Leonard Weinglass | |
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| Born | Leonard Irving Weinglass (1933-08-27)August 27, 1933 Belleville, New Jersey, U.S. |
| Died | March 23, 2011(2011-03-23) (aged 77) New York City,New York, U.S. |
| Education | George Washington University (BA) Yale University (LLB) |
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 the1960s counterculture. He was admitted to the bar inNew Jersey,New York,Connecticut andCalifornia. He taught criminal trial advocacy at theUniversity of Southern California Law School from 1974 to 1976, and at thePeoples College of Law, inLos Angeles, California from 1974 to 1975.
Leonard Weinglass was born on August 27, 1933, to aJewish family inBelleville, New Jersey.[1] He graduated fromYale Law School in 1958, then served as a captain judge advocate in theUnited States Air Force from 1959 to 1961.
Weinglass championed a number of liberal and radical causes during thecounterculture era.[2] An expert in constitutional law, he served as co-chairman of the international committee of theNational Lawyers Guild. Along with attorneyWilliam Kunstler, Weinglass represented theChicago 7 in their 1969 trial. He also participated in the defense ofDaniel Ellsberg andAnthony Russo, who were charged with leaking thePentagon Papers and whose trial ended in a dismissal of all charges. In 1970, he represented and won the acquittal ofAngela Davis who was charged with participation in the abduction and murder of a California judge.[2]
Other prominent clients includedKathy Boudin, a member of the Weather Underground charged with felony murder for her participation in an armed robbery; anti-war activist Ron Kaufman;Bill andEmily Harris (of theSLA), wrongfully convicted Korean-AmericanChol Soo Lee, andJimi Simmons, among others. He was the lead defense attorney forMumia Abu-Jamal for several years. In 1995, he authored a book about Abu-Jamal's case entitledRace for Justice: Mumia Abu Jamal's Fight Against the Death Penalty.[3]
In 1972, Weinglass took on the defense ofJohn Sinclair, Chairman of theWhite Panther Party inDetroit, Michigan. The case becameUnited States v. U.S. District Court, 407 U.S. 297 (1972) on appeal to theUnited States Supreme Court, a landmark decision prohibiting the government's use of electronicsurveillance without a warrant.[4][5][6]
Weinglass defendedKathy Boudin in the 1981Brink's robbery.
In 1985, Weinglass successfully defendedStephen Bingham, an attorney accused of smuggling a handgun toGeorge Jackson inSan 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 theCuban Five from 2002 until his death in 2011.[8]
Up 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]
Leonard Weinglass died on March 23, 2011, aged 77, from pancreatic cancer, in New York City.[2]
"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."
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