Biography
Lonnie Epps was a teenage Black Panther Party member at the time of the April 2, 1969 Panther 21 raids. He was held in pretrial detention with the older defendants. The conspiracy charges against him were ultimately severed and dismissed before the case went to the jury, and he was released without conviction.
The April 3 arraignment report says the seventeen-year-old Panther surrendered and was held, bringing the number jailed in the Panther21 case to thirteen. Justice Charles Marks refused to reduce the $100,000 bail and scheduled an April11 hearing. A hearing appointment is not actual bail release; juvenile proceedings and later individual disposition are not inferred from adult co-defendants.
A contemporary report reprinted from the June 14 Guardian says Epps had been released after bail was reduced to $10,000. This documents an interim bail release before the later dismissal; it supplies no exact physical release day.
