Thursday, March 24, 2011

Leonard Weinglass presente!

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 12:08 PM

 

CONTACT: National Lawyers Guild (NLG)

 

Paige Cram, 212-679-5100, ext. 15 National Lawyers

Guild Mourns Passing of Leonard Weinglass

 

NEW YORK - March 24 - The National Lawyers Guild

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 Yale Law School in 1958 and

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 Newark riots. During the

Vietnam War, he represented Anthony Russo in the

Pentagon Papers case, and in 1969 he co-counseled in

the Chicago Seven case, with the eventual overturning

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 Marin County shootout, and Antonio Guerrero,

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.

 

###

 

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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