Biography
Fred Hampton was the leader of the Chicago Black Panther Party, Hampton had been named as a dangerous individual by FBI Director J Edgar Hoover due to his public speaking ability. Hoover ordered a campaign of repression against the Panthers with a specific focus on Hampton. On July 10, 1968, Fred Hampton was arrested after a local ice cream truck driver identified him as a man who had allegedly assaulted him and stole $70 worth of ice cream to give away to children. Hampton denied being present at the scene during the robbery and several witnesses corroborated his statement. Fred Hampton was found guilty and sentenced to two to five years in prison. Hampton would serve 3 months before being released while the verdict was appealed. Fred Hampton would go on to be murdered by the FBI in a raid that U.S Attorney General Ramsey Clark would later describe as a, "search and destroy mission," and "deliberate assassination."
The Black Panther, June 7, 1969: Printed pages 6–7 report that Judge Sidney Jones sentenced Hampton on Monday, May 26, 1969 to two to five years at Statesville after an April 7 conviction concerning an ice-cream truck. It reports denial of a stay and bail pending appeal, requested by attorney Fred Cohen, and says Hampton was in jail. The Party attributed the prosecution to his politics. The imposed range is not complete actual service. Printed page 7 contains a contradictory July 10, 1969 robbery date, chronologically impossible in this June issue; that date is not adopted. Source: https://washingtonareaspark.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/1969-06-07-black-panther-vol-3-no-7.pdf#page=5
The FBI arrest summary at PDF page 88 reports that Fred Hampton was arrested in the WCFL radio and television station lobby in Chicago on January 24, 1969, on a Maywood mob-action warrant issued July 25, 1968. It reports a not-guilty jury verdict on March 6, 1969 and says he was free on bond before trial after paying $700 on a $7,000 bond. This is a separate proceeding from his ice-cream robbery case. No exact physical-release day or actual custody duration is inferred.
The contemporary Chicago report dates Hampton’s transfer from Statesville to Menard to June 3, 1969, during the ice-cream prosecution imprisonment. It names trial judge Sidney A. Jones Jr. and prosecutor McGee. The transfer did not end custody.
