[Freethe SF8] Paying the Costs (SF-8) by Mumia Abu-Jamal

[SF-8 case]

Paying the Costs  (SF-8)
[col. writ. 2/5/10] (c) '10 Mumia Abu-Jamal

     As the once front page story of the San Francisco 8 case winds 
down, bills are becoming due.

     The San Francisco 8 refers to 8 former members of the Black 
Panther Party, charged with involvement in a 1971 homicide.

     There is little doubt now that the case was initiated more for 
political reasons than legal ones.  The San Francisco District 
Attorney's office thought so little of the case that it declined to 
prosecute.  California's attorney general opted to try it instead.

     Almost from day one, the case began unraveling. A few guys took 
plea bargains to relatively minor charges, resulting in 
probation.  Within months, charges against 5 of the men were 
dismissed. Only one still has charges pending.

     The men - Herman Bell, Ray Boudreaux, Henry Jones, Jalil 
Muntaqim, Richard O' Neal, Harold Taylor, and Francisco Torres - now 
middle aged and older, stood firm with each other, and refused to 
flip on each other.  Some of them were tortured back in 1973, when 
charges were originally dismissed. (One man, John Bowman, died before trial)

     Why this case? Initially, it is the extraordinary resources and 
papers made available to local jurisdictions by the federal 
government in the aftermath of 9/11; secondly, California's Attorney 
General (Edmund 'Jerry" Brown) was anxious to run for governor, and 
thought this case would prove the right vehicle.

     But what was sensational in 1971 loses some of it's punch in 2007.

     The newest headlines from the case isn't what the cash strapped 
stated wants to hear.

     San Francisco's Public Defenders office has filed for $2 million 
in reimbursements owed by the City for its defenses of the men.

     They are seeking that sum because the State, not San Francisco 
County, took up the prosecution of the 36 year old case.

--(c) '10 maj
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