Arrests made in 1971 cop-killing tied to Black Panthers
MARCUS WOHLSEN
Associated Press
SAN FRANCISCO - Two men with ties to the Black Panthers were arrested Tuesday in the 1971 killing of a San Francisco police officer, and at least three more arrests were expected, authorities and defense lawyers said.
Sgt. John V. Young, 51, was killed in the police station attack. San Francisco Police did not immediately release the names of the of two men arrested, but they planned a late morning news conference, Sgt. Neville Gittens said.
The suspects were members of the Black Liberation Army, a violent offshoot of the Black Panther Party that was active in the Bay Area in the 1970s and early 1980s, authorities said.
Two lawyers for former BLA members said they expect at least five people in all to be charged.
Attorneys Stuart Hanlon and Ann Moorman said Herman Bell of New York, Richard Brown of San Francisco, Ray Michael Boudreaux of Pasadena, Hank Jones of Los Angeles and Harold Taylor, who resides in Florida, have all been identified by authorities as suspects in the case. They range in age from late 50s to early 70s, the lawyers said.
Hanlon represents Bell, who is currently serving two life sentences in a New York state prison for his role in the murders of two New York City police officers.
Moorman represented John Bowman of Oklahoma, who was also a suspect before he died in December.
Brown, Boudreaux, Jones and Taylor were jailed in 2005 for refusing to answer questions before a grand jury investigating Young's death.
Hanlon called the arrests a "prosecution based on vengeance and hate from the '60s."
"There's a law enforcement attitude that they hate these people, the Panthers," Hanlon said. "Now they're going after old men."
Three men, including Taylor, were charged in the attack in early 1975. However, those charges were dismissed by a San Francisco judge because of an earlier ruling that evidence was obtained by torture after the suspects were arrested in New Orleans.
Young was killed when two men raided a police station in the city's Ingleside neighborhood, jammed a shotgun through a hole in the bulletproof window and fired. A civilian clerk was also injured in the blast.
The arrests follow a report last week in a legal newspaper that said arrests of up to nine people were imminent in California and three other states, according to a document, now sealed, in an Oklahoma City courthouse.
Special Assistant Attorney General David Druliner asked the Oklahoma County District Court on filed Dec. 14 to seal documents related to a search warrant seeking DNA samples from Bowman, according to the San Francisco Daily Journal.
The newspaper said it got a copy of the motion before it was sealed by Oklahoma City Judge Susan Caswell.
Bowman died on Dec. 28.
Defense attorney John Philipsborn, who represents Jones, said he did not know of any new evidence uncovered in the case.
"The case has been looked at several different times by several different agencies, by at least two courts," he said. "Our consensus is that there is no case to bring."
Gittens would not say if Philipsborn's client, Hank Jones, was among those arrested. Philipsborn did not immediately return a phone call seeking comment.
Philipsborn said Jones, now living in the Los Angeles area, worked with the Black Panthers on breakfast and lunch programs, but was not a party member.
MARCUS WOHLSEN
Associated Press
SAN FRANCISCO - Two men with ties to the Black Panthers were arrested Tuesday in the 1971 killing of a San Francisco police officer, and at least three more arrests were expected, authorities and defense lawyers said.
Sgt. John V. Young, 51, was killed in the police station attack. San Francisco Police did not immediately release the names of the of two men arrested, but they planned a late morning news conference, Sgt. Neville Gittens said.
The suspects were members of the Black Liberation Army, a violent offshoot of the Black Panther Party that was active in the Bay Area in the 1970s and early 1980s, authorities said.
Two lawyers for former BLA members said they expect at least five people in all to be charged.
Attorneys Stuart Hanlon and Ann Moorman said Herman Bell of New York, Richard Brown of San Francisco, Ray Michael Boudreaux of Pasadena, Hank Jones of Los Angeles and Harold Taylor, who resides in Florida, have all been identified by authorities as suspects in the case. They range in age from late 50s to early 70s, the lawyers said.
Hanlon represents Bell, who is currently serving two life sentences in a New York state prison for his role in the murders of two New York City police officers.
Moorman represented John Bowman of Oklahoma, who was also a suspect before he died in December.
Brown, Boudreaux, Jones and Taylor were jailed in 2005 for refusing to answer questions before a grand jury investigating Young's death.
Hanlon called the arrests a "prosecution based on vengeance and hate from the '60s."
"There's a law enforcement attitude that they hate these people, the Panthers," Hanlon said. "Now they're going after old men."
Three men, including Taylor, were charged in the attack in early 1975. However, those charges were dismissed by a San Francisco judge because of an earlier ruling that evidence was obtained by torture after the suspects were arrested in New Orleans.
Young was killed when two men raided a police station in the city's Ingleside neighborhood, jammed a shotgun through a hole in the bulletproof window and fired. A civilian clerk was also injured in the blast.
The arrests follow a report last week in a legal newspaper that said arrests of up to nine people were imminent in California and three other states, according to a document, now sealed, in an Oklahoma City courthouse.
Special Assistant Attorney General David Druliner asked the Oklahoma County District Court on filed Dec. 14 to seal documents related to a search warrant seeking DNA samples from Bowman, according to the San Francisco Daily Journal.
The newspaper said it got a copy of the motion before it was sealed by Oklahoma City Judge Susan Caswell.
Bowman died on Dec. 28.
Defense attorney John Philipsborn, who represents Jones, said he did not know of any new evidence uncovered in the case.
"The case has been looked at several different times by several different agencies, by at least two courts," he said. "Our consensus is that there is no case to bring."
Gittens would not say if Philipsborn's client, Hank Jones, was among those arrested. Philipsborn did not immediately return a phone call seeking comment.
Philipsborn said Jones, now living in the Los Angeles area, worked with the Black Panthers on breakfast and lunch programs, but was not a party member.
