Former Weather Underground Radical Loses New Trial Bid
The New York City-based 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has overturned a new trial order for a radical activist convicted of murder in the notorious 1981 Brinks robbery case.
The court ruled that Judith Clark’s Sixth Amendment right to counsel was not violated during her 1983 trial, the Journal News reports.
“If Clark was without certain protections guaranteed by the Constitution, that was because she knowingly and intelligently exercised her constitutional right to make those choices,” Chief Judge Dennis Jacobs is quoted writing for the three-judge majority.
Clark, 58, is serving 75 years to life at the Bedford Hill Correctional Facility in Westchester. A member of the 1960s Weather Underground, Clark advocated violence against the government, drove the getaway car in a robbery that left a security guard and two police officers dead.
A lower court judge ruled last year that Clark’s right to counsel was violated, even though Clark insisted at the time upon representing herself, the paper notes.
