Huey On Trial Again

HUEY ON TRIAL AGAIN

Huey P. Newton, is being re-tried on a murder charge, stemming from the famous shoot-out with Oakland police on October 28, 1967, which resulted in the murder of Panther Bobby Hutton. Huey was convicted of that charge in September of 1968 and served 22 months of a two to fifteen year sentence at the California Men's Colony in San Luis Obispo. The conviction was overturned on appeal after it was proven that there was prejudicial error by the trial judge.

Huey's attorney, Charles Garry, made three motions, among them a challenge of the Almeda County jury system and the judges who selected the 19 member Grand Jury panel. Garry's unprecedented strategy of calling judges as witnesses was an attempt to demonstrate that the Grand Jury that indicted Huey in 1967 was "unfairly selected". He said that the master list that panel members were selected from failed to take in account the ratio of blacks in Almeda County. Garry contended that the judges picked their friends for the positions. All judges, however, insisted that the panel they selected was representative of the community. Presiding Judge Harold Hove overruled the attorney's motion after more than a dozen judges were called.

Jury selection for the trial has started and is expected to start next week.