SLEEPY LAGOON DEFENSE COMMITTEE
129 West Second Street Room 302
Los Angeles 12, California
IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Los Angeles October 28 — On October 23 the Sleepy Lagoon case was dismissed in the Superior Court of LosAngeles by Judge Clement D. Nye on the motion of Deputy District Attorney John Barnes. All charges against the boys were dropped, their records cleared.
Two hours later a crowd of more than 250 people - friends and relatives - greeted the eight boys who were realesed from the County Jail with a joyful demonstration that lasted for more than an hour. Present also were the four boys who had previously been released on parole.
The case was reversed by the Second District Court of Appeal on Oct 4 in a unanimous decision which stated that the trial of the boys had been conducted in a biased manner by the trial Judge, Charles W. Fricke; that the constitutional rights of the boys had been violated; and that there was no evidence that any of the boys were connected in any way with the death of Jose Diaz.
Shown in the picture are:
Seated - Ben Margolis attorney who was in charge of the appeal action.
Standing, left to right — Henry Leyvas, Angel Padilla, Bobby Telles, John Matuz, Gus Zamora, Jack Melendez, Henry Ynostroza, Alice Greenfield - Executive Secretary of the Sleepy Lagoon Defense Committee - Victor Thompson, Chepe Ruiz and Ysmael Parra. Not shown are Manuel Delgado and Manuel Reyes who were working at the time. Leyvas and Ruiz and Telles are the three who had been convicted of first degree murder and sentenced to life imprisonment. The others had been convicted of 2nd degree murder and given sentences of from 5 years to life.
(uopwa9-cio)
Courtesy of Dept of Special Collections/UCLA Library, A1713 Charles E. Young Research Library, 405 Hilgard Ave, Box 951575, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1575; http://www.library.ucla.edu/libraries/special/scweb/
http://content.cdlib.org/view?docId=hb6j49p475&brand=oac4
Title: Sleepy Lagoon case dismissed on October 23
By: Sleepy Lagoon Defense Committee, Author
Date: October 28, 1944
Contributing Institution: Dept of Special Collections/UCLA Library, A1713 Charles E. Young Research Library, 405 Hilgard Ave, Box 951575, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1575; http://www.library.ucla.edu/libraries/special/scweb/
Copyright Note:
Transmission or reproduction of materials protected by copyright beyond that allowed by fair use requires the written permission of the copyright owners. Works not in the public domain cannot be commercially exploited without permission of the copyright owner. Responsibility for any use rests exclusively with the user.
Sleepy Lagoon Defense Committee
Permission has been granted to the University of California to reproduce this item. Information is kept on file at UCLA.