Jury Deciding San Quentin Murder, Conspiracy Case Against Bingham

SAN RAFAEL, Calif. —  Jurors opened deliberations Friday in the murder and conspiracy trial of Stephen M. Bingham, the former prison-rights lawyer accused of helping spark the bloodiest prison escape attempt in California history.

Bingham, 44, is accused of smuggling a gun to convict-author George Jackson during an attorney-client visit at San Quentin on Aug. 21, 1971. Shortly after that visit, Jackson launched an escape attempt that led to the deaths of three guards and three inmates, including Jackson.

Bingham and his attorneys say that prison officials conspired to slip the gun to Jackson in the hope that he would attempt an escape, thus giving them an excuse to kill the prison revolutionary. Bingham testified that a fear of being charged on falsified information caused him to flee after the incident and to hide out in Europe for 13 years. He surrendered nearly two years ago, saying he now believes that he could get a fair trial. He and his attorneys have argued that law enforcement officials made him the scapegoat for the prison blood bath.

Theory Called ‘Cloud’

In closing remarks to the jury, Assistant Dist. Atty. Terrence R. Boren, who built his case completely on circumstantial evidence, dismissed the conspiracy theory as nothing more than “a cloud to confuse you.”

He alleged that Bingham fled because he knew he was guilty.

The Marin County Superior Court jury began deliberating after receiving detailed instructions from Judge E. Warren McGuire.

Among other things, McGuire detailed for jurors the state’s definition of conspiracy and explained the law that holds accomplices guilty of murder even if they themselves did not pull the trigger.

McGuire gave similar instructions to the jury before testimony began and at several key points during the trial.

Recaps Testimony

In his summation Friday, Boren recapped the testimony of prison guards who said that security in the prison was so tight on the day of the escape attempt that the only way Jackson could have gotten a gun was for Bingham to hand it to him.

Defense allegations of an official conspiracy were “ludicrous” and just an example of the idea that “the best defense is a good offense,” he said.

Chief defense attorney M. Gerald Schwartzbach had earlier dismissed as a “crazy scenario” the prosecution’s allegation that inmate Jackson had balanced a bulky gun under a wig on his head as he walked 75 yards from the visitors’ center back to his cell.

Schwartzbach also said in his closing argument Thursday that prison officials knew that Jackson wanted to escape, but did nothing to discourage him or to tighten security around him.

Encouraged Attempt

Schwartzbach said the officials were thus trying to encourage Jackson to try to escape, thereby giving prison guards an excuse to execute the widely read critic of California’s prison system.

When the scheme went terribly wrong and guards were killed, the defense lawyer contended, prison officials sought to implicate Bingham and shift the blame to him.