The Longest Trial

Everyone trying to enter the courtroom is scanned by electronic devices; there is a pat-down search by guards who also rummage through purses and briefcases; photographs are taken of each new visitor. All the defendants (except one who is on bail) are shackled at the ankles and wrists and are chained around the waist to chairs that are bolted to the floor--presumably to thwart escape attempts. Three TV cameras monitor everything in the court, and a bulletproof, multilayered, Plexiglas shield separates spectators from judge, jury, lawyers and defendants.

All that security has been mustered every working day for the past 15 months in the Marin County Civic Center in San Rafael, where the longest trial in California history is expected to go to the jury next week. The case involves the so-called San Quentin Six,* who are accused of taking part in a 1971 prison breakout attempt that left Black Militant Convict George Jackson dead, along with three guards and two inmate trusties. Their trial may well mark the final effort to exorcize the specter of Jackson from the Marin courthouse. In 1970 the same building was the scene of the kidnap-shootout that Jackson's brother Jonathan hoped would force George's release from San Quentin. Instead, Jonathan, Judge Harold Haley and two prisoners were killed. Now the question facing a seven-woman, five-man jury is whether the six San Quentin defendants conspired to launch the 1971 break and are guilty of murder.

The importance of the issue at trial has been somewhat obscured by the time, money and verbiage spent on the case. It took no less than 17 weeks to select the jurors (who have mercifully not been sequestered). So far, the trial has produced 22,150 pages of transcript, plus 546 exhibits of evidence, ranging from the three Winchester rifles used by guards when Jackson was killed to the medical headache chart of one of the defendants. The prosecution has called 34 witnesses, while the defense has countered with 49, many of whom support the San Quentin Six's contention that officials set up the alleged breakout in order to kill Jackson.

Top Tabs. All of this has cost state taxpayers $1.6 million to date, and Marin County Auditor-Controller Michael Mitchell figures the tally will hit $2 million before the last bills are in--not including appeals if there are convictions. Some items in that total: $65,000 in jury fees, $200,000 for reporting and transcribing, $205,108 for the D.A., $96,477 for the public defender and as yet unspecified costs for four additional outside defense attorneys.

The expense and expanse of the trial point up a growing anomaly of justice in the U.S. Angela Davis' trial cost California $1.2 million. Daniel Ellsberg's federal prosecution tab has been estimated at as much as $3.5 million. The Patty Hearst extravaganza cost at least $480,000 in Federal Government funds, plus whatever the Hearsts themselves paid. Joan Little's supporters had to raise a $300,000 defense fund, while the state of North Carolina spent at least as much. "The irony is that you have criticism of these expensive and prolonged trials; on the other hand, you have criticism that with plea bargaining you don't have enough trials," says Berkeley Law Dean Sanford Kadish.

Though long trials can produce too much information for a rational truth-seeking process, few experts see any solution. Judges can try to limit the lawyers, but Frank Raichle, a leading New York State litigator, points out that "all kinds of questions come up during a trial --the suppression of evidence, improper evidence before the jury, constitutional rights. The issues get beclouded by all these other things. But fairness and justice shouldn't be sacrificed on the altar of speed." Frank Cox, who has been defending one of the San Quentin Six, has had little time or energy to reflect on the wider ramifications of his ordeal. Anxiously anticipating the trial's end, he says wearily, "I feel like I've got a parole date."

* Hugo A. Pinell, Willie Tate, Johnny Larry Spain, David Johnson, Fleeta Drumgo and Luis Talamantez.

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