They Huey P. Newton Reader

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The Hue. P. Newton Reader
found th; mistake in Grier's testimony left uncorrected by Jensen. The
jury had asked to see the transcript again, but when Garry discovered
the error, he refused to allow the uncorrected copy to be sent in. Judge
Friedman commented that he did not think the error made much difference.
But Garry knew better. It was a vital correction as far as the
defense was concerned, a mistake so serious that it could mean a new
trial. Garry insisted that he and Jensen listen to the original tape, find
out whether the word rcally was "didn't"-and send the correction in
to the jury. Jensen at first claimed that his office did not have the proper
machine to play the original tape. That evening onc of my lawyers listened
to a dub of the original on his own machine and swore the word
was "didn't." Jensen did not listen to the tape until the next morning.
It was a tense period for aU of us, since the jury could have come in
with a verdict at any moment. On Friday, September 5, my attorneys
played the original tape in the press room fo r reporters and representatives
of the media. Most of them thought the word was "didn't," and
the news on television, radio, and in the press that day carried stories
about this new discovery. Meanwhile, my attorneys went to an audio
engineer who worked for a radio station in Oakland. He agreed to
transfer the crucial part of Grier's testimony to another tape and then
blow it up on his own hi-fi equipment so that they could hear the correct
word distinctly, and once and for all. When this was done, the word
Grier actually had said-"didn't"---came through loud and clear. Meanwhile,
the defense was working frantically against time, preparing a
motion to reopen the case and trying to get the proper equipment into
court to play the blown-up tape fo r Judge Friedman and Jensen. It was
a real hassle, but in the end, over the vigorous objections of Jensen,
who claimed it was too late and that Garry should have done this during
the trial, the judge did listen to the blown-up tape and had to recognize
that the word was "didn't." A corrected statement was sent in
to the jury late Saturday afternoon, but Friedman would not allow any
mention of the original error to accompany the transcript. We never
learned whether the jury even noticed it, let alone understood how
important and significant a correction it was.
Finally, on the fourth day of deliberations, September 8, around ten
o'clock in the evening, the jury reached a verdict. I came back into the
courtroom with my lawyers to hear it read by the clerk: