[Freethe SF8] Update Tuesday & Support Richard Brown - Court at 9am in SF Wednesday

[SF-8 case]

Please support Richard Brown and the SF 8 by 
attending Wednesday’s bail reduction hearings 
starting at 9 am, 850 Bryant St, SF in Department 
23 (on the third floor). The hearing will likely 
adjourn at about noon and will then resume at 2pm.

Update for Tuesday, August 7th

Only 2 brothers in court again!

Court opened with all defense lawyers arguing 
that all defendants be present for all legal 
proceedings. The Attorney General argued that 
there was no legal requirement given that bail 
motions were not about legal evidence, rather are 
about individuals addressing individual bail 
issues. Judge Moscone ruled that because of a 
“lack of furniture” to accommodate all eight 
defendants and because he basically agreed that 
there were no mutual issues and that counsel 
representing the absent defendants were present, 
that only Ray Boudreaux and Richard O’Neal would 
attend today’s (and Monday’s) bail hearings.
Strenuous objections were made by the defense attorneys.

James Bustamante, Richard O’Neal’s attorney 
presented arguments in favor of a reasonable and 
attainable bail. He, like Michael Burt, Ray’s 
attorney, argued that the only evidence linking 
Richard to the case were statements made by Ruben 
Scott whose testimony was proven to be perjurious 
by 2 courts in the past, who recanted cooperative 
testimony by explaining that he was tortured in 
New Orleans in 1973 along with other Black 
activists, and who was given complete immunity by 
a 2004 grand jury in San Francisco for any role 
he might have played in 1971 connecting him to 
the death of a SF Police Officer at the Ingleside 
Station – this in exchange for further cooperative statements.

This key government witness and other matters in 
evidence are consistently being challenged – and 
this is why other attorneys want the brothers to be in court.

Extensive statements were submitted regarding 
Richard O’Neal’s ties to work, community and 
family. Many members of his family and friends 
were present. Testimony was given by a long-time 
friend, Fannie Sanders, who has known Richard 
since childhood. Despite being challenged by the 
Attorney General, Fannie was eloquent and 
unflappable in her attesting to Richard O’Neal’s 
important role in the community and to his family.

Similar testimony had been heard last month and 
this week for Ray Boudreaux. Today’s hearing 
included the State prosecutor’s argument to 
increase bail for Ray from $3 million to $5 million.

The crux of the State’s arguments and case about bail rests on:
    * statements made by and hearsay attributed 
to Ruben Scott by police investigators
    * the creating of a perception of their 
danger to the community if released which remains unsubstantiated
    * government statements about DNA – reports 
have never materialized from recent samples that 
tie any of the brothers to any forensic evidence 
– the state has never produced any test results 
(from tests done over a year ago), creating the 
impression that the results are exculpatory

Arguments made by the State Attorney General 
claim that the main activities of the eight men 
was to be part of a “gang” that conspired to 
attack police officers and that the nature of the 
government’s allegations were sufficient to deny 
attainable bail. No arguments were made to 
support claims that Ray Boudreaux or Richard 
O’Neal would be flights risks, no substantial 
arguments were made to support innuendo that they 
are a danger to the community today.

The most egregious argument of the prosecutor 
likened this case to the recent old-case 
prosecutions of crimes against Black communities 
and civil rights leaders in the South. Prosecutor 
Dave Druliner stated that they (the prosecutors) 
were just like the guys prosecuting these civil 
rights cases. But Ray Boudreaux’s attorney, 
Michael Burt, sharply rebutted such claims by 
clearly contradicting these claims explaining 
that the difference in these Southern cases was 
that these prosecutions were prevented by 
institutional racism – by prosecutors’ refusal to 
pursue white supremacists who targeted Blacks. 
“Institutional racism didn’t prevent this (the SF 
8) prosecution for 35 years
what has changed is 
not the evidence but the will to proceed,” said 
Burt. The FBI has been “dogging all these men 
with hundreds of agents, pursuing this conspiracy 
in the hopes that somebody would turn, and they 
haven’t.”  (and not to speak of COINTELPRO's 
targeting of the Black liberation movement and its activists)

Michael Burt concluded that the case raises 
issues of unjustified delays because the State 
prosecutors have proffered no new evidence, and 
are relying mainly on statements by and 
attributed to Ruben Scott who is not only a 
victim of torture himself, but has offered 
contradictory and false statements for years to 
prosecutors and now serves their purposes once more.

Judge Moscone has yet to make any decisions 
regarding bail, and arguments resume Wednesday 
for bail reduction for Richard Brown.


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