Harold Haley

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Harold Haley (died 7 August 1970) was a judge in Marin County, California. He was abducted during the course of a trial, and killed during the attempted escape of his abductors.

On 7 August 1970, Jonathan Jackson brought guns into Judge Haley's courtroom where his brother George Jackson and two other San Quentin prisoners (Ruchell McGee and James McClain) were on trial. Jonathan Jackson and the prisoners took Judge Haley and four other people hostage, and attempted to escape. Judge Haley, Jonathan Jackson, and two of the prison inmates were killed during the course of the attempted escape. George Jackson was one of the Soledad Brothers.

The eyewitness testimony suggests that Judge Haley was hit by fire discharged from a weapon inside the vehicle to which he had been taken during the incident, since he was being covered by a firearm attached by wiring, tape, and/or a strap of some sort, and/or held beneath his chin.

Gary Thomas, at that time a prosecutor (later a judge) who was also taken hostage and paralyzed by a police bullet during the incident, testified in a subsequent proceeding that "The sawed-off shotgun was being held under Judge Haley's chin by Magee. The shotgun went off. It was as if it was in slow motion--all outward features of his face moving away." Some accounts of the incident report that Judge Haley's head was taken almost completely off his body as a result of the close-range shotgun blast.

Famed photographs of the event were taken by news photographer Roger Bockrath. "I had a lot of adrenaline and not much common sense," Bockrath, stated in an interview. "I ran into this potentially fatal situation, got shot at three times, and walked away unscathed." (quoted in [1]) The best-known photo Bockrath took shows McClain leading out the hostages, pointing a revolver at police with his right hand, while holding a shotgun taped around Judge Haley's neck with his left hand.

The police investigation determined that the shotgun used had been owned by Angela Davis.

Charges were brought against Angela Davis and Ruchell Magee.

The case was appealed during trial in Magee v. Superior Court (34 Cal. App.3d 201) (1973) on the issue of permitting former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark to join the defense team.

[edit] Further information

• Courthouses of California: An Illustrated History edited by Ray McDevitt (ISBN 1-890771-49-X) includes photographs of Judge Haley and others being held at gunpoint during their abduction.
• The Road to Hell (Atlantic Monthly Press, 1996) by Paul Liberatore includes photographs and an account of the incident.

[edit] External links

• San Quentin Trials (Accessed 17 October 2005)
• text of decision in Magee v. Superior Court
• Photographer plays a small part in radical history (dated January 12, 1997; by Elisabeth Sherwin; accessed 17 October 2005)
• generally positive profile of Angela Davis Discusses the abduction and Davis's role in the case (accessed 17 October 2005)