AP - N.Y. man arraigned in 1971 officer slaying ["Free the SF 8"]

ContraCostaTimes.com

Posted on Thu, Mar. 15, 2007
N.Y. man arraigned in 1971 officer slaying
By Kim Curtis
ASSOCIATED PRESS

SAN FRANCISCO - A New York man was arraigned on murder and conspiracy charges Tuesday amid heavy security in San Francisco Superior Court.


Francisco Torres, 58, who has lived in New York the past 20 years, was arrested Jan. 23 in Queens. He's accused of being a member of a militant black power group that stormed a San Francisco police station Aug. 29, 1971, firing a shotgun blast that killed police Sgt. John Young, 51, and wounded a civilian clerk.

Torres, one of eight arrested in the attack, has called the case "a frame-up."


Earlier, dozens of supporters chanted and raised signs saying, "Free the SF 8" on the steps of the courthouse. Security inside was unusually heavy as deputies cordoned off the courtroom entrance and required observers to form a line before entering.


In all, seven suspected former Black Liberation Army members were charged with murder and conspiracy.

The others are Ray Michael Boudreaux, 64, and Watson Jones, 71, of Altadena; Richard Brown, 65, of San Francisco; and Harold Taylor, 58, of Panama City, Fla. Herman Bell, 59 and Anthony Bottom, 55, are both incarcerated in New York state.


Richard O'Neal, 57, of San Francisco, was arrested on conspiracy charges related to the attack but has not been charged with murder.


Another suspect, Ronald Stanley Bridgeforth, 62, was being sought on murder and conspiracy charges, police said. Officials believe he could be in France, Belize or Tanzania.


None of the defendants has entered a plea. The next court hearing was scheduled for April 27, when defense lawyers will argue the men should not be shackled when they're brought into court.


Jones' lawyer, John Philipsborn, said outside court the handcuffs and belly chains should be removed, suggesting the suspects are too old to be a security risk, they have led crime-free lives for decades and they showed up when grand juries summoned them in 1999 and 2005.


"It's the age of these gentlemen, but it's also the age of the case," he said.


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