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<font size=3><b>Long-time Black activists and Grand Jury resisters
harassed and jailed <br>
Claude Marks<br>
</b> <br>
Over the last several weeks, five Black activists have been resisting a
California State Grand Jury investigating incidents over 30 years old.
Three of them are currently in custody for refusing to cooperate with the
government investigation.<br><br>
This afternoon (Wednesday), the California State Supreme Court<b>
</b>found that the procedures followed to hold one of them, Ray
Boudreaux, on contempt charges, were defective. The Supreme Court has
ordered that he be brought to court Thursday morning. It is possible that
the other two activists will also be brought to court and that they may
all be released. However it is expected that they will be ordered to
return on September 27th at which point they could be held in contempt
again and re-jailed.<br><br>
The California Supreme Court ordered Wednesday that the Sheriff of San
Francisco is ordered to show cause forthwith why petitioner is not
entitled to immediate release on the grounds that the declaration of the
Deputy Attorney General in support of the order to show cause fails to
state a valid court order.The Supreme Court's order was served on Judge
Dondero and he ordered Ray produced at 10:30 tomorrow morning. Druliner's
position is that he should be released pending the filing of a new order
next Tuesday when the grand jury goes back in session. The Supreme Court
did not reach any other issues. All defendants currently in custody
should show up at the hearing at 10:30 since they are in jail under
identical orders.<br><br>
Also this week, a San Francisco judge declined to jail Black activist
Richard Brown Wednesday for refusing to cooperate with a California State
Grand Jury on the basis that the proper procedures had not yet been
followed. Richard is due back in court on Tuesday, September 27th. His
lawyer, Richard Mazer, made a persuasive argument challenging both the
procedures and the use of this Grand Jury in harassing activists.<br>
<b> <br>
</b>A judge in Oklahoma City on Tuesday, September 20, refused to enforce
the subpoena for Black activist John Bowman’s appearance before the same
grand jury in San Francisco. His decision was made pending a ruling by
the California Supreme Court on an appeal involving Grand Jury immunity
that was filed on August 29<sup>th</sup> on behalf of another Grand Jury
resister and Black activist, Ray Boudreaux. John Bowman’s attorney, Doug
Parr, argued that the current Grand Jury process was abusive and cited
the proceedings of a previous grand jury that also subpoenaed John Bowman
June 30th. Attorney Parr also argued that the impact of John Bowman’s
torture by police in New Orleans in the 1970s and the emotional trauma
caused by these current proceedings constituted a further abuse of the
judicial process. The judge gave a lengthy decision from the bench
explaining how the court system was supposed to work for everybody.<br>
<br>
The first person subpoenaed to the current grand jury was Ray Boudreaux,
another long-time Black activist. Boudreaux declined to
testify. He asserted his Constitutional rights and argued that they
would be violated if he complied with the Court’s Order. On Monday,
August 29th a contempt hearing was held before Judge Robert Dondero of
the California Superior Court. Judge Dondero ordered Ray Boudreaux
to be held in contempt for refusing to give testimony. Despite a lengthy
hearing that included testimony from attorneys Carol Smith and Soffiyah
Elijah about the history of government COINTELPRO attacks against the
Black movement and specifically how activists were tortured in New
Orleans in the 1970s to gain information, the California judge ruled that
Boudreaux had no basis for mistrusting the California Attorney General's
offers of immunity. Ray Boudreaux was a strong presence in the courtroom
as he listened to the arguments of his attorney, Michael Burt,
challenging the coercive and punitive nature of the grand jury
proceedings. <br>
<br>
Since then, Black activists Hank Jones and Harold Taylor were also held
in contempt for refusing to testify. They and Ray Boudreaux will continue
to be held in the San Francisco jail until this grand jury term expires,
October 31. <br>
<br>
<b> <br>
Background on the Grand Jury targeting Black Activists in San
Francisco<br>
</b> <br>
Shortly after the founding of the Black Panther Party, FBI Director J.
Edgar Hoover described it in September 1968 as “the greatest threat to
the internal security of the country.”<br>
<br>
By July 1969, the Party had become the primary focus of COINTELPRO and
was the target of 233 of the 295 authorized “Black Nationalist”
COINTELPRO actions. The FBI placed illegal wiretaps on Party
headquarters in Oakland, San Francisco, and nationally, infiltrated the
organization with numerous agents, used every possible means to provoke
violence within the organization and engaged in a number of schemes to
arrest, detain, falsely accuse, incarcerate and murder members of the
Black Panther Party.<br>
<br>
The San Francisco Police Department worked closely with the FBI during
the sixties and seventies to promote the goals of “neutralizing” and
destroying the Black Panther Party. Two of the San Francisco Police
Department Inspectors who worked in tandem with the FBI to promote these
goals were Frank McCoy and Ed Erdelatz. <br>
<br>
In August 1973, several Black Panthers were arrested including John
Bowman, Ruben Scott and Harold Taylor were arrested in New Orleans.<br>
<br>
McCoy and Erdelatz were on hand in New Orleans immediately after their
arrest (as were detectives from New York City) and participated in the
interrogation that took place over the course of several days. They
were investigating the killings of two San Francisco policemen that took
place in the early 1070s.<br>
<br>
When Bowman, Scott and Taylor didn’t answer questions by McCoy and
Erdelatz, the San Francisco policemen exited the room and members of the
New Orleans Police Department proceeded to torture the detainees using
various methods including the following:<br>
· Stripping them naked and
beating them with blunt objects<br>
· Blindfolding them and
throwing wool blankets soaked in boiling water over their bodies<br>
· Placing electric probes on
their genitals and other parts of their bodies<br>
· Inserting an electric cattle
prod in their anus<br>
· Punching and kicking<br>
· Slamming them into walls
while blindfolded<br>
<br>
Their screams were heard throughout the jail. After a period of torture,
McCoy and Erdelatz would return to the room, and continue questioning
them. Each time the answers they sought were not forthcoming, the
San Francisco police would leave the room and the torture would
resume. This process lasted several days. The three men were
interrogated separately and were held in solitary confinement. Bowman,
Scott and Taylor all suffered permanent physical and psychological
damage.<br>
<br>
These two Inspectors are not new to accusations of physical abuse as the
<i>San Francisco Examiner</i> ran a series of stories in the 1970s
suggesting McCoy and Erdelatz had coerced testimony from a witness
connected to a Chinatown slaying.<br>
<br>
In 2003, McCoy and Erdelatz began roaming the country in an apparent
attempt to interview numerous individuals alleged to be involved with or
have knowledge of the 1970s incidents. At times they were joined by
San Francisco Police Inspector and FBI Special Federal Officer Joseph
Engler. They went to people’s homes and places of employment. They
visited prisoners in the New York State prisons where they were
incarcerated. They attempted to interview spouses, former spouses and
family members. At least one person in the Bay Area was commandeered off
the street as he drove home from work and taken for interrogation.
They used thinly veiled threats, intimidation and harassment. They
demanded that some individuals provide saliva samples. Some people were
served with federal grand jury subpoenas to provide fingerprints. <br>
<br>
The actions of McCoy, Engler and Erdelatz in 2003 and 2004 were connected
to a federal grand jury sitting in the Northern District of California
also investigating the incidents that are the focus of these grand
juries. In the summer of 2004, the federal grand jury
expired. <br>
<br>
In May 2005 a California State grand jury was convened and began taking
testimony regarding these same incidents. That grand jury was
purportedly investigative in nature. It was expected that the government
would next present evidence to an indicting grand jury. However in
August 2005 another investigative grand jury was convened. This time a
group of people identified by the government as targets were subpoenaed.
Both of these grand juries were conducted by the California State
Attorney General rather than the San Francisco District Attorney’s
office. Working in tandem with the state AG was an Assistant United
States Attorney. <br>
<br>
The full role of the federal government in this investigation is yet to
be revealed. What is clear is that no federal, state or city agent or
police officer nor government agency has ever been held culpable for the
illegal acts, violence, imprisonment and murders conducted in the name of
COINTELPRO nor has there been any admission that these activities are
continuing under the Patriot Act or under any other name.<br><br>
<br>
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San Francisco, CA 94110<br>
(415) 863-9977<br>
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