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<font size=3>Prosecutors in the San Francisco 8 case announced that they
are filing an amended complaint in effect dropping the conspiracy count
against 5 of the brothers because the statute of limitations (of 3 years
on conspiracy) has expired. This is a result of defense motions filed
recently that challenged the complaint on the basis of expired statute of
limitations.<br><br>
Ray Boudreaux, Richard Brown, Hank Jones and Harold Taylor now only face
one count, the alleged murder of a San Francisco Police Officer in 1971.
The case against Richard O'Neal must now be dismissed since he was
originally charged only in the second count.<br><br>
The prosecutors will argue that the statute of limitations did not expire
against Herman Bell, Jalil Muntaqim and Francisco Torres as they were not
residents in California during the last 35 years. "This is a
ridiculous argument," according to defense attorney Stuart Hanlon,
"as these men were forcefully removed from the state against their
will by being imprisoned. Following his acquittal on charges in New York
State, Cisco Torres was living in New York City. All 3 were
consistently available to California State prosecutors." This legal
point will be argued in the upcoming San Francisco hearing on January
10th, and their lawyers will ask that the conspiracy count be dropped
against the other 3 men.<br><br>
This is a major victory in this case which rests on statements coerced
under torture. "This is the first step in the government's case
falling apart," Hanlon said.<br><br>
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