3 of 5 Murder Counts Against Ex-Fugitive Dropped by Judge

Acting on a pretrial defense motion, Marin County Superior Court Judge E. Warren McGuire dismissed three of five murder counts against former radical fugitive Stephen M. Bingham, it was disclosed Thursday.

Defense attorney Gerald Schwartzbach said the order, signed late Wednesday, is a “great boost” for his client. Bingham, a former prison-reform lawyer, is accused of smuggling a pistol into San Quentin Prison on Aug. 21, 1971, and giving it to his client, prison activist George Jackson.

Jackson, who wrote the caustic best-seller “Soledad Brother” while doing time for a Los Angeles robbery, used a 9-millimeter semiautomatic handgun during a brief but bloody revolt in which six men lost their lives, including Jackson himself.

Bingham, now 43, vanished on the day of the uprising and was quickly blamed for the bloodshed by the Marin County Grand Jury. He remained a fugitive until July, 1984, when he turned up in San Rafael, 15 miles north of here, and surrendered to authorities.

Points to Verdict

McGuire dismissed the three murder counts after Schwartzbach pointed out that Bingham’s alleged co-conspirators, the so-called San Quentin Six, were found not guilty of murder in the same three killings when they were tried more than a decade ago.

“We contended, and the judge agreed, that the jury in the trial of other alleged conspirators found that the three counts were not the result of a conspiracy,” Schwartzbach said.

“Then, even if Steve (Bingham) is found guilty of conspiracy,” the attorney added, “he can’t be guilty of murder in these deaths because juries already found they didn’t occur as a result of a conspiracy, but rather as a result of opportunistic violence.”

Marin County Assistant Dist. Atty. Terrence Boren could not be reached for his views on the ruling.

Bingham’s trial on the remaining murder and conspiracy charges is scheduled to begin Jan. 6 in Marin County Superior Court.