Bingham Repeats His Innocence in Court

Stephen Bingham wound up testimony in his own defense Tuesday by reiterating his innocence and accusing prosecution witnesses of lying about his alleged role in a bloody 1971 prison uprising that killed six men.

Bingham’s testimony came under cross-examination by Marin County Assistant Dist. Atty. Terence R. Boren, who countered by forcing Bingham to admit that he had regularly lied himself many times during the 13 years he hid out in Europe after being accused of complicity in the riot.

Bingham, 44, is charged with two counts of murder and one count of conspiracy for allegedly slipping a pistol to imprisoned Black Panther leader George Jackson. Jackson, two other inmates and three prison guards were killed.

In the jammed courtroom of Superior Court Judge E. Warren McGuire, Bingham accused one guard, Bernard Betts, of lying earlier in the 2-month-old trial by testifying that a tape recorder carried by Bingham on the day of the riot was large enough to hide a gun.

Investigator’s Recorder

The tape recorder was brought to the prison by a legal investigator named Vanita Anderson. When she was denied a visit with her client, Jackson, a guard suggested that Bingham carry the recorder into his interview with Jackson.

“I believe that when he (the guard, Betts) inspected that tape recorder, he knew to an absolute certainty there could not be a gun inside,” Bingham said. “And with all due respect, when he got up here and testified about the size of the recorder, he lied.”

The recorder was never recovered.

Boren tried to chip away at Bingham’s credibility by getting him to repeatedly concede that he had lied under oath while applying for driver’s licenses, passports and other official documents while he was living as a fugitive.

“Can you approximate for us how many times you have lied under oath?” he asked.

“Many times,” Bingham replied, explaining, “to protect my identity . . . until I could surrender in an atmosphere in which I felt safe.”

Boren suggested that an innocent man would not have fled, and Bingham replied that he felt he had no option but to run first, and deal with his legal problems later.

“At the time, you were convinced that some evil men . . . were framing you for a crime you did not commit?” Boren asked.

“Yes,” Bingham answered.

“And they were manufacturing evidence against you?”

“Yes.”

“These were the same people you believed had killed George Jackson?” the prosecutor asked.

“Yes.”

“Mr. Bingham, didn’t you feel an obligation of yours to let the public know there were people in power in California who were manufacturing evidence, encouraging perjury and may have murdered a prison inmate?” Boren asked incredulously.

“That’s why I’m here today,” responded Bingham, who surrendered voluntarily.

“I meant as of August, 1971,” the prosecutor added.

“I was just scared.”

New Identity

In his second full day on the stand, Bingham also testified at length of his flight from California. His travels took him to San Jose, then Los Angeles, where friends took him to Las Vegas and a new identity as Robert Dale Boarts. Boarts apparently was a real person who died shortly after being born in Salt Lake City about the same time Bingham was born to a politically prominent family in Connecticut.

Bingham said he flew to Philadelphia to apply for a passport, then went to Paris. He said he spent the next several years traveling and working at odd jobs or living off the largess of friends.

Bingham finally settled in Paris, where he worked as a house painter and met the woman who is now his wife.

In addition, Bingham talked about several trips he made to the United States via Canada while a fugitive. He used to trips to see friends and family and to arrange for his eventual return, 13 years after the incident.