Weinglass, attorney in radicals' cases, dies in NY
by FRANK ELTMAN, miamiherald.com
Leonard Weinglass was a modern-day Clarence Darrow, an attorney who defended
people for their politics not their alleged crimes, friends said.
His clients included Black Panthers, radicals, a cop-killer who sparked
crusades against the death penalty, the Chicago Seven in the 1960s and the
so-called Cuban Five in recent years.
Weinglass died Wednesday in New York City. He was 77 and had pancreatic
cancer.
"I always considered Lenny the modern-day Clarence Darrow," said Michael
Krinsky, a partner at Rabinowittz, Boudin, Standard, Krinsky and Lieberman,
where Weinglass worked. "He was a lawyer who devoted himself to defending
people, usually for political reasons. I think one of the reasons he was so
effective with juries is they saw his decency and sincerity."
In 1968, Weinglass was part of the defense team representing the Chicago
Seven, accused of various crimes stemming from violence at the Democratic
National Convention.
"I thought then that Len was the best trial attorney I ever met," said Tom
Hayden, one of the defendants. "We roomed together during the trial and he
taught me to be his sort-of assistant counsel. I think everybody in the
courtroom came to realize what an extraordinary lawyer he was."
Some of the defendants were convicted of crossing state lines with the
intent to incite a riot, but an appeals court later reversed the
convictions. The Justice Department never retried the case.
Later, Weinglass helped defend Daniel Ellsberg and Anthony Russo, who were
charged with leaking the Pentagon Papers. Criminal charges against the two,
who copied and disseminated the classified documents about the U.S. role in
the Vietnam War, were eventually dismissed.
Ellsberg said he owed his life to Weinglass.
"He wasn't drawn to making money. He was drawn to defending justice,"
Ellsberg said. "He felt in many cases he was representing one person
standing against the state. He was on the side of the underdog. He was also
very shrewd in his judgment of juries."
Weinglass was a 1958 graduate of Yale Law School and served as a U.S. Air
Force captain with the judge advocate's office from 1959 to 1961. He opened
a law office in Newark, N.J., in the 1960s, Krinsky said, and soon was
representing defendants in civil rights cases.
"It was lonely work, it was dangerous work, but he was making a very vital
contribution to the civil rights struggles of the late '60s," Krinsky said.
"It was the sort of dedicated, selfless work that characterized his career."
Other high-profile defendants included Angela Davis, a former Black Panthers
member acquitted of murder and kidnapping charges in California in 1972.
Another client, Kathy Boudin, was a member of the Weather Underground who
was charged with murder during a 1981 robbery of an armored truck in New
York. She was convicted for her role in the holdup and was paroled in 2003.
He also worked on the ongoing death row appeals of Mumia Abu-Jamal, a former
Black Panther convicted in the slaying of a Philadelphia police officer.
In recent years, he took part in the Cuban Five case, where defendants were
accused in Florida of spying for the Cuba.
Hayden said of his friend: "He exemplified the best qualities of a Jewish
upbringing; he questioned everything. He was a funny man, a man of wisdom
and passion who would throw himself into deeply unpopular causes because he
believed in human rights."
Friends said he also was beloved beyond the courtroom.
The chance to have dinner with Weinglass, self-described radical Debbie
Smith said Thursday, was an opportunity to create a memory for a lifetime.
"He was a wonderful storyteller who lived an interesting and dedicated
life," she said.
"He had wonderful observations about life," Smith said. "He was a wonderful
gardener and had a huge collection of tree and plant catalogs. He had a
beautiful place in the Catskills and lived in a teepee up there for a couple
of years."
A colleague, Ron Kuby, described him as a "lovely, gentle, caring man who
lived his entire life on the left and never made a single enemy."
Weinglass, who was divorced, had no children. He is survived by two sisters,
one brother and several nieces and nephews. A private funeral will be held,
followed by a public memorial this spring.
Original Page:
http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/03/24/2131934/attorney-in-notable-radical-cas
es.html
Shared from Read It Later
--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups
"Sixties-L" group.
To post to this group, send email to [email protected].
To unsubscribe from this group, send email to
[email protected].
For more options, visit this group at
http://groups.google.com/group/sixties-l?hl=en.
