Mother in Rape Case Will Defy Court, Seek Sanctuary

The mother of Tawana Brawley plans to defy a contempt of court order and seek sanctuary in a black church today rather than appear before the judge who sentenced her Monday to 30 days in jail for refusing to testify before a special grand jury investigating the claim that her daughter was kidnaped and raped by six white men.

Standing on the steps of a courthouse in New York City, Glenda Brawley’s lawyers pledged Tuesday that she will not appear in court in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., but will take refuge in a church, daring authorities to arrest her there.

“Glenda Brawley will not be appearing before a Dutchess County Grand Jury tomorrow,” said Alton H. Maddox Jr., one of her lawyers. “Glenda Brawley will be seeking relief before a higher authority, she will be putting her life in God’s hands.”

C. Vernon Mason, another of her lawyers, complained Brawley had been denied a fair hearing by the judicial system.

‘Going Into Church’

“We’re going into a church now, Judge Ingrassia, since you’ve said we can’t go into your courtroom,” Mason charged.

Before finding Glenda Brawley guilty Monday of criminal contempt of court for defying a subpoena, State Supreme Court Justice Angelo J. Ingrassia asked her to appear in his courtroom so she could be given a chance to offer an explanation for her conduct. But Brawley’s lawyers refused to produce her even though she took part in demonstrations outside the courthouse.

The Rev. Al Sharpton, an adviser to the Brawley family, called for civil disobedience, including the disruption of transportation in New York City, if Glenda Brawley is arrested.

“We challenge Bob Abrams to come into the church and do what he must do,” Sharpton said.

State Atty. Gen. Robert Abrams, the special prosecutor looking into Tawana Brawley’s allegations, had urged local sheriffs in Dutchess County to delay arresting Glenda Brawley until today, when the grand jury is scheduled to meet again.

Abrams charged that Glenda Brawley had received disastrous advice from her lawyers, who “utterly failed to defend her.”

But at about the same time as the attorney general was speaking to reporters in the lobby of the red brick courthouse in Poughkeepsie, Mrs. Brawley and her advisers were leaving the Brawley family apartment in Dutchess County north of New York City for an unknown destination.

Tawana Brawley claims she was raped and kidnaped during a four-day period last November. The 16-year-old girl was found Nov. 28 near the apartment her family had recently vacated in Wappingers Falls, N.Y.