> Some piece posted here the other day described Leonard Weinglass as
> "comatose" during Mumia's trial. Is that true? Is he ga-ga?
Len was not at Mumia's trial - he was hired a decade later to obtain post-conviction relief.
Over the last four years I have been co-counsel with Len in the successful attempt to obtain release on parole for Kathy Boudin. He's a careful and highly skilled lawyer, with the highest standards of personal and professional honesty. He argues brilliantly. In Kathy's case he had the amazing experience of having his dogged persistence during her sentencing in 1984 pay off in 2003.
I've not talked with Len about the Mumia case except in passing.
But this is what I understand to be the case: Len was traduced and maligned by first his co-counsel and then by the crew who took over Mumia's defense. In fact the argument on the Federal habe that threw out the death sentence - the only part of the Federal habe that was successful - was 100% Len's argument. He has not responded to any of the slanders, believing that his professional and political responsibility to Mumia prohibits defending even his own reputation except under compulsion. Lenny makes me feel proud to be a lawyer; a rare occurrence.
john mage