostages, including Judge Harold Haley, in a bid to free George Jackson from prison. A shoot-out ensued, and the younger Jackson, the judge and two of the prisoners died.
Friday's shooting took place just two courtrooms away from the trial of former activist lawyer Stephen M. Bingham, who is accused of helping George Jackson launch a 1971 escape bid at San Quentin Prison. Jackson was killed in that attempt, along with three guards and two other inmates
[Video] 45 Years Ago Today, Jonathan Jackson Took Over the Marin ...
https://bayareaintifada.wordpress.com/.../45-years-ago-today-jonathan-jackson-took-o...
Aug 8, 2015 - ... into the Marin County Courthouse (California) armed (with guns that were ... prosecutor, three jurors as hostages to waiting van Aug. 7, 1970.
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