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Lawton-Gardner Trial: Frame-Up In Riverside

By VVAW

The situation in the Riverside courtroom where the trial of Gary Lawton and Zurebu (Larrie) Gardner is being conducted is becoming increasingly blatant in its racism and legal gymnastics. Lawton, Gardner and Nehemiah Jackson were previously tried in Indio, Cal. on charges of murdering two policement. The first trial ended in a hung jury. As the second trial was about to begin, Jackson was severed from the case. He is a young college student and the DA felt that Jackson's presence would make it more difficult to get a conviction on Lawton and Gardner. So, an agreement was made between Jackson's attorney and the DA that if this second trial of Lawton ended in acquittal or a hung jury, Jackson would not be tried. It is becoming clear that Jackson's charges will never see the inside of a courtroom. There was only one witness to testify against Jackson in the original trial, Sgt. Nash, a voice print expert from the Michigan State Police Dept. This single witness was recently charged with perjury in another California trial, so Jackson is as good as free.

Judging from the goings-on in the courtroom, we may begin to hope that Gary and Zurebu will also soon be free. The prosecution rested its case with the testimony of a young man named Inman. Inman testified that Sally Harris (a friend of Gary and Zurebu who had earlier testified that she knew nothing about the shootings) had told him that she was going to lie in court and say that she didn't know anything about the murders. Following Inman's testimony, the witness went into the hallway where he met Officer Lund (the new assistant to the chief investigator, Nelson) A defense supporter overheard Inman tell Lund that he wouldn't do anything like he had done on the stand again, suggesting that he had lied under oat.

The defense began their case on Sept. 12th, and the first witness called was Officer Lund. He admitted that Inman had lied on the stand, so the testimony of Inman was impeached. Then, Detective Nelson was put on the stand and he admitted that the investigators had conducted 6-8 interviews with Inman and that two of these interviews were taped.

Keller, Gary's attorney, requested these tapes and was allowed to hear them. On Thursday, the 13th, the jury was dismissed because the issue of introducing the tapes was to be discussed. Keller requested that the DA, Lee Porst, be charged with contempt for witholding evidence, and accused Porst of being a racist and trying to frame his client and Gardner. Porst jumped up and began moaning about how he was tired of always being referred to as the bad guy in this trial. The judge then retired to his chambers, listened to the tapes, and returned to tell the court that Keller could put the defense supporter who had overheard Inman and Lund on the stand, that Inman could be put back on the stand, and he warned the DA that he was walking a very thin line with regards to contempt charges.

Following this minor defense victory, Keller requested that Porst turn over a list of the rebuttal witnesses so that he could prepare for cross-examination. The DA admitted having witnesses lined up, which is unusual since the defense has only begun to present its case, but that he would not give Keller the names unless Keller would give the DA a list of alibi witnesses. At this point, Lawton stood up and told Keller not to give in to Porst. The judge intervened and to Gary to be quiet or he would be found in contempt. Gary asked the judge why he didn't find Porst in contempt instead, so the judge ordered that Lawton be taken to jail. With this order, Zurebu got into the action and began accusing the DA of being racist. Garner told Porst to either shut up or get up and began walking toward the DA. With this act, Henry Nelson, Gardner's attorney jumped between Zurebu and Porst to "quit bashing my defendant, BOY!"

The scene became more hectic when Chukia Lawton began yelling at Porst, calling him racist and telling him to leave Zurebu alone. Judge Hews looked at the DA and Chukia and yelled "Court dismissed!" Hews then ran out of the court, only to run into Gary in the hall. Hews blurted out: "Mr. Lawton, you are getting a fair trial" and then ran into his chambers.

While Gary was in the judge's chambers waiting for his contempt hearing, 35 policemen dressed in full riot gear charged into the courtroom. They were led by Officer Blas who went to find the judge and told him that all the doors were covered and order had been restored. The judge asked who had sent for him and told Blas to get himself and his cohorts out of his courtroom.

Back in chambers, Hews rescinded the contempt order on Gary and told him to go back and sit down. Then the judge met with Keller, Nelson and Porst. Porst and Keller began arguing again and Keller called the DA a racist. Porst objected and told Keller to give him one example of his racism. At this point, Keller made it known to the judge that Porst is not only a racist with regard to black and brown people, and he cited the courtroom occurance in which Porst became angered at Keller, shoved his chair into Lawton's attorney (who is Jewish) and called him a "dirty little bastard kike and I'm going to get you when this trial is over." With this example, hews told Porst that he was the poorest excuse for an attorney that he had ever seen and warned Porst that when the trial is over, he is planning to hold a contempt hearing and investigate the DA for misconduct.

With this example of a day in the life of the Lawton/Gardner trial, it should be clear that what we have is not a trial, but a zoo. If scenes like this continue, there should be no doubt in the juror's minds that this trial does not contain even a semblance of justice, but a blatant frame up of a highly respected community organizer. The defense expects to rest its case at the end of this month, so we hope that Gary and Zurebu will soon be free. However, their freedom is an expensive item. The defense committee is still in need of funds, so all contributions should be sent to: The Riverside Defense Committee, P.O. Box 5154, San Bernardino, California 92412.