Bingham’s Lawyer Says He Feared Being a ‘Scapegoat’

Stephen Bingham lived as a fugitive for 13 years because he feared he was being set up in the 1971 slaying of prison revolutionary George Jackson, Bingham’s attorney, Susan Rutberg, said Tuesday.

She told a jammed courtroom in her opening statement that the one-time Berkeley lawyer fled after state officials announced that they had conclusive evidence that he had slipped a gun to Jackson.

Bingham is being tried on two counts of murder and one of conspiracy in the Aug. 21, 1971, abortive escape attempt that left Jackson, two guards and two other prisoners dead at San Quentin Prison.

Complicity Suggested

“Stephen Bingham believed that if George Jackson had a gun, it must have been with the knowledge and complicity of San Quentin officials,” Rutberg said. “He could only assume that George Jackson had been deliberately killed and that he, Stephen Bingham, was to be the scapegoat.”

Bingham, 43, is charged with smuggling a 9-millimeter automatic pistol and ammunition to Jackson. Bingham remained a fugitive until July 9, 1984, when he surrendered, saying he finally could get a fair trial. He is free on bail.

Rutberg said Bingham only became involved with Jackson because of his “vision of social justice” that led him to fight inhuman conditions at San Quentin.

Jackson had drawn attention with his calls for prison reform and his book, “Soledad Brother.”

The jury is scheduled to visit San Quentin on Thursday.

Defendant Will Testify

Rutberg said that her client plans to testify. “He will tell you detail by detail what happened that day of his visit with Mr. Jackson. Stephen Bingham was not a part of any conspiracy that day or any other day,” she said.

Rutberg said Bingham hid for a few days after the riot, waiting to see what investigators uncovered. What he learned, she said, was that “the official story was not accurate and that George Jackson’s death was on someone else’s agenda the day it happened.”

‘Needed to Blame Someone’

Rutberg said prison officials had to explain how Jackson, one of the prison’s most closely guarded inmates, got the pistol that led to the rampage.

“Prison authorities needed to blame someone on the outside for what had happened on the inside,” she said.

Marin County Assistant Dist. Atty. Terry Boren insisted in his opening arguments Monday that nearly 15 years has not diminished the case against Bingham.

“The evidence will show that he is guilty,” Boren said.