National Lawyers Guild Mourns Passing of Leonard Weinglass
CommonDreams.org
http://www.commondreams.org/newswire/2011/03/24-1
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE March 24, 2011 12
CONTACT
Paige Cram, 212-679-5100, ext. 15 National Lawyers
Guild Mourns Passing of Leonard Weinglass
mourns yesterday's passing of an extraordinary
criminal defense and civil rights attorney, Leonard I.
Weinglass. A long-time member of the Guild, he now
joins the pantheon of great lawyers who have devoted
their careers to making human rights more sacred than
property interests.
Weinglass graduated from
went on to defend some of the most significant
political cases of the century. He represented Tom
Hayden of Students for a Democratic Society when
Hayden was indicted in the
Vietnam War, he represented Anthony Russo in the
Pentagon Papers case, and in 1969 he co-counseled in
the
of the guilty verdicts. He also represented Jane Fonda
in her suit against Richard Nixon, Puerto Rican
independence fighters Los Macheteros, and eight
Palestinian organizers facing deportation known as the LA 8.
When he represented Amy Carter in 1987 after her
arrest for protesting CIA recruitment, Weinglass told
the Hampshire County District court, "the students'
reaction in that incident was the reaction any
right-thinking American, peace-loving American, would
have in the face of the serious harm the agency has done."
Weinglass served as lead counsel for Mumia Abu-Jamal,
who has been on death row for nearly 30 years. Other
well-known clients included former Weatherman Kathy
Boudin, Angela Davis when she was charged with murder
for the
one of the Cuban Five. He also represented Bill and
Emily Harris, members of the Symbionese Liberation
Army who were charged with the kidnapping of Patricia Hearst.
The National Lawyers Guild honored Weinglass on
several occasions, including at its 2003 national
convention with the Bill Goodman Award. "For most
lawyers, the work that Len did on any one of countless
cases would be the achievement of a lifetime, not just
for the brilliance of his advocacy but also for the
causes he espoused and the passion with which he
fought," said Guild President David Gespass.
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The National Lawyers Guild is dedicated to the need
for basic and progressive change in the structure of
our political and economic system. Through its
members--lawyers, law students, jailhouse lawyers and
legal workers united in chapters and committees--the
Guild works locally, nationally and internationally as
an effective political and social force in the service
of the people.
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