The State - News from Sept. 13, 1985

An appeals court upheld the 1980 Sacramento murder conviction of “Soledad Brother” John W. Cluchette. Cluchette had challenged his conviction in the shooting death of Bob Bowles because Cluchette’s wife, who worked on his defense investigating team, turned over key evidence to police after the original murder charge was dropped for lack of evidence. The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals rejected Cluchette’s claims that his constitutional rights were violated by his wife’s action. Cluchette gained notoriety in 1969 along with George Jackson and Fleeta Drumgo as the “Soledad Brothers,” who were accused of beating to death correctional officer John V. Mills at Soledad Prison and flinging his body over the railing of a third-floor prison tier.