They Huey P. Newton Reader

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about twenty witnesses to the stand. They included people like the
nurse who had admitted me at Kaiser Hospital, the doctor who did
the autopsy on Officer Frey, ballistics experts from the police department,
various policemen who arrived at the scene of the shooting, and
so on. But their three most important witnesses were Patrolman
Heanes, Henry Grier, the bus driver who allegedly witnessed the shooting,
and Dell Ross, who claimed that McKinney and I had kidnapped
him. The first of these to testify was Herbert Hcancs.
When Officer Hcancs took the witness stand, it soon became apparent
that he was a very disturbed man. He told of recurring dreams in
which the Black Panthers were attacking him. Heanes is not very
bright, and as time and again he had trouble keeping his story straight,
the impression grew that he was completely confused. The prosecutor
had obviously rehearsed him, but Heanes was so tense that he made
mistakes; with each mistake he dropped his head as if to say, I'll try
the script over again. He was no good at all at improvisation and reconciling
contradictions in his testimony.
Heanes testified that after Frey ordered me out of my car, the two of
us walked to Heanes's patrol car (parked behind La Verne's Volkswagen)
while he, Heanes, remained near the front door of Frey's patrol car, about
thirty-five feet away from us. As Frey and I reached the rear ofHeanes's
car, Heanes testified that I "turned around and started shooting," and
that Frey and I then started to "tussle" on the trunk of his car. At this
point, Heanes said, he was shot in the right arm, whereupon he switched
his gun to his left hand. Immediately after this, he noticed out of the
corner of his eye that the passenger in my car (McKinney) had gotten
out of the Volkswagen and was standing on the curb with his arms up
in the air. Heanes turned his gun on him, but after the passenger assured
him he was not armed, Heanes turned back to Frey and me. By this time,
Heanes said, Frey and I had separated, although Frey was still hanging
on to me, and he, Heanes, shot at my stomach as I faced him. He did
not say that he saw his bullet hit me, only that he fired at my "midsection."
Mtcr that, Heanes said he remembered only two things: first, sending
out a 940B-the police emergency number-over the police radio;
and second, seeing two men run into the darkness.
When Garry cross-examined Heanes after his testimony, many contradictions
and unanswered questions emerged. Heanes repeatedly