◆ SpookStack

c . - It should be noted In defense of Judw Hoffbraa, however, that the conduct of the defendants and the activities of their lawyers leave much t o be desired where cuwt decorum I s concerned. Abbie Hoffmaa and pass notes back and forth like naughty school children"; and Abbie Hoffmea at one point ur@ his fellow defendants t o join h i m in leaping t o his feet and yelllug, "( entered the courtroom. Us- defehdaats declined. . . and Jeny Rubln are reported to "@&e and confer endlessly in c o u t ) the Judge", when Judge Hoffman I n and out of court, the defendants use the trial as a platform for expounding their Views and for continuing their agitation must the war and 8aalnst the Nixon Administration. As Rennie Davls has put it: "we hope t o make the courtroom a classroom for the nation." They have Contacted foreign countries in an effort t o bring the trial t o the attention of the United Netions, with a view t o its being handled as the South Africa racial trials were, with debate and condemnation; they are arranging a national strike of law students on 3 November, the theme of which will be "Stop the Trial"; they have Initiated "Con- spiracy Clubs" on several campuses end are trylng t o make their trial a focal point for campus anti--war demonstr&lons. They regularly hold press and television conferenoes at lunch &cess where, as one l.IRshin4- -- ton Post article put it, "the news codferences have given the defense an unprecedented forum t o counter-prosecute.the government and get Its side across." They claim that the City of Chicago was,responsible for the violence duxiw the Democratic National Convention; and their constant theme is that it is Mayor Ibley and former President Lyndon Johnson who should have been indicted. It war, they say, the City of Chicago, its Mayor, and the Federal Administration who 'rconspIred t o deter peaceful demonstrations." Out-of-court commentary by the defense attopeys,Weinglass and Kunstler,has been such that both are under the threat of contempt citations for violating a court rule FegardiU& outside C m n t 8 . During the second week of the trial, 1 t o 7 October, no signifi- cant disturbances took place at or near the court i n Chicago where the t r i a l is taking place, a1t-h a small group of SDS members was heard t o discuss the possibility of placing a bomb In the Federal Building whlch contains the courtroom; and, 86 the trial progressed, U.S. marsh- alls searched everybnc entering the Federal Building and security wo9 tightened af'ter the marshalls reported that several bomb threats had been received. The relative qulet vhfch prevailed would obviously not continue, however, as vas indicated by the reported activities of -1- o w New'Left organizations, particularly the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS); and more particularly the "Weatherman" (RX4 I) faction of SDS headed by Mark Rudd, who sometime ago condemned the plans of the 4 '