Vol. 73/No. 28      July 27, 2009

Richard Brown, 68, Henry Jones, 73, Ray Boudreaux, 66, and Harold Taylor, 60, were arrested in January 2007 on the pretext that there was new evidence in the case. They were jailed for more than seven months, then released after successfully battling to reduce the exorbitant bail demanded by prosecutors.

Also arrested in January 2007 were Richard O’Neal and Francisco Torres. Charges were dropped against O’Neal last year, but Torres, out on bail since September 2007, still faces charges.

The other two, Herman Bell and Jalil Muntaqim, have been in prison since 1973 and 1978 respectively, serving life sentences on unrelated frame-up charges of killing two New York cops in l971.

At the July 6 hearing, Muntaqim pleaded “no contest” to a charge of “conspiracy to commit voluntary manslaughter.” He was sentenced to a year in prison, which he has already served, and three years probation.

At an earlier hearing June 29, Bell pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of voluntary manslaughter. He was sentenced to five years probation. The plea agreements read in court stipulated that Bell and Muntaqim could not be called as witnesses against other defendants in the case.

After Bell and Muntaqim were charged along with the other six in 2007, they were transferred from prison in New York to the San Francisco County jail where they have been ever since.

In New York, where he was held for 35 years, Bell was part of the general prison population where he was allowed to participate in educational programs. At the county jail in San Francisco, he has been in solitary confinement. Bell and Muntaqim will now be returned to the New York prison.

More than 100 supporters of the San Francisco Eight filled the courtroom for the July 6 hearing. They rallied beforehand outside the courthouse with signs saying, “Drop the charges; Free the Eight” and chants of “All of us say, torture no more.”

In an earlier attempt in 1975 to prosecute Taylor and two other men for the l971 San Francisco killing, a federal court threw out the case after it was revealed that police had used torture, including electric shocks, cattle prods, asphyxiation, and sleep depravation. None of the torturers were ever brought to trial.

Torres, the only remaining defendant, is scheduled to appear in court August 10 where a preliminary hearing date will be set. Charles Bourdon, his attorney, says he plans to file a motion to dismiss the charges against Torres, who maintains his innocence.
 
 
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