Page "Angela Davis" Paragraph 16

On August 7, 1970 Jonathan Jackson, a heavily armed, 17-year-old African American high school student, gained control over a courtroom in Marin County, California.

Once in the courtroom, Jackson armed the black defendants and took Judge Harold Haley, the prosecutor, and three female jurors as hostages.

As Jackson transported the hostages and two black convicts away from the courtroom, the police began shooting at the vehicle.

The judge, one of the jurors, the prosecutor, and the three black men were killed in the melee.

Davis had purchased the firearms used in the attack, including the shotgun used to kill Haley, which had been purchased two days prior and sawed off.

She had also written numerous letters found in the prison cell of one of the murderers.

Since California considers “ all persons concerned in the commission of a crime, whether they directly commit the act constituting the offense … principals in any crime so committed ,” San Marin County Superior Judge Peter Allen Smith charged Davis with “ aggravated kidnapping and first degree murder in the death of Judge Harold Haley ” and issued a warrant for her arrest.

Hours after the judge issued the warrant on August 14, 1970 a massive attempt to arrest Angela Davis began.

On August 18, 1970, four days after the initial warrant was issued, the FBI director J. Edgar Hoover made Angela Davis the third woman and the 309th person to appear on the FBI ’ s Ten Most Wanted Fugitive List.