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New details emerge in '70 police slaying
Officer James T. Sackett ---------------------------------- Larry Larue Clark January, 2005, booking photo
Larry L. Clark and Ronald L. Reed ambushed and killed St. Paul police officer James Sackett on May 22, 1970, "to make names for themselves" in hopes of getting national Black Panther Party leaders to support a fledging Minnesota chapter led by Reed, prosecutors said in court Thursday.
But defense attorneys argued that murder indictments against the men should be dismissed because they are based on weak testimony from unreliable witnesses, some of whom are seeking money or a reduced prison term in exchange for their cooperation.
"We believe that this has been not so much an investigation as reaching a conclusion, and doing everything in your power to justify it," said Tom Handley, one of Clark's attorneys.
Ramsey County Chief District Judge Gregg Johnson took under advisement the indictment dismissal motion and a request by defense attorneys that the men be tried separately.
The judge did so after a daylong hearing, where new details emerged in the case in which most evidence has been sealed from public view.
The grand jury heard from witnesses who said that Reed advocated killing a police officer at Black Panther meetings and admitted his involvement in Sackett's murder to two people, prosecutors said.
Two witnesses also said that Clark admitted his involvement in Sackett's killing to them, according to court papers filed by prosecutors.
The grand jury also heard a new account of the killing from Constance Trimble. She was acquitted of murder in 1972 despite admitting that she made a bogus telephone call that lured Sackett to the ambush.
Trimble was jailed briefly after her trial for refusing to testify about who told her to make the bogus call.
But she told the grand jury that it was Reed who told her to make the call, that he was with her when she made it and that they went to Clark's nearby residence afterward, prosecutors said.
Trimble also told grand jurors that while she awaited trial in 1972, Reed sent her notes in jail saying there were people "willing to harm your family" if she testified about what happened, said Jeffrey Paulsen, a federal prosecutor who is serving as a special assistant Ramsey County attorney.
Trimble finally agreed to cooperate with investigators in 2004 after she became ill with stomach cancer, had developed a stronger religious faith, and said it was important "to get these matters off her chest while she still has time," prosecutors wrote in court papers.
Defense attorneys argued that the grand jury should have been told Trimble was in severe pain and on morphine when she testified.
But they had bigger complaints about other witnesses, who they argued are unreliable and gave grand jury testimony that will not be admissible at the trials of Clark and Reed.
They pointed in particular to grand jury witness John H. Griffin, a 55-year-old man serving a 30-year sentence in federal prison for a drug conviction and has other prior offenses.
He testified to the grand jury that Kelly Day, who prosecutors identified as a close friend of Reed and a fellow Black Panther, said that Reed had admitted to Day that he shot Sackett and that Clark was to dispose of the gun.
Griffin also testified that, at Reed's request, he stopped Day from going to court on the day in 1972 that he was to testify at Trimble's trial.
But defense attorneys said that prosecutors had to acknowledge to the grand jury that Griffin is seeking a reduction in his prison sentence in exchange for his testimony.
With weak witnesses and no physical evidence linking Clark and Reed to Sackett's death, prosecutors are trying to use inflammatory and conflicting witness testimony about the Black Panthers in St. Paul to bolster their case, attorneys for Reed argued.
article
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Hard to conceive that this happened. The late 60's early 70's sure had some mixed up problems/groups/people/politics...
Officer James T. Sackett ---------------------------------- Larry Larue Clark January, 2005, booking photo
Larry L. Clark and Ronald L. Reed ambushed and killed St. Paul police officer James Sackett on May 22, 1970, "to make names for themselves" in hopes of getting national Black Panther Party leaders to support a fledging Minnesota chapter led by Reed, prosecutors said in court Thursday.
But defense attorneys argued that murder indictments against the men should be dismissed because they are based on weak testimony from unreliable witnesses, some of whom are seeking money or a reduced prison term in exchange for their cooperation.
"We believe that this has been not so much an investigation as reaching a conclusion, and doing everything in your power to justify it," said Tom Handley, one of Clark's attorneys.
Ramsey County Chief District Judge Gregg Johnson took under advisement the indictment dismissal motion and a request by defense attorneys that the men be tried separately.
The judge did so after a daylong hearing, where new details emerged in the case in which most evidence has been sealed from public view.
The grand jury heard from witnesses who said that Reed advocated killing a police officer at Black Panther meetings and admitted his involvement in Sackett's murder to two people, prosecutors said.
Two witnesses also said that Clark admitted his involvement in Sackett's killing to them, according to court papers filed by prosecutors.
The grand jury also heard a new account of the killing from Constance Trimble. She was acquitted of murder in 1972 despite admitting that she made a bogus telephone call that lured Sackett to the ambush.
Trimble was jailed briefly after her trial for refusing to testify about who told her to make the bogus call.
But she told the grand jury that it was Reed who told her to make the call, that he was with her when she made it and that they went to Clark's nearby residence afterward, prosecutors said.
Trimble also told grand jurors that while she awaited trial in 1972, Reed sent her notes in jail saying there were people "willing to harm your family" if she testified about what happened, said Jeffrey Paulsen, a federal prosecutor who is serving as a special assistant Ramsey County attorney.
Trimble finally agreed to cooperate with investigators in 2004 after she became ill with stomach cancer, had developed a stronger religious faith, and said it was important "to get these matters off her chest while she still has time," prosecutors wrote in court papers.
Defense attorneys argued that the grand jury should have been told Trimble was in severe pain and on morphine when she testified.
But they had bigger complaints about other witnesses, who they argued are unreliable and gave grand jury testimony that will not be admissible at the trials of Clark and Reed.
They pointed in particular to grand jury witness John H. Griffin, a 55-year-old man serving a 30-year sentence in federal prison for a drug conviction and has other prior offenses.
He testified to the grand jury that Kelly Day, who prosecutors identified as a close friend of Reed and a fellow Black Panther, said that Reed had admitted to Day that he shot Sackett and that Clark was to dispose of the gun.
Griffin also testified that, at Reed's request, he stopped Day from going to court on the day in 1972 that he was to testify at Trimble's trial.
But defense attorneys said that prosecutors had to acknowledge to the grand jury that Griffin is seeking a reduction in his prison sentence in exchange for his testimony.
With weak witnesses and no physical evidence linking Clark and Reed to Sackett's death, prosecutors are trying to use inflammatory and conflicting witness testimony about the Black Panthers in St. Paul to bolster their case, attorneys for Reed argued.
article
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hard to conceive that this happened. The late 60's early 70's sure had some mixed up problems/groups/people/politics...