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i forChicago Lawyer Suspendedcruci‘T!For Interviews On TrialCHICAGO (AP) - A Chicago lawyer was suspended Wednesday from practicing in the federal courts in northern Illinois for one year because he spoke with a newsman while defending several persons accused of burning draft records.A panel of three U.S. District Court judges gave Frank W. Oliver 10 days to appeal their decision.Oliver gave interviews June 4 and June 5, 1970 to Tom Fitzpatrick, a writer for the Chicago Sun-Times. The interviews quoted the lawyer as saying the cases of 15 persons accused of burning draft records “are the most important ever tried in this country. I feel the future of the country as a democracy depends on their outcome and right now I am very pessimistic about the outlook.”The interviews took place before the trial started.Oliver, 51, was fined $1,000 on June 18, 1970 for contempt during the trial.Oliver also was criticized by the judiciary in 1969 when he helped write a petition signed by 35 lawyers criticizing the federal court’s security rules during the Chicago 7 conspiracy trial.Oliver told Judge Richard B. Austin, who sat on the panel with Judges Joseph Sam Pery and Alexander J. Napoli, thathe has not decided on an appeal.He asked the judges prior to their ruling to look into the “spirit on the First Amendment” which guarantees the right of free speech. The panel could have disbarred Oliver from practice in the federal courts of the district.Oliver said during the hearing that he did not know Fitzpatrick was a newsman. Fitzpatrick testified that be identified himself at one point to Oliver.Oliver then testified, “I might have said it even if I knew he was a reporter.”teneed to three years imprisonment.In the Chicago 7 trial all seven defendants were acquitted of charges of conspiracy to cross state lines to foment riots at the time of the 1968 Democratic National Convention. Five were convicted and two were acquitted of charges of individual interstate travel to incite rioting. All seven and two of their lawyers were cited for contempt and given jail terms for their courtroom behavior.Ten of the 15 persons accused of burning draft records in May 1969 were convicted; seven received five-year sentences and three were sentenced to 10 years in prison.Four other defendants fled either during or before the trial and mistrials were declared in their cases. A mistrial also was declared for Edward C. Hoffmans of Iowa City, Iowa, who was judged mentally incompetent to stand trial.Later, Hoffmans pleaded guilty to the charges and was sen-Study Asked On Tests For DDT In FishWASHINGTON (AP) - The methods used to measure the content of the Desticide DDT inWEuni'
Newspaper Details
La Crosse Tribune
La Crosse, Wisconsin, US
Thu, Jul 08, 1971
Page 12
Full Page
Clipped by
University O.
IA, USA 15 Sep 2024
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