American Justice on Trial 1968–2016
As I write this, the nation is still reeling from multiple shocks in July 2016. First, as the month began, came yet two more videotaped incidents of police shooting to death black arrestees after many other such widely-publicized incidents over the previous several years. The day after the Fourth of July holiday, disturbing footage went viral of Baton Rouge police outside a convenience store firing repeatedly at 37-year-old Alton Sterling while two white policemen already had Sterling pinned face down on the ground. A day later, a thousand miles away in a suburb of St. Paul, Minnesota, the quick-thinking girl friend of Philandro Castile used her cell phone to capture a local policeman still waving his gun outside Castile’s car window as Castile lay bleeding to death seated beside her following a traffic stop. This graphic image was followed within days by breaking news of a horrific sniper attack on Dallas policemen who were monitoring one of many Black Lives Matter protest rallies prompted by the deaths of Sterling and Castile. Then, on July 17, 2016 came another attack, this time on Baton Rouge police.
The carnage and proliferation of demonstrations and hostile reactions in the aftermath have drawn renewed national focus to fractured police-community relations in cities across country, the very issue that gave rise to the Black Panther Party a half century ago. Indeed, the day after video footage went viral of Castile dying from gunshot wounds following a traffic stop, AlterNet reporter Alexandra Rosenmann drew a direct comparison to the sensationalized 1968 murder trial of Panther Party co-founder Huey Newton. Rosenmann titled her web article, “Gun Rights, Police Brutality and the Case of the Century: Philandro Castile’s tragic case of police brutality pulls one of the most famous cases back into focus.”1
The two incidents did start out in similar ways. In the early morning of October 28, 1967, Oakland policeman John Frey stopped the car Newton was driving to write a ticket for an unpaid traffic fine. A shootout ensued that left Officer Frey dead and Newton and a back-up officer seriously wounded. Newton claimed to have been unarmed and the victim of an abusive arrest; no gun belonging to Newton was found. His death penalty trial the following summer drew international attention to whether any black man could get a fair trial in America.
Before the deadly July 2016 incidents occurred, interviewees for this book had already noted the remarkable relevance of the 1968 Newton case to current events. Among them is William “Bill” Patterson, a former President of the Oakland NAACP and the first black foreman of the Alameda County Grand Jury: “It does resonate today. A young man [Oscar Grant III] being killed in the BART station by BART police and how that played out. The Florida case . . . again another young man [Trayvon Martin] shot to death. These situations continue to emerge and if we are not careful, we will find history repeating itself.”
In the past several months, both champions and critics of the Black Lives Matter movement have drawn parallels to the split among Americans in the turbulent 1960s. The comparisons reached a point where President Obama felt compelled to reassure the world, on July 9, 2016, that most Americans are not as divided as we were fifty years ago: “When we start suggesting that somehow, there’s this enormous polarization and we’re back to the situation in the ’60s, that’s just not true. You’re not seeing riots, and you’re not seeing police going after people who are protesting peacefully. . . . We’ve got a foundation to build on . . .”2
President Obama himself symbolizes the profound change in the fabric of our nation over the past half century. So, too, do black police chiefs like Dallas Police Chief David Brown. Chief Brown’s reaction to a black gunman ambushing randomly chosen white officers on the evening of July 7, 2016, captured the sentiments of most Americans: “We are heartbroken. There are no words to describe the atrocity that occurred in our city. All I know is this must stop: this divisiveness between our police and our citizens.”3
This book scrutinizes the 1968 Newton trial and its context and poses the same questions President Obama and others have recently addressed: what has changed in this country in the last half century and what has not? How do we best move forward?
— Lise Pearlman Oakland, California September 2016
Comments on the book from trial participants and observers
Lise Pearlman’s account of the tinderbox setting enveloping the trial of Huey Newton perfectly captures how much can be at stake for an entire community — even a nation — in a single trial and the exceptional role played by twelve everyday men and women we trust to decide each case. For those, like myself, who recall this case from our youth, Lise has done a wonderful job in both capturing a movement and its historical context. But anyone interested in history, courtroom drama, or criminal justice should read this gripping account of an all too often forgotten chapter of the 20th century.
Barry Scheck, PROFESSOR OF LAW BENJAMIN N. CARDOZO SCHOOL OF LAW Co-Director, The Innocence Project
The definitive book on the 1968 Huey Newton death penalty trial.
D. Lowell Jensen, NEWTON PROSECUTOR
A clear recognition and exposition of the quest for justice and equality by one man for all people within the parameters of a trial that illuminates the racial divide of a nation.
Melvin Newton, PROFESSOR EMERITUS ETHNIC STUDIES, MERRITT COLLEGE (older brother of Huey Newton)
Lise Pearlman’s book about the trial of Huey Newton captures the tumultuous times, the personalities, the fighting defense lawyers, including Charles Garry, in a way that makes it eminently worth reading. Garry’s jury selection dealing with race was one of the best pieces of trial work done by anyone. Loved the book.
James Brosnahan, SENIOR PARTNER, MORRISON FOERSTER Rated among the top 30 trial lawyers in the U.S. (San Francisco federal prosecutor in 1968)
I began my long career as a criminal defense lawyer in the mid-60s in Oakland, California, and witnessed many of the legal events Lise Pearlman describes. I find her account of the 1968 Newton murder trial and its political context accurate and fascinating. Fans of famous trials will thoroughly enjoy this fast-paced, well-researched book. If “THE” trial of the 20th century can be measured, her argument for People v. Newton heading the list is a strong one.
Penny Cooper, MEMBER OF THE STATE BAR OF CALIFORNIA TRIAL LAWYERS HALL OF FAME (Alameda County Deputy Public Defender in 1968)
Lise Pearlman is also the acclaimed author of
The Sky’s the Limit: People v. Newton, the REAL Trial of the 20th Century? [Regent Press 2012]
A history of the American 20th century that compares the Newton trial to other headline trials from 1901 to 2000.
The Sky’s the Limit won:
U.S. BOOK NEWS 2013 First Place: Law
IBPA AWARD BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 2013 Silver Award: Multiculturalism
INTERNATIONAL BOOK AWARDS 2013 Finalist: U.S. History
Praise for The Sky’s the Limit:
This thorough text stands apart from other case histories for its comparative nature as well as its focus on this particular trial. It deserves a place on the shelf of anyone interested in legal studies, the radical social movements of the 1960s, or African American Studies.
Alyssa