Eddie Conway: 37 years and still innocent —by Eddie Conway and Dominique Robinson

[R.B Jones wrote “Eddie Conway: political prisoner” for the Indypendent Reader, issue 2 (Fall 2006). Below is more of Eddie Conway’s story, as he awaits the outcome of a court case that could renew his chances for release from prison.—Ed.]

The Court: Mr. Conway, I’m going to warn you right now on the record that unless you behave yourself…

(The remainder of the Court’s remarks inaudible, because of the defendant’s interruption.)

The Defendant: Behave myself? I want an attorney of my choice. What you mean, why don’t you behave yourself? You said I could have an attorney of my choice. I give you a name and you’re going to tell me behave myself and give me somebody who you hope to participate in the railroad job.

The Defendant: Look. I’m not going to be taking part in this madness.

So began what would become an odyssey for Marshall Conway, lasting nearly 40 years already, a man known to many as political prisoner, Eddie Conway. He was arrested in April of 1970 at his job at the United States Post Office on Fayette Street in Baltimore. Eddie was charged as a conspirator in the disappearance of an informant who had infiltrated the Black Panther Party chapter in Baltimore; he would later be charged with the murder of a Baltimore city police officer and the wounding of another. Throughout, Eddie has maintained his innocence and garnered the support of community members and people around the world who also believe that he is innocent.

During the course of his incarceration he has mentored hundreds of young men of African descent who have been incarcerated, as well as created several programs to address issues such as literacy and violence. In the last several years Eddie has worked to educate people about the FBI’s Counter-Intelligence Program (COINTELPRO) and the impact that it had upon the popular movements of the 1960s and 1970s. This program targeted the American Indian Movement, the Black Panther Party and anti-war activists, using a variety of dirty tricks such as infiltration to disrupt the progress of these organizations. In the following passage from Eddie’s unpublished memoir, Marshall Law, he speaks about his initial arrest and trial:

“I was well aware that they were trying to build a case against me on the police shootings, and I wasn’t all that concerned at that time because I was innocent. However, when the word came up the tier at the City Jail that a police informant was being specifically assigned to my cell, I knew I had a problem. I thought maybe the government was trying to provoke me, perhaps hoping that I would attack him or have someone attack him so that they could continue holding me as a dangerous threat to the community. Regardless, I also realized that this informant was being placed there to build a case against me in the police shootings, and so I protested his placement in my cell. The guards refused to place him in another cell stating that they had their orders.

“When I finally went to court on these charges, the trial lasted all of seven days. To this day I recall very little of it since I spent the entire time in the bull pen (the lock up section for the courthouse). I had been fighting a losing battle with the judge and [district attorney] to get a lawyer from the Panther Party to represent me in this case. William Kunstler had appeared before the court on my behalf and agreed to consult with Charles Garry the Panther attorney, to find adequate counsel for me since I refused to allow the court appointed lawyer, McAllister to represent me. [William Kunstler was a radical lawyer and civil rights activist who defended Martin Luther King, Jr., in the 1960s and squatters in New York City in the 1980s, among other causes.—Ed.] Charles Garry was at the time engaged in the trial of Bobby Seale and Erika Huggins in New Haven, Connecticut.

“In short, I was forced to continue with inadequate legal representation. McAllister’s incompetence as a counsel would later be demonstrated when he represented Michael Austin, a man who served over twenty years in Maryland prisons before he was released on the grounds of a wrongful conviction. I was convicted and sentenced to life plus thirty years in prison. I served the first decade and a half at the Maryland Penitentiary, and some twenty more years at the Maryland House of Corrections in Jessup before being moved to the Maryland Correctional Training Center at Hagerstown a year ago when the House was closed.”

Conway adds, as an update, “I am currently waiting to hear the court’s decision on a case, State of Maryland v. Raymond Leon Adams which should occur in November of this year. The case, if decided in favor of Adams will positively impact my case as well as a few hundred others. It concerns jury instruction from the judge. Should the state win that case, my attorney, Bob Boyle is preparing to take my case back before the court on [new] grounds. In closing, I want to say that it is essential that people who are politically active and conscious get more involved in justice issues. Whether it be my case or other instances of injustice, the system has always been biased where people of African descent are concerned, and this has lead to genocidal conditions in communities where women and men are being sent to prison by the thousands.”

Anyone interested in getting involved or obtaining more information on my case should contact Dominique Stevenson on 301-919-6846 or at drobinson@afsc.org.