Leonard Irving Weinglass (August 27, 1933 – March 23, 2011) was a U.S. criminal defense lawyer and constitutional law advocate, best known for his defense of participants in the 1960s counterculture. He was admitted to the bar in New Jersey, New York, Connecticut and California. He taught criminal trial advocacy at the University of Southern California Law School from 1974 to 1976, and at the Peoples College of Law, in Los Angeles, California from 1974 to 1975.
Leonard Weinglass | |
|---|---|
| Born | Leonard Irving Weinglass August 27, 1933 Belleville, New Jersey, U.S. |
| Died | March 23, 2011 (aged 77) New York City, New York, U.S. |
| Education | George Washington University (BA) Yale University (LLB) |
Early life
editLeonard Weinglass was born on August 27, 1933, to a Jewish family in Belleville, New Jersey.[1] He graduated from Yale Law School in 1958, then served as a captain judge advocate in the United States Air Force from 1959 to 1961.
Career
editWeinglass championed a number of liberal and radical causes during the counterculture era.[2] An expert in constitutional law, he served as co-chairman of the international committee of the National Lawyers Guild. Along with attorney William Kunstler, Weinglass represented the Chicago 7 in their 1969 trial. He also participated in the defense of Daniel Ellsberg and Anthony Russo, who were charged with leaking the Pentagon Papers and whose trial ended in a dismissal of all charges. In 1970, he represented and won the acquittal of Angela Davis who was charged with participation in the abduction and murder of a California judge.[2]
Other prominent clients included Kathy Boudin, a member of the Weather Underground charged with felony murder for her participation in an armed robbery; anti-war activist Ron Kaufman; Bill and Emily Harris (of the SLA), wrongfully convicted Korean-American Chol Soo Lee, and Jimi Simmons, among others. He was the lead defense attorney for Mumia Abu-Jamal for several years. In 1995, he authored a book about Abu-Jamal's case entitled Race for Justice: Mumia Abu Jamal's Fight Against the Death Penalty.[3]
In 1972, Weinglass took on the defense of John Sinclair, Chairman of the White Panther Party in Detroit, Michigan. The case became United States v. U.S. District Court, 407 U.S. 297 (1972) on appeal to the United States Supreme Court, a landmark decision prohibiting the government's use of electronic surveillance without a warrant.[4][5][6]
Weinglass defended Kathy Boudin in the 1981 Brink's robbery.
In 1985, Weinglass successfully defended Stephen Bingham, an attorney accused of smuggling a handgun to George Jackson in San Quentin Prison setting off an escape attempt that resulted in the death of Jackson, two other inmates, and three prison guards.[7]
Weinglass was the lead appellate attorney for the Cuban Five from 2002 until his death in 2011.[8]
Last years
editUp until the last year of his life, Weinglass continued to take on cases. He saw no reason to stop: "the typical call I get is the one that starts by saying 'You are the fifth attorney we've called'. Then I get interested."[8]
Death
editLeonard Weinglass died on March 23, 2011, aged 77, from pancreatic cancer, in New York City.[2]
Popular culture
edit- Elliott Gould played Weinglass in the 1987 film Conspiracy: The Trial of the Chicago 8.
- Weinglass voiced himself in the 2007 animated documentary Chicago 10.
- Weinglass was portrayed by Ben Shenkman in the 2020 drama film The Trial of the Chicago 7.
Awards
edit- 1974: First recipient of the Clarence Darrow Award.
- 1980: Humanitarian Award for 1980 of the First Unitarian Church of Los Angeles
- 1994: Outstanding Achievement Award (California Attorneys for Criminal Justice)
- 1996 Firecracker Alternative Book Award for Politics for Race for Justice: Mumia Abu-Jamal's Fight Against the Death Penalty[9]
References
edit- ^ "Leonard Irving Weinglass". Against the Current. 30 November 2001. Retrieved 2021-03-01.
- ^ a b c Weber, Bruce (25 March 2011). "Leonard I. Weinglass, Lawyer, Dies at 77; Defended Renegades and the Notorious". The New York Times. Retrieved 2 October 2015.:
"Leonard I. Weinglass, perhaps the nation's pre-eminent progressive defense lawyer, who represented political renegades, government opponents and notorious criminal defendants in a half-century of controversial cases, including the Chicago Seven, the Pentagon Papers and the Hearst kidnapping, died on Wednesday. He was 77 and lived in Manhattan.... The defendants included Jerry Rubin and Abbie Hoffman, the leaders of the radically counter-cultural Youth International Party (a.k.a. the Yippies), and the mutual disdain between them and Judge Julius J. Hoffman, who presided over the case, became a key element in their lawyers' ability to paint the charges as politically motivated. At one point, Abbie Hoffman referred to the judge as his 'illegitimate father' and renounced his last name. After he took the witness stand, Mr. Weinglass began the questioning by asking his name."
- ^ Weinglass, Leonard (1995). Race for Justice: Mumia Abu-Jamal's Fight Against the Death Penalty. University of Michigan: Common Courage Press. ISBN 978-1-56751-071-3.
- ^ Draper, Timothy Dean (2019). "Review of Len, A Lawyer in History: A Graphic Biography of Radical Attorney Leonard Weinglass". Journal for the Study of Radicalism. 13 (1): 182–184. doi:10.14321/jstudradi.13.1.0182. ISSN 1930-1189. JSTOR 10.14321/jstudradi.13.1.0182.
- ^ Bush, Lawrence (August 26, 2015). "AUGUST 27: ATTORNEY FOR THE COUNTERCULTURE". Jewish Currents. Retrieved 2021-02-28.
- ^ "United States v. Sinclair, 321 F. Supp. 1074 (E.D. Mich. 1971)". Justia Law. January 26, 1971. Retrieved 2021-02-28.
- ^ Hatfield, Larry D. (January 7, 1985). "Last vestiges of radical movement will go on trial in Bingham case". The Day. New London, Connecticut: The Day Publishing Company. pp. 1, 4. Retrieved July 15, 2011.
- ^ a b "'Society has become more punitive': For 40 years, Leonard Weinglass has been the defence lawyer in some of America's most spectacular trials, representing the Chicago Eight, the kidnappers of Patty Hearst and the man who helped bring down President Nixon. He tells Duncan Campbell why the current case of the Cuban Five shows how politics is derailing the US justice system". G2. The Guardian. Interviewed by Duncan Campbell. 8 Jan 2008. pp. 10–13.
- ^ "Firecracker Alternative Book Awards". ReadersRead.com. Archived from the original on Mar 4, 2009.