Newspapers / Fayetteville State University Student … / March 20, 1972, edition 1 / Page 3
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Page 3 THE VOSCE March 20, 1972 FAIR TRIAL FOR ANGELA NOT POSSIBLE “We said all along that she couldn’t get a fair trial in this county by a jury of her peers, and if this jury panel is indica tive of what is to come. I’d say we were correct.” So stated Chief Defense Counsel Howard Moore, Jr., after the first few days of the jury selection pro cess in the Angela Davis kidnap- murder-conspiracy trial in San Jose California, By Thursday, March 2, a pre liminary panel of twelve jurors had been seated in preparation for more intensive questioning by the defense and prosecution. The preliminary panel in- eludes one Black, Mrs. Janie Hemphill, a housewife who has resided in Santa Clara Coun ty for 17 years. She was the only Black included in the in itial list of 116 prospective ju rors. She stated that she has been aware of Ms. Davis since her struggles with the governor and regents of UCLA, and said, “It didn’t stick with me to pre judice me against Ms, Davis.” It is expected that the prosecu tion will find some way of elimi nating the sister. The other preliminary jurors consist mostly of housewives and retired people. There is one per son 22 years of ages, but the effort to seat the newly enfran. chised 18-21 year oli failed. So far, all have been students who have claimed hardship, ei ther financial, or because of im pending final exams. One of the preliminary panel. William Hotaling, a manager for IBM, was seated over the object ions of the defense, despite the fact he admitted, “1 am against members of the Communist Par- ty.” He further stated that, “Any one who takes radical action would tend to lie,” The other preliminary panel- ists in addition to the two men tioned above are: three house wives (one of whom is related to a member of the San Jose police department); a female ac counting clerk; an insurance sec retary, also female; a retired sub-contractor; a retired truck er; a retired librarian and a 22 year old female collections clerk, Eigjit women and four men. Ele ven white and one Black. The rigid security measures, which add to the tension, have remained in force though Ms. Davis is now out on bail, with six deputies and a matron sta tioned inside the courtroom in addition to the five deputies and one matron outside the court room. The one Black deputy in the county has been stationed in a very visible position, search ing incoming spectators and newsmen. Further evidence of the hos- tile attitude of the state is the fact that Prosecutor Albert Har ris (of the State Attorney Gen eral’s Office) has asked that an official count of spectators seat ed in court each day go into the court’s record for future use. Each person entering the court room has to identify himself with driver’s license, etc., give his social security number, and be photographed. Obviously, Har ris feels this is not intimidation enough since the courtroom is full everyday. If there are any questions that this is a political, rather than a criminal trial, the treatment of the reporters from Soviet Russia and East Germany should be il luminating. The representative of the Soviet news agency, TASS, is allowed to roam only within 4*25 mile radius of San Jose (he can’t even get to San Francisco within those limits). And Dr, Klaus Steiniger of East Germany cannot evenleaveSan Jose,These are orders from the State Dep artment of the U.S. Reporters from other European countries have no such restrictions of cour- se. There are no press represen tatives from Third World count ries. Ms. Davis’s entire family has been in attendance at the trial this week, with the exception of her father. Her mother, Ms.Sal- lye Davis, two brothers, Reginald and Benjamin (a football player for the Cleveland Browns), Ben’s wife, Sylvia and their son, Benn III and Fania Davis Jordan who has been very active in garnering support for her sister. The family has to sit in the rear of the courtroom because the first three rows are reserved for the press and TV artists. Ken- dria Alexander, a member of the National United Defense Commit tee to Free Angela Davis and All Political Prisoners was quite upset at deputies for assigning these seats in the rear of the courtroom as she had attempted to sit in the front row on the first day of the trial. The clenched fist Black Power salute had been outlawed in the courtroom, but the ban was lifted on the first day of the trial to the delight of the capacity crowd of supporters of Ms. Davis. When Angela enters the courtroom, she is greeted by the clenched fists of the spectators, which she promptly returns, Roger McAfee, the Fresno, Calif,, farmer who put up his property as collateral for Ms, Davis’ bail, came out of hiding on Thursday, March 2 to attend the trial along with his wife and several children. He and his family had been threatened with bodily harm by bigots after it became known that he was an active supporters of Ms, Davis, As a consequence, his children were expelled from school (al- legedly because they did not live in that district) and his property had to be protected by armed guards. He decided to surface again because of the overwhelming sup port he has received from those who believe in the freedom which this country preaches, but rarely practices. The judge in this case has al ready gagged the sheriff of Santa Clara County, after he stated that Ms, Davis should be freed on bail. The restrictions on Ms, Davis herself are such that she cannot make any public speeches, either relative to the trial or any thing else. Now, Prosecutor Har ris is seeking to gag everybody who has anything to do with the trial. This would include Chief Defense Counsel Moore who has been very outspoken about the tactics used by the state to pre vent a fair trial for Ms, Davis. The prosecutor wants a ban on all press conferences by “princi pals related to the trial,” After the public support and agitation that culminated in the demise of the death penalty which made Ms, Davis’ release on bail pos- sible, the state is becoming ner- vous about letting the people keep abreast of their methods. If they can succeed in limiting the infor- mation about the trial to what is reported by the traditional media from the courtroom, the impli- cations of their moves will not create any more crises which will force their hand or make them present even a semblance of justice. Though a preliminary panel of jurors has l»en seated, jury se lection is expected to take sev eral more weeks. This panel must be questioned in depth tefore they may become members of the jury to actually try Ms, Davis. To each prospective juror. Prosecutor Harris reads a list of 104 witnesses he expect to call for the trial to see if each of the jurors is acquainted with any one of them. This list includes 51 police, San Quentin guards, FBI agents, two state attorney generals and two coroners. That’s a total of 55 person on the state’s payroll. This is the first of a series of first hand arti cles on the trial of Angela Davis to appear in the Voice. The writers are members of the College Voice^ a Palo A I to ^ California based student staff that is covering the trial from a student's perspective. The Voice is the only paper in North Carolina receiving this service. •sgSpOU Tl C AU "Gaa and handcuff that witness!" ANGELA leaves coirthouse during recess in Jury Selection phase of trial.
Fayetteville State University Student Newspaper
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March 20, 1972, edition 1
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