Biography
Buddy Cochran was a Vietnam veteran prosecuted after driving into a Ku Klux Klan rally in Plains, Georgia, on July 2, 1977. In a published jail letter, he described his opposition to racism and his effort to support Black Americans. His wife Mary Sue appealed for assistance while he remained imprisoned. The National United Workers Organization and Vietnam Veterans Against the War supported his defense. After bond was reduced, he spoke at the NUWO founding convention. An Associated Press report records a twelve-year sentence, escape from Sumter County Jail on December 27, 1977, and recapture shortly afterward. The dates of his pretrial bond release and return to jail remain unestablished.
The December 29 Associated Press report identifies a distinct escape/property prosecution: Cochran escaped Sumter County Jail Tuesday, December 27, 1977, was recaptured fifteen hours later in an Atlanta suburb, and was charged Wednesday with felony escape and two counts of damaging government property. Escape is not recorded as a lawful release or a completion of his separate assault sentence. Source: Big Spring Herald, December 29, 1977, PDF page 6. https://newspapers.swco.ttu.edu/bitstream/handle/20.500.12255/285113/Big_Spring_Herald_1977_12_29.pdf?isAllowed=y&sequence=1#page=6
Buddy Cochran was a Vietnam veteran prosecuted after driving into a Ku Klux Klan rally in Plains, Georgia, on July 2, 1977. In a published jail letter, he described his opposition to racism and his effort to support Black Americans. His wife Mary Sue appealed for assistance while he remained imprisoned. The National United Workers Organization and Vietnam Veterans Against the War supported his defense. After bond was reduced, he spoke at the NUWO founding convention. An Associated Press report records a twelve-year sentence, escape from Sumter County Jail on December 27, 1977, and recapture shortly afterward. The dates of his pretrial bond release and return to jail remain unestablished.
The Veteran, November 1977, volume 7 no. 5, PDF page 11; The Veteran, November 1977, volume 7 no. 5, PDF page 15; The Washington Post, July 4, 1977; The Washington Post, August 22, 1977; Griffin Daily News, October 20, 1977, page 7; The Washington Post, December 27, 1977; Big Spring Herald, December 29, 1977, AP, page 6-A, PDF page 6.
