BEAR LINCOLN IS FREE id TAA02014; Wed, 15 Oct 1997 19:03:27 -0400 Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit source:Nicholas Wilson 13 Oct 97 BEAR LINCOLN ACQUITTED OF MURDERING COP (Article available by e-mail request) An all-white jury found Bear Lincoln NOT GUILTY of murdering deputy sheriff Bob Davis on the Round Valley Indian Reservation in Mendocino County, California. Ten of the jurors felt it was a clear case of self-defense, and favored acquitting Bear of all charges. But two jurors hung the jury with a vote of 10-2 for acquittal on manslaughter. Those two felt Bear shot the deputy in the heat of passion after seeing the deputy shoot and kill his lifelong friend right in front of him. The D.A. is deciding whether to retry Bear on that charge alone. Bear was freed on bail after over two years in jail since turning himself in 8/16/95. He was immediately threatened by an off-duty deputy, even though he was surrounded by over 70 people including lawyers, family, supporters and media with cameras. Bear took it as a death threat. If there had not been witnesses he might have been shot right there in the jail parking lot. The prosecutor and county sheriff can't believe the not guilty verdicts. They thought the case was a slam dunk for the prosecution and that Bear would be on death row for killing a cop. They are making statements to the media calling the verdict a miscarriage of justice. This puts Bear's life in danger. The jury felt that Bear was only protecting himself from a surprise attack by the cops. Over half of the jurors felt so strongly that they have come out publicly against any retrial on the manslaughter. Five of them came and spoke at a press conference called by the Lincoln legal team to celebrate the acquittal. The jurors said they were outraged that the prosecution charged the death penalty and first degree murder with such a weak case. They believed Bear spoke the truth and the deputy lied on the stand to cover up what really happened. A new summary article about the just completed Bear Lincoln trial is available by request. It's long enough that I didn't want to send it out to the list. If you want it just send me an e-mail and ask for the Lincoln summary article. Please tell me where you're writing from. (It's NOT for reposting on the net; I'm a freelance writer and still trying to sell it to newspapers and magazines.) If you have World Wide Web access the complete detailed coverage of the two-month trial, the verdict, the reaction, and all the articles about the case published over the last two years are available free of charge to the reader in the Albion Monitor at: http://www.monitor.net/monitor ================================================================= NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us 339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012 http://www.blythe.org e-mail: nyt@blythe.org ================================================================= nytrc-10.15.97-19:03:28-10108