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<a href="http://www.examiner.com/cointelpro-in-national/closing-arguments-larry-minard-case-put-american-system-of-justice-on-trial">
http://www.examiner.com/cointelpro-in-national/closing-arguments-larry-minard-case-put-american-system-of-justice-on-trial<br>
<br>
</a></font><h2><b>Closing arguments in Larry Minard case put American
system of justice on trial</b></h2>
<ul>
<li><font size=3>By
<a href="http://www.examiner.com/user-richardsonreports">Michael
Richardson</a>, COINTELPRO Examiner
<li>April 14th, 2011 10:42 am ET
</ul><b>The Omaha Two story: April 14, 1971<br><br>
</b>Closing arguments in the capital murder trial of
<a href="http://www.examiner.com/cointelpro-in-national/prison-interview-with-ed-poindexter-on-cointelpro-and-the-omaha-police">
Edward Poindexter</a> and
<a href="http://www.examiner.com/cointelpro-in-national/prison-interview-with-mondo-we-langa-on-cointelpro-and-omaha-two-case">
Mondo we Langa</a>, then David Rice, were heard by the Douglas
County nine-women, three-man jury 40 years ago. The two Black Panther
leaders were being tried for the August 17, 1970 bomb murder of Omaha
police officer
<a href="http://www.examiner.com/cointelpro-in-national/omaha-patrolman-larry-minard-killed-ambush-bombing-after-911-call">
Larry Minard, S</a>r. Closing arguments followed 14 defense
witnesses including the two defendants.<br><br>
Public Defender Frank Morrison’s closing argument has been lost to
time. Inexplicably, the transcript of Morrison’s final words to the
jury is missing from the court record. By several accounts it may
have been Morrison’s finest speech. News reports on the trial in
the <i>Omaha World-Herald</i> gave a sense of the argument.<br><br>
The former three-time Nebraska governor was new to his job as Public
Defender and not current on criminal law practice. Morrison failed
to secure expert witness testimony on the scientific evidence, did not
pursue the missing 911 recording of the killer’s voice, and did not
adequately cross-examine
<a href="http://www.examiner.com/cointelpro-in-national/witnesses-put-duane-peak-at-scene-of-1970-bombing-omaha-two-case">
Duane Peak</a>, the confessed bomber.<br><br>
However, Morrison gave it his all with an impassioned oration worthy of
any of his many political stump speeches. Morrison did not
know about
<a href="http://www.examiner.com/cointelpro-in-national/j-edgar-hoover-directs-cointelpro-plot-against-omaha-chapter-of-black-panthers">
COINTELPRO</a>,
<a href="http://www.examiner.com/cointelpro-in-national/fbi-s-director-hoover-let-killer-of-omaha-policeman-get-away-with-murder-40-years-ago">
J. Edgar Hoover</a>’s clandestine war on the Black Panthers, or the
withholding of a Federal Bureau of Investigation lab report on the
identity of Minard’s killer, which adds an element of irony to Morrison’s
closing argument and makes it still relevant.<br><br>
Morrison told the jury this case was the most important assignment of his
lifetime.<br><br>
Presaging the political counter-intelligence measure of withheld
evidence, Morrison seemed to sense the political undertone of the
case. Morrison said the articles in the newsletters of the National
Committee to Combat Fascism, edited by Mondo we Langa, reminded him of
“things that came from Paul Revere, Patrick Henry and John
Hancock.”<br><br>
His voice shaking with emotion, Morrison said that for the first time in
his life he had seen the state “try to convict basically on the testimony
of one witness.”<br><br>
Morrison declared, “That witness is an admitted perjurer.” Morrison
described Duane Peak as “this fanciful young man who can spin yarns with
unbelievable felicity.”<br><br>
Morrison told the jury that Duane Peak had a mind “so paranoid and
demented that when this tragedy happened, he spent a day laughing about
it.”<br><br>
Morrison said the jury should consider what “motivated” Peak.
Morrison said it was because a “white policeman shot and killed
<a href="http://www.examiner.com/cointelpro-in-national/omaha-police-officer-kills-14-year-old-vivian-strong-triggering-race-riot-1">
Vivian Strong</a>” and that Peak had had his own encounters with white
police that filled him with hate.<br><br>
Vivian Strong was the same age as Duane Peak and had been killed by an
Omaha police officer the previous summer. Vivian’s death triggered
several nights of rioting in Omaha.<br><br>
Morrison mentioned his friendship with five presidents, explained his
views on justice, alluded to the history of slavery, quoted the Bible and
the Gettysburg Address in pleading for the jury to acquit Ed
Poindexter.<br><br>
“The quality of mercy is not strained, It dropped as the gentle rain from
heaven upon the place beneath,” Morrison said, quoting a passage from
Shakespeare.<br><br>
Morrison said it was this nation’s “system of justice” that is on trial
in Omaha and not just Mondo we Langa and Ed Poindexter.<br><br>
Morrison placed a large scale on the rail in front of the jury box.
As Morrison discussed the case he dropped a small weight on one of the
two trays. When the argument was finished, the scale tipped sharply
in Poindexter’s favor.<br><br>
Prosecutor Sam W. Cooper said the trial was not about slavery,
presidential acquaintances or the history of the past 200 years trying to
play down Morrison’s eloquent oration.<br><br>
“We’re talking about three men accused of premeditated and deliberate
murder.” Cooper said, “Whatever the shortcomings of the nation’s judicial
system it is a far better system of justice than the one that executed
Larry Minard on the 17th of August.”<br><br>
County Attorney Donald Knowles denied an inference Morrison made that a
white man would not have been tried on the same evidence used to bring
Poindexter and Mondo to trial.<br><br>
Knowles said that when defense attorneys have no case they “try somebody
else.” Knowles said, “I’ve been tried in this courtroom, more than
anybody. When you have no defense, you try the County
Attorney.”<br><br>
Years later Morrison would write a public letter about the Omaha Two
trial: “As a citizen, a former prosecutor, and Governor of this
state, I abhor, detest and condemn the cowardly, cruel and unjustified
murder of officer Minard. My heart aches for his family. The guilty
parties should pay the penalty. The self-confessed murderer was
turned loose after a slap on the wrist.”<br><br>
Morrison continued his letter: “I now believe and always have
believed that the true role of law enforcement is truth. Real
justice can only be built on truth. I hope the Congress and other
policy makers will establish this policy. I feel both I and the
system failed Ed Poindexter.”<br><br>
The jury received the case at 3:50 p.m. Wednesday and deliberated until
11 p.m. taking two hours out for supper. Deputy sheriffs escorted
the jury to the nearby Hilton Hotel for the night. <br><br>
The jury would spend the next two days deliberating the case.<br><br>
<b>To view all of the Omaha Two story articles click
<a href="http://www.examiner.com/cointelpro-in-national/omaha-police-officer-kills-14-year-old-vivian-strong-triggering-race-riot-1">
HERE<br><br>
</a></b><i>Permission granted to reprint<br><br>
</i>Michael Richardson<br>
COINTELPRO Examiner<br>
Examiner.com<br><br>
<br>
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