Richard Harris

Released

Gender:Male

Race:Black

Era:1960s

State:New York

Support

Black Liberation Black Panther Party Panther 21

Biography

Richard Harris was a Black Panther Party member indicted in the April 2, 1969 New York Panther 21 conspiracy case. His case did not proceed to verdict with the 13 defendants who were acquitted on May 13, 1971; charges against him were severed or dropped earlier in the proceedings.

The appendix names the Black Panther prisoner Richard Harris as under New Jersey correctional custody while attending his grandfather’s Newark funeral on May 5, 1974, and reports injury and recapture with Donald Weems. This is not the unrelated Greenpeace namesake, and a temporary funeral escort is not a final release. It supplies no new completed custody interval.

Report of the New York State Policy Study Group on Terrorism, November 1985, PDF page 84.

Cases

Manhattan House of Detention (the Tombs)

Charges: New York state Panther 21 conspiracy counts (April 2, 1969 indictment).

Sentence: The April 2, 1969 Panther 21 indictment occurred while Harris was already detained in New Jersey. His case was severed from the main trial. The former April 1, 1969 custody start and May 12, 1971 release were not supported as dates of this proceeding; no separate New York custody interval is established. The February 1969 New Jersey detention is recorded separately.

Convicted: No

Institution State: New York

Charges: Bank-robbery charges in Newark, New Jersey (February 1969 detention)

Arrested: February 1969

Incarcerated: February 1969