Lawyers Appeal Dismissal of Suit in Behalf of 4,000 Watts Rioters

Press Release
October 25, 1965

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Press Releases, Volume 3. Lawyers Appeal Dismissal of Suit in Behalf of 4,000 Watts Rioters, 1965. b9c72265-b692-ee11-be37-00224827e97b. LDF Archives, Thurgood Marshall Institute. https://ldfrecollection.org/archives/archives-search/archives-item/09bd36ea-60f5-4303-b1d8-9635dd600a12/lawyers-appeal-dismissal-of-suit-in-behalf-of-4-000-watts-rioters. Accessed April 22, 2025.

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    10 Columbus Circle 
New York, 10019 
JUdson 6-83 

NAACP 

Legal Defense and Educational Fund 
PRESS RELEASE 
President 

De. Allan Knight Chalmers 

FOR RELEASE 
Monday 
October 25, 1965 

Director-Counsel 

see ONAWYERS APPEAL DISMISSAL OF “SUIT 
IN BEHALF OF 4,000 WATTS RIOTERS 

LOS ANGELES---NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund lawyers 

and volunteer attorneys for the Los Angeles NAACP Branch today 

appealed last week's dismissal of their petition in behalf of 

more than 4,000 persons arrested during the Watts riots. 

The attorneys filed suit Oct. 8 in California Supreme 

Court against the Los Angeles Municipal, Juvenile and Superior 

Ceurts and 21 judges. 

The Supreme Court transferred the case to the District 

Court of Appeals, the state's second highest court, which last 

Monday denied the petition without a hearing. 

Today, the lawyers asked the Supreme Court to take juris- 

diction in the case and grant their motion for a hearing. 

The original petition asked the high court to order the 

Los Angeles Courts to appoint adequate counsel for those 

arrested, and nullify any previous court proceedings in which 

defendants were not adequately represented. 

The suit charges that the courts neglected their respon- 

silibity to inquire as to whether the defendants could afford 

legal counsel, and to appoint counsel when needed. 

Most of those arrested are being defended by the Public 

Defender's Office, which is not equipped to handle such a 

large number of defendants, the civil rights lawyers arque. 

They maintain that the courts should provide each defendant 

with a private lawyer of his own choosing if the Public De- 

fender's Office is judgedincapable of providing adequate counsel. 

The suit is a class action in behalf of four Negro 

petitioners "and all others similarly situated." 

Attorneys for the petitioners are Raymond L. Johnson and 

Herman T. Smith of Los Angeles, and Leroy D. Clark and C. 

Stephen Ralston of the Legal Defense Fund's New York staff. 

.~30- 

Jesse DeVore, Jr., Director of Public Information—Night Number 212 Riverside 9-8487

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Lawyers Appeal Dismissal of Suit in Behalf of 4,000 Watts Rioters

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