Portland Observer
Why Bailey lost a winable case
by Clark Norton
SAN FR A N C IS C O , (PNS)
A few
day» before the guilty verdict that left
him atunned, F. Lee Bailey confided to a
reporter that he might be better off
loaing the Heam t rase. "If I win, every
rrgrkpot criminal in the country will
think I can get him off," Railey said. " If I
lose, at leant other lawyers will know I
did a good job.”
Hut Bailey wasn't playing to a panel of
lawyers; his job was to convince a jury of
laymen. la w y e rs may debate the legal
merits of the rase, but to this courtroom
observer
a layman like the jury
members
Bailey lost a rase he should
have won.
Patricia Hearst's overriding claim for
acquittal was that she was a kidnap
victim.
She was charged solely with
voluntarily participating in an armed
bank robbery just two months after her
brutal, terrorizing abduction; she had
been out of her closet prison only two
weeks.
The government's evidence concerning
the bank robbery alone was inconclusive.
Hailey should never have let the ju ry lose
sight of those basic premises.
Yet Hearst was convicted, not for the
bank robbery itself, as the comments of
the jurors themselves attest, but for her
subsequent seventeen months as a fugi
tive. Proof of her intent prior to and
during the robbery was not conclusive.
Bather the government won its case on
Hearst's activities after the robbery
which the defense tried to answer with a
convoluted theory of fear and “brain
washing."
Bailey did fight hard to keep such es
post factor evidence out of the trial. But
in a go for broke hearing out of the jury's
presence he may have made a fatal error.
Bailey put Hearst on the stand to try to
convince Judge Oliver C arter that her
post bank robbery actions were involun
larily coerced
and thus legally in
admissable as evidence.
But Carter
didn't buy her story.
Once Carter allowed the I xm Angeles
evidence, Bailey felt compelled to put
Hearst on the stand before the ju ry to
counter the damaging testimony that she
had shot up Mel's Sporting Goods Store.
Having told Judge Carter in the hearing
that she had acted solely from fear during
her seventeen months as a fugitive, she
had to stick with that story.
By railing his client to testify, Bailey
opened 'jp even more damaging territory
to prosecution questions. One searing
result was that Bailey had to advise his
client to take the Fifth Amendment 42
times, against the judge's orders, to avoid
incriminating herself for alleged crimes in
Sacramento.
And the same story that had failed to
convince Judge C arter ultimately proved
to be, in Prosecutor James L. Browning's
words, “just too big a pill to swallow."
Hearst's Extraordinary Tale
Hearst asked the ju ry to believe she
had robbed, fired weapons and kidnaped
all out of fear of the SLA
especially
William and Emily Harris, to whom she
ascribed almost mystical powers of con
trol.
H e a rs t's tes tim o n y le ft no m iddle
ground. Everything she had written or
spoken during her fugitive life, she
claimed, had been influenced by fear of
the Harrises.
She kept loaded weapons in her apart
ment because Bill Harris "might drop in
and check up on me." She spoke of
revolutionary feminism to best friend
Trish Tobin after her arrest because she
“thought Emily Harris was in the visiting
room" (she wasn't). An autobiography
she had w ritten on the lam was dictated
to her by the Harrises, who forced her to
reveal embarrassing inside gossip about
her family.
Had Bailey been able to lim it trial
evidence to the hank robbery itself,
Hearst's tale of duress might have held
up.
Bank photos were unclear on
whether SLA guns were trained on her.
Hut the legal concept of duress applies
only to fear of immediate bodily injury or
death, without chance of escape. Her
later actions as a fugitive could not
convincingly be explained that way. She
had many apparent opportunities to
escape; she was alone in a car when she
sprayed the sporting goods store with
bullets.
HOW Syndrome
Bailey found himself boxed in. Com
m illed to Hearst's tale of duress, which
left too many questions unanswered, he
brought in three eminent psychiatrists to
depict Hearst's fugitive life in terms of
"coercive persuasion" and “thought re
form" (popularly known as "brainwash
ing"). casting the Harrises as villians.
Hearst had now known why she acted
as she did. the experts said.
They
compared her to American PO W ’s in the
Korean W ar.
But no matter how textbook perfect
the psychiatrists' arguments, they were
not enough to overcome the doubts raised
by Hearst's own story.
While not entirely at odds, Hearst’s
tale of duress and the experts' tale of
brainwashing weren't completely com
plementary either: There are inherent
contradictions between the two defenses.
D uress signifies the subject fre e ly
chooses to act because of fear; brain
washing implies there is no free will.
Instead of bolstering a clear, consistent
defense version of events - centered on
Hearst's own testimony and role as
victim
Hailey's experts actually mud
died the issues. By bogging the trial
down in a lengthy debate over Hearst's
months as a fugitive, they shifted the
jury's attention from the all important
Hibernia bank robbery.
Despite his problems. Bailey nonethe
less may have been overconfident of
victory. The press was raving about his
courtroom skill; his opponent Browning
was bumbling by comparison. On paper
this looked like Hearst's easiest trial.
Bailey indicated to the media he was
already looking ahead to other trials, and
may have overexposed his psychiatrists
in order to lay the groundwork for Los
Angeles, where the brainwashing de
fense would be crucial.
But Bailey had seriously miscalculated.
His psychiatrists couldn't save Hearst
from her own testimony.
Prosecutor
Browning was actually able to turn the
concept of "reasonable doubt" into a
government asset by asking the jury.
Would you. as reasonable men and
women, accept this story from anyone
but Patricia Hearst? And if not, I ask you
not to accept it from her."
AU O r N o th in g
Not only was Hearst's story hard to
swallow, but she left the jury little room
to sympathize with her if they dis
believed it. She incriminated many of her
former associates. She repudiated her
previous avowals of love for slain SLA
member W illie Wolfe by branding him a
"Rapist" whom she “couldn’t stand." Yet
at her arrest she still carried a Mexican
figurine he had given her over a year
before.
Bailey’s requests for sympathy toward
his client had a hollow ring of their own.
His relentless cross examination of w it
nesses
though technically brilliant -
may have alienated more than dazzled
the jury.
Bailey left a 68-year old bank guard
literally shaking on the stand; opened his
questioning of one middle aged man by
eliciting the news that he still lived with
his mother; and poked fun at homo
sexuals. “Have you been down to Polk
Street lately?" (a local gay hangout)
Bailev asked one witness when the man
jury. Instead, standing ey“ to eye with
the jury, he delivered a bombastic and
condescending lecture on their obligation
to find his client not guilty.
Rather than emphasize Hearst's brutal
kidnaping as he had done so effectively
in his opening statement Bailey chose to
depict her as one who would do anything
to survive. “People eat other people to
survive," Bailey told the jury.
The
remark made Hearst seem more cannibal
than victim and buttressed the view that
she would
among other things
lie to
survive.
No one can say for certain whether the
jury would have been swayed by another
defense. But one thing is clear: Bailey
should never have put Patricia Hearst on
the stand if she couldn't tell a credible
story. A consistent defense emphasizing
her terror at the time of the kidnaping,
and for weeks afterward, could have
provided a good ease for diminished
re sp o n s ib ility for her la te r actions.
Hearst would have had to blame herself
more and others less, but she would more
likely have evoked sympathy from the
jury.
* And she would at least have retained
her dignity. Instead - whatever crimes
she may have committed between her
kidnaping and arrest - Patricia Hearst
remained as much a victim in court as she
did at her abduction.
H er identity had twice been snatched
away and remolded: first by the SLA
Thursday, April 1, 1976
kidnapers, who transformed her from
college student to hostage and fugitive;
then by F. L m Bailey, who turned her
from the confident feminist of the Tobin
tape into a quiet wisp of a woman without
identity, friends or freedom.
To the public, she is a criminal; to her
former radical associates, a snitch. A t
age 22. she has nothing left of herself.
This most of all makes her a tragic figure.
(E D IT O R ’S NOTE: Clark Norton, a
PNS | Pacific News Service) editor, co
vered the Patricia Hearst trial for “Roll
ing Stone" magsrine and an upcoming
book on the Hearst saga to be published
by Bantam. I
CATALOG OVERSTOCK SALE
Wards Bargain Centers
SPRING CLEARANCE
3 3 % -8 6 %
o ff
Special value
LUXURIOUS WOOLEN
ORIENTAL AREA RUGS
4 fi97
said he could tell males from females.
But Bailey reserved his most scathing
attacks for the prosecution psychiatrists.
Rather than questioning the substance of
their testimony, he unleashed vitriolic
character assaults on Drs. H a rry Kozol
and Joel Fort, whom he called a “psycho
path" and "habitual liar."
Bailey was
much harsher on Fort and Kozol than
Browning ever was on Patricia Hearst -
an irony the jury may well have noted.
In the end, Bailey himself became an
issue, allowing Hearst's role as victim to
become obscured in his own flamboyant
aura.
In his growing fury, Bailey seemed
ignorant of how to deal with a San
Francisco Bay Area jury. By branding
all radicals as "crazies” and Terrorists, by
ridiculing homosexuals, by criticizing Dr.
F o rt’s individualistic brand of psychiatry,
Bailey betrayed himself as a rude out-of-
towner in this most tolerant of American
cities.
4 x6’SIZE
At
REG. 59.88
Authentic reproductions of treasured
designs, woven in Belgium of pure,
durable worsted wool. Rich colors.
COTTON BLEND ORIENTALS
Crafted in Ita ly , in geome
tric, intricate designs.
19.77, 3’9”x6T” . . . .
48.77, 5T l"x9’l ” . . . .
87.77, 8’3”x l l ’8” . . . .
14.»7
44.97
64.97
5 97
Z4 'i5 3 ” S IZ E
R E G . 7.77
58% OFF
GIRLS SHORT
SETS, 4 to 6x
l 47
Misplaced Emphasis
Bailey's closing argument was also off
the mark. Browning's had been cool and
fac tu a l. B ailey ignored Brow ning's
mound of evidence and made an emo
tional appeal. Not, as many had guessed,
to play on the human sympathies of the
REG. 3.49
F u lly washable sets, in
3 styles; pull-on shorts.
Choose ruffled, lacy or
pull-on halter styles in
prints or checks.
Mitchell denounces Ford welfare proposal
Congressman Parren J. Mitchell (D.-
M aryland), Chairman of the Human Re
sources Task Force of the House Budget
Committee, denounced the President's
tax and public welfare proposals as
anti-work, anti workers.
“The President's proposals for taxes.
A F D C , food stamps, school lunch, and
public housing are totally at odds with his
rhetoric about the rewards of work. Not
only a re b en efits fo r m odest-incom e
workers slashed almost across the board,
but earnings more frequently would yield
less income. This turns the work ethic on
its head," stated Mitchell.
In a Human Resources working paper,
Mitchell released tables comparing taxes
and benefits under current law and the
President's proposed law.
The paper
reflects a comparison in Chicago. Detroit,
and Seattle, showing that:
• A working man with a wife and two
children earning $6,000 little more than
the updated property level -- would have
$6,403 in total net income and benefits
(food stamps and school lunch) under the
P re sid en t's proposals, com pared to
$5,886 under current law.
• Under the President's proposals, a
woman with three children in Chicago
receiving AFDC . food stamps, and school
lunches would have a total net income
and benefits of only $5,061 if she earns
$6,000. but 1300 more
$5,304 - if she
doesn't work at all.
• Under current law. a Seattle mother
of three earning $4,000 has a total net
income and benefits (A F D C , food stamps,
and school lunch) under current law of
$6,954
compared to $5,703 under the
President's proposals.
• A fte r taxes and work expenses only,
a working man with a wife and two
children in D etroit grossing $6,000 a year
has a net income of $4,815 under the
President's proposals -- compared to
$5,033 under current law.
• If a working man in Chicago lives in
public housing, gets supplementary food
stamps, and his children participate in
the school lunch program, a $1,000 raise
to $6,000 increases his total net income
and benefits by $74 under the President’s
proposal - compared to $363 under
current law.
By attem pting to reduce the participa
tion ta le of particular programs by
concentrating benefits more heavily on
the poor who earn less than half of the
o ffic ia l p o v e rty lev el, the P re sid en t
abruptly terminates benefits for persons
just above the poverty line. Combine this
with an effort to concentrate tax relief on
families earning more than $8,000 and the
result is that the President squeezes
families who earn between $3,000 and
$8,000.
Mitchell pledged. “I will not allow this
injustice to permeate the poor communi
ties of this country.
In the budget
proposed by the Administration, poor
people are considered an expendable
item. The Human Resources Task Force
has monitored the needs of the poor and
I, personally, will be sensitive to those
needs in the budget process."
DACRON* NINON SHEER PANELS
F ilm y, yet tightly woven
and long-wearing! Resists
moths, mildew, wrinkling.
Washable, drip-dry.
Stanley S. Scott, Assistant Admini
strator for Africa, Agency for Inter
national Development, told a House sub
committee March 10th that A ID is
considering a request from the In te r
national Committee of the Red Cross for
$6.4 million in additional funds to support
an expanded relief effort in Angola over
the next six months.
Scott testified before the House In te r
national Relations Subcommittee on In
ternational Resources, Food and Energy.
A t the request of Chairman Charles C.
Diggs. Jr. (D-Michigan), he submitted an
A ID assessment of economic assistance
needs in Angola following the cessation of
hostilities in the civil war.
"The main need in the short run," the
Assistant Adm inistrator reported, “ia
expected to be for humanitarian aasis
tance for refugees and other war victims
and for skilled personnel to re establish
government services and economic life in
the agricultural and industrial sectors."
F urther assistance through the ICRC
relief effort inaide the country or through
the United Nationa High Commissioner
for Refugees, which is working with the
governments in neighboring countries to
take care of refugees who fled the
hostilities, "would, in fact, be a continua
tion of our present policy," Scott told the
Subcommittee.
Since Ju ly 1976, when th e IC R C
mounted an international disaster relief
operation, the United States has provid
ed $675,000 for disaster relief purposes in
Angola. O f that amount, $600,000 was
given to the ICRC, $50,000 to support
other activities within the country by
Church W orld Services, and $25,000 for
emergency relief of w ar victims following
the outbreak of fighting in Luanda last
June.
If further assessments indicate that a
multilateral relief and rehabilitation ef
fort is required, the Assistant Admini
strator said, the International Develop
ment and Food Assistance Act of 1975
authorizes President Ford to use up to
$30 million of funds made available to
A ID for development or relief and re
habilitation assistance for the former
Portuguese colonies in Africa.
“This authority," he explained, "would
perm it us to consider responding posi
tively if the United Nations or another
appropriate organization initiates a relief
and rehabilitation program in Angola."
E. Dennis Conroy, Director of the
Office of Regional Affairs in AID'S Africa
Bureau, who accompanied Scott to the
hearing, was questioned by Representa
tive Diggs and Representative Benjamin
A. Gilman (R New York) about an A ID
contract agreement with the African
American Institute under which 46 An
golans are receiving specialized training
in development-related skills in the U n it
ed States and African countries.
Conroy said the regional training con
tra c t signed in F iscal 1975 to tals
$400,000, of which approximately half
was earmarked for Angola for Fiscal
1976. One million dollars ia planned for
training activities in Portuguese-speak
ing Africa, he said, but discussions with
the African American Institute have not
yet been completed.
Under the current contract, partici
pants in the regional training program
total 102, Conroy reported.
REG. «.97
FLORAL, SOLID
COLOR THROWS
45-PIECE SET MELAMINE
SERVICE FOR 8, REG. 19.88
In bright colors th a t are
dishwasher safe! Includes 8
each; plates, cups, saucers,
bread & butters, plus 5
serving pieces.
O Q 97
V
3 97
REG. «.77
1397
ROLLAWAY WITH
HEADBOARD
W
Scott asks aid for Angola
3 97
SAVE 54%
5.91 OFF
REG. 49.88
4" mattress, link-spring
on aluminum frame.
Opens to 30x75” . Fold
ed. 13x42V4 in. high.
Foam back keeps them
in place. Seamless con
struction. with fringe
trim . Large chair, sofa.
REG. 7 .7 7 ,10-PC. WOVEN WOOD
DESIGN SALAD SET
Set includes large bowl, 4 serving
bowls, salt As pepper, utensils, tray.
*34 offl M J*, CRUSHED VELVET CHAIRS
«4.97
•49 O FFI109.95, UPRIGHT VACUUM
2-speeds. beater, a tta c h m e n ts ...................... 59.97
•29 OFF! 59.95, KITCHEN CHAIRS
Brown vinyl w ith c h r o m e ............................
29J7
•14 OFF! 44.95, TWIN HEADBOARDS
In blue or yellow f in is h ..................................
29J7
•22 O F F !32.95, BEDROOM MIRRORS
S turdy metal corners, blue trim .................. 9J7
Com fy lo-back. wrap-around s t y l e ............
3s7
20.88, FERRIS WHEEL PLANTER
W hite; revolves for easy plant care.
Plant pots are plastic, removable.
BARGAIN ANNEX
HOME FURNISHINGS
DISCOUNT FASHIONS
VAUGHN ST., 2nd FLOOR
7 5 -M « OFFI REG. TO <J9, KNIT SHELLS
Womens* sleeveless s ty le ...........................
’1-1.72
7 7 « OFFI «.49, WOMENS’ PULL-OVERS
Fashionable tops for pants, asst, colors . . .
I J2
« 1 « OFFI 7 J « , GIRLS* DRESSES
50% polyester. 50% A v ril* r a y o n ...............
3.91
7 4 « OFFI 7J9, GIRLS ZIPPER TOPS
Zip front, in d a c r o n /c o tto n ...........................
1.92
4 7 « OFFI ’15, MENS* DENIM JACKETS
G reat fashion look, easy c a r e ........................
7.91
SOM E ITE M S i Scratched, dented, alight freight damaged, ana and two ef a H ad .
Subject to prior «ala. No phone or mail orders please!
J u st say, “C harge It!”
Page !»
W
) \ 1 ( .( ) V U L‘Y
VAUGHN ST. STORE
27th and N.W. Vaughn
BARGAIN ANNEX
Across st. from V aughn St. stora
WALNUT PARK STORE
U nion Ave. at K illingsw orth
Open Mon. and F ri »JO-« P M
Sun. 11-3; other daya. 9:30-3.30
Open Moo. and Fri. 9:30-9 P M
Sun. 11-3; other daya » » 6 3:30
Open Friday eve., 9 :304 P M
Sun. 11-5; other day«. 9:30-3:30