The Chicago Eight Trial : deconstructing the image of public enemies

The Chicago Eight trial (September 1969-February 1970) concerns eight people accused of conspiracy after the summer 1969 riots that broke out during the Democratic National Convention in a context of increasing unrest due to the war led by the United States in Vietnam. Attorneys William Kustler and Leonard Weinglass had to fight on several fronts throughout the trial. Whilst having to assume their roles as law experts and making sure that legal proceedings should be respected in spite of several instances of power abuse by Judge Julius Hoffman, they stressed the political character of justice and of their clients' actions. They needed to deconstruct the criminal image and public enemy portrait brushed of their clients by the prosecution and media alike whilst at the same time attempting to requalify a criminal trial as a political trial. Several means were used to establish the political character of the trial. The attorneys notably anchored their clients' actions in a tradition of riot that stemmed from the very foundations of the United States. The way W. Kustler conceived his role as 'lawyer of the antiwar movement' and his questioning of the judicial system were far from popular within legal circles however. Both attorneys also led a constant fight against the suspicious means used by the prosecution, which went against the most elementary laws of the judicial system (such as manipulating the jury for example). In several ways, the trial contributed to the evolution of the attorneys' practise of the law, the latter being liable to suffer from the judge's sanctions. //ABSTRACT IN FRENCH: Le procès des « Huit de Chicago » (septembre 1969-février 1970) concerne huit personnes inculpées de « complot » (conspiracy), à la suite des émeutes qui ont éclaté à Chicago à l'été 1969 à l'occasion de la Convention démocrate, dans le contexte d'une contestation de plus en plus forte de la guerre menée par les États-Unis au Vietnam. Au cours de ce procès, les avocats William Kunstler et Leonard Weinglass durent mener de front plusieurs batailles. Tout en assumant leur rôle d'experts en droit, attentifs au respect des procédures régulières malgré les abus de pouvoir du juge, ils soulignèrent, avec leurs clients, le caractère politique du procès comme des actions qui avaient justifié les inculpations. Il leur fallait déconstruire l'image de criminels, celle d'ennemis publics, créée et propagée par l'accusation et les medias et du même coup requalifier le procès criminel