Battle in Harrisburg

By HP-Time

The prosecution of the Harrisburg Seven will likely be a sedate enterprise compared with the yammering chaos of the Chicago Seven trial two years ago. There is the Rev. Philip Berrigan in place of the irreverent Abbie Hoffman, and an earnest, reserved Judge R. Dixon Herman instead of the choleric, opinionated Judge Julius Hoffman. Defense Attorney Ramsey Clark bears no more resemblance to William Kunstler than the placid Pennsylvania capital does to busy Chicago.

Indeed, as the selection of jurors continued last week in Harrisburg, one sore point for the defense was that the Government seemed to have deliberately chosen to hold the trial in a lackluster location to keep publicity to a minimum. Publicity is precisely what the defense wants. As Father Philip Berrigan put it in a statement read by one of the codefendants: "It is not a priority of ours to win an acquittal, but to conduct a political trial and get the issues before the American people." The Government, of course, sees the trial as a straightforward criminal prosecution.

Single Issue. Philip Berrigan, 48, a Josephite priest, and his confreres are accused of conspiring to blow up the heating systems in Government buildings in Washington, destroy draft records in several cities, and kidnap Henry Kissinger to use as a hostage until their demands to end the Viet Nam War were met. The other defendants are: Sister Elizabeth McAlister, 32, an intense, intelligent nun of the order of the Religious of the Sacred Heart of Mary; Mary Cain Scoblick, 33, a former nun, and her husband, Anthony, a priest; Eqbal Ahmad, 41, a fellow at the Adlai Stevenson Institute of International Affairs in Chicago; and Baltimore Ghetto Priests Neil McLaughlin, 31, and Joseph Wenderoth, 36.

The single issue in the case at the moment is the picking of a panel of jurors that will satisfy everyone. Chief Prosecutor William Lynch, reputed to be one of the Justice Department's most effective criminal trial lawyers, has asked each candidate if he or she would obey the instructions from the bench--and hence apply the letter of the law--despite any misgivings about the justice of the law.

Judge Herman questioned candidates as to whether they harbored any pro- or anti-war sentiment strong enough to make them incapable of rendering a just decision (see box). He later irked the defense by ordering that the jury, after selection, be sequestered; the defendants claim that juries locked away from their families for months tend to resent the defendants and consequently hand down more severe verdicts.

The Berrigan case has managed to attract some attention to Harrisburg. The main drawing card is the dynamic Father Phil, who is brought to court every day from the Dauphin County Prison. One night recently a crowd of youngsters staged a vigil outside the jail, singing Peace My Friend and Hear O Lord the Sound of My Call, accompanied by two girls playing guitars. Berrigan supporters are hoping that college spring vacations will bring fresh battalions of the young to the siege of Harrisburg.

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