Seattle Liberation Front - Charges and Trial

Charges and Trial

Two months later, on April 16, a federal grand jury indicted eight members of the SLF on charges of inciting the February 17 riot (one of the eight, Michael Justesen, disappeared but was later arrested in California by the FBI in an infiltration of the Weathermen). Federal District Judge George Boldt was assigned the case, which began in his Tacoma courtroom on November 6, 1970. The trial was quickly derailed by the defendants' vocal disruptions, a protest walkout, and their eventual refusal to enter the courtroom. Boldt declared a mistrial on December 10, citing all defendants for contempt of court. He summarily found them guilty of contempt, sentenced them to six months in prison, and refused to grant bail. The defendants eventually served three months in prison.

The original charges of inciting a riot and conspiracy to damage the Seattle Federal Building were unsuccessfully prosecuted. Most observers agreed that the prosecution's case was floundering (aided by the admission of government witnesses on the stand that they would "go to any length" to combat the radicals. It is believed that the Seattle Seven would have been freed had they not provoked the elderly judge with catcalls during the proceedings.