40 years later, ‘Chicago 7’ trial still an iconic event

Martha Neil reports for the ABA Journal:

A perfect storm of political unrest, generational conflict and a biased judge set the stage for a 1969 trial that is still memorable 40 years later for its drama and iconic import, participants in an American Bar Association panel told a standing-room-only audience Tuesday.

Although the months-long Chicago Seven conspiracy trial ignited international debate—one searing image was of a bound and gagged Bobby Seale, originally the eighth defendant in U.S. v. Dellinger, et al.—panelists offered a behind-the-scenes glimpse of little-known aspects of the high-profile trial. Brought against activists who participated in anti-Vietnam War protests at the Democratic National Convention in 1968, the federal case offered an opportunity for defendants including Tom Hayden, Abbie Hoffman and Jerry Rubin to create a media circus, and they took full advantage of it.

The effort was aided by a trial judge who offered a substantial target for criticism at the best of times and for this case was "the worst possible judge," recounted partner Thomas Sullivan of Jenner & Block, who was then a young lawyer in Chicago. Baited viciously by defendants and counsel, U.S. District Judge Julius Hoffman eventually handed down hefty contempt terms that were reversed on appeal.

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