Six accused of decades-old militancy appear in court

By Brent Begin, Bay City News Service

March 13, 2007

SAN FRANCISCO (BCN) - Six people, allegedly former members of the Black Liberation Army, have now been arraigned in San Francisco on charges stemming back over three decades ago.

Five of the men are charged with the murder of Sgt. John Young at the Ingleside Police Station on Aug. 29, 1971. A sixth man has not been charged with the murder but is being tried with the others on conspiracy charges.

Support for the men continues to grow, as a host of people wearing buttons that read, "Free the SF 8," filed into the courtroom. Judge Donna Alyson Little had warned the crowd at a previous hearing to stay silent or be banished from her courtroom. At today's hearing, there were no disturbances.

None of the men have entered pleas because lawyers are attempting to have the case thrown out claiming the charges are unfounded and they have been too long in coming.

Francisco Torres, who arrived from New York, made his first appearance in San Francisco Superior Court today, and Harold Taylor, out of Florida, was arraigned earlier this month.

Ray Michael Boudreaux, 64, Richard Brown, 65, and Henry Jones, 71, are charged with Young's murder as well. Richard O'Neal, 57, is charged with conspiracy. All the men are being held on $3 million bail.

Also charged in the case are Herman Bell, 59, Anthony Bottom, 55, and Ronald Stanley Bridgeforth, 62. Bridgeforth is currently at large while the other two men are being held in New York for killing another police officer.

Lawyers had also planned to argue for shackles to be taken off the defendants when they appear. That hearing, along with a motion to lower bail, will have to wait until the case finds a permanent courtroom.

John Phillipsborn, who represents Henry "Hank" Jones, said outside the courtroom that the men are not high security risks.

"They have conducted themselves with great dignity in the courtroom," Philipsborn said. "My client has been involved in court proceedings for the past two and a half years, and so we're asking that he be treated like anyone else and be taken into the court without shackles."

State prosecutors have objected because of the "cold-blooded military-style" nature of the crime.

Another hearing is scheduled for April 27 at 1:30 p.m. in department 12.

Copyright © 2007 by Bay City News, Inc. -- Republication, Rebroadcast or any other Reuse without the express written consent of Bay City News, Inc. is prohibited.

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