Leonard Weinglass, American civil rights lawyer, died from pancreatic cancer he was , 78.

Leonard Irving Weinglass was a U.S. criminal defense lawyer and civil rights activist. Weinglass graduated from Yale Law School in 1958  died from pancreatic cancer he was , 78.. He served as a Captain, Judge Advocate, United States Air Force from 1959 to 1961. He was admitted to the bar in the states of New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, and California. He taught criminal trial advocacy at the University of Southern California Law School from 1974 to 1976, and at the People's College of Law, in Los Angeles, California from 1974 to 1975. Len died on March 23, 2011 after a short illness. A Memorial, open to the public, is scheduled for May 13, 2011, at 7PM at the Ethical Culture Society, 2 West 64th Street, New York, NY, 10023.

(August 27, 1933 – March 23, 2011)

Career

Weinglass has championed a number of liberal and radical causes. An expert in constitutional law, he served as co-chairman of the international committee of the National Lawyers Guild.

Along with attorney William Kunstler, Weinglass represented the Chicago 7 in their 1968 trial. He also participated in the defense of Daniel Ellsberg and Anthony Russo, who were charged with leaking the Pentagon Papers and whose trial ended in a dismissal of all charges. In 1970, he represented and won the acquittal of Angela Davis who was charged with participation in the abduction and murder of a local judge. Other prominent clients included Kathy Boudin, a member of the Weather Underground charged with felony murder for her participation in an armed robbery; anti-war activist Ron Kaufman; Bill and Emily Harris (kidnappers of Patty Hearst); Jimi Simmons; and Skyhorse and Mohawk. He was for several years the lead defense attorney for Mumia Abu-Jamal. In 1995, he authored a book about Abu-Jamal's case entitled Race for Justice: Mumia Abu Jamal's Fight Against the Death Penalty.

In 1972, Weinglass took on the defense of John Sinclair, Chairman of the White Panther Party in Detroit, Michigan. The case became United States v. U.S. District Court, 407 U.S. 297 (1972) on appeal to the United States Supreme Court, a landmark decision prohibiting the government's use of electronic survelliance without a warrant.

Weinglass was the lead appellate attorney for the Cuban Five from 2002 until his death in 2011.^[1]

Leonard Weinglass traveled to Cuba (1968)^{[citation needed]} and to Hanoi (1972).^{[citation needed]} In 2010 he worked with the defense team for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. Weinglass has worked with former US Attorney General Ramsey Clark.

Weinglass was photographed by Richard Avedon and appears in the book The Sixties by Richard Avedon and Doon Arbus

Up until the end of his life at the age of 77, Weinglass continued to take on cases. He saw no reason to stop - "the typical call I get is the one that starts by saying 'You are the fifth attorney we've called'. Then I get interested".^[1]

Awards

• 1974: First recipient of the Clarence Darrow Award.
• 1980: Humanitarian Award for 1980 of the First Unitarian Church of Los Angeles
• 1994: Outstanding Achievement Award (California Attorneys for Criminal Justice)

 

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