Lonnie McLucas
Lonnie McLucas was a Black Panther Party member in Bridgeport, Connecticut who was found guilty of conspiracy to commit murder for his involvement in the May 21, 1969 murder of New York City Panther Alex Rackley, in the first of the New Haven Black Panther trials in 1970.[1]
Rackley had been held and tortured at
According to Michael Koskoff, one of the lawyers for McLucas,
Many of the people in the New Haven chapter of the Panthers were middle class. They were defined more by their propaganda than by their own personalities. And they were young and impressionable. Lonnie, for example, was so eager to please and so easy to manipulate. If you told him to jump off a bridge, he'd do it.[2]
McLucas was arrested a month after the murder in
The case later became part of an urban legend that falsely claims that Hillary Clinton defended Bobby Seale and helped him get acquitted. This was not true, as Clinton was a student at the time and not a lawyer.[3][4]
References
- ^ "Justice In New Haven". Time. 1970-09-14. Retrieved 2022-10-15.
- ^ "Bobby Seale's Shadow +". gadflyonline.com. Retrieved 2006-02-14.
- ^ "Black Panthers +". snopes.com. 27 February 2001. Retrieved 2006-02-14.
- ^ "Hillary Clinton Defended Black Panther Member Accused of Murder +". truthminers.com. Archived from the original on 2006-01-18. Retrieved 2006-02-14.