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Leavenworth: First Trial Ends

By VVAW

On September 24th, after 5 days of deliberation, an all-white jury in Wichita, Kansas returned a verdict of guilty in the trial of 4 black Leavenworth Brothers. Odell Bennett, Jessie Lee Evans, Alf Hill and Alfred Jasper were convicted of inciting to riot, and all but Bennett was found guilty of assaults on prison guards. The verdict came after 8 weeks of a trial which was characterized by the blatant racism of the judge and prosecution; and the repression of the courtroom scene in which Federal Marshalls felt it necessary to "restrain" the brothers time and time again through beatings, shackles and leg irons.

The charges against these brothers stem from the rebellion which occurred in Leavenworth Federal Prison on July 31, 1973, as prisoners lashed out at their oppression. Leavenworth inmates had peacefully attempted to better their living conditions and make changes in the prison's repressive policies, such as the lack of proper medical care, institutional racism, the slave wages given to those employed in the prison industries, etc. Their attempts failed, and following the death of a prisoner due to improper medical treatment, Leavenworth prison exploded. As a result of the rebellion, 7 brothers were indicted. Four of them have just been convicted, and two Chicano brothers -- Jesse Lopez and Armand Miramon -- will begin trial in late October on charges of kidnapping. The 7th brother, William (Whitey) Hurst, was found dead in Wyandotte County Jail in March, following warnings to friends that he was in fear for his life.

Throughout his first trial, the prosecution tried to establish that the 4 defendants knew about, planned, and once it started, encouraged the rebellion. The defense exposed conflicts and inconsistencies in prosecution testimony and other defense testimony placed the defendants at other locations during the course of the rebellion. But despite the lack of concrete evidence against the brothers, the jury returned with a verdict of guilty following the prosecution's statement of, "Who would you be most likely to believe -- correctional officers or prisoners?"

A week after the verdict, the brothers were brought, one at a time, to hear their sentences; they appeared in shackles before the court. Evans was sentenced to 20 years each for 3 counts of assault with intent to kill and 10 years for riot; sentences to run concurrently. Jasper received 10 years for riot and 5 years for assault with a dangerous weapon; sentences to run consecutively. Following the sentencing, the brothers were shipped out to various federal prisons, and a minor victory of the entire trial procedure is that none of them will have to return to Leavenworth.

The first of the Leavenworth trials is over, and the trial of Lopez and Miramon is soon to begin. Four of the brothers have been found guilty, but we must examine what, in fact, they were convicted for. There was not enough concrete evidence to convict the brothers of assault or inciting to riot, but with the way the "justice" system works in this country -- with "justice" for the rich and powerful, with pardons for presidents who have committed heinous crimes against the people of this country and of the world, and with convictions for the poor and oppressed -- there was enough judicial sentiment to send them back to prison with longer sentences. In reality, these Leavenworth brothers have been found guilty of being black in a society permeated with racism; they are guilty of being prisoners in a society that refuses to recognize that prisoners are human beings and not animals; and they are guilty of fighting back against the repression coming down on their daily lives in a society which must wipe out all forms of resistance if it is to maintain its control over the American people. This is what these Leavenworth Brothers have been convicted of! And it is this conviction that we must protest!

Thought one trial is over, Lopez and Miramon will need the support of the people of this country throughout their trial. Money is desperately needed for this second trial. For further information about the trials and for the needed contributions, contact: Leavenworth Brothers Offense/Defense Committee, 106 E. Lincoln, Wichita, Ks. 67211.