National Lawyers Guild Mourns Passing of Leonard Weinglass
commondreams.org | Mar 24th 2011
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.
Original Page: http://www.commondreams.org/newswire/2011/03/24-1
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