Court Reverses Convictions of 2 Black Activists

A federal appeals court Tuesday reversed the convictions of two black activists accused of disrupting court proceedings when a fellow activist was jailed for refusing to cooperate with a grand jury.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ordered a new trial for Rhonda Brown, who goes by the name of Sofiya Omari, and Bill Baker, who goes by Mtina Burti Omari, ruling that their lawyers should have been present when a tape recording of the incident was played back to the jury.

The incident, described by the prosecutor on the case as a “near riot,” erupted in August of 1986 when Watani Tyehimba was ordered to prison by U.S. District Judge James M. Ideman for contempt of court.

Tyehimba, also known as Fred Woods, had refused to provide samples of his handwriting to a federal grand jury in Los Angeles investigating allegations that he harbored the purported mastermind of the 1981 holdup of an armored car in New York in which two police officers and a security guard were killed.

Brown and Baker were among a group of spectators who stood up and began chanting after Ideman’s order, and when the judge ordered the courtroom cleared, “there was a little pushing and shoving,” according to Baker’s attorney, Brian Newman.

Brown, Baker and two others were charged with contempt of court and interfering with federal officers. The other two were acquitted.

The tape in question was played back to the jury with only a government investigating agent present and was never admitted into evidence. In it, Brown can be heard asking whether her husband is all right, and then yelling, “Smash the grand jury.”

“Any number of prejudicial events” might have taken place when the case agent replayed the tape for the jury, Judge William A. Norris wrote for the court in reversing the convictions.