Biography
Robert Joe Heard was a Black Panther Party member and associate of Huey P. Newton. Deputies arrested Heard, Newton and William Moore after a May 11, 1978 fight at the Mediterranean Lounge in Seacliff, California. Heard was booked and held on $25,000 bail. A judge later dismissed the attempted-murder and assault counts for insufficient evidence but ordered Heard to stand trial as a felon in possession of a firearm; he later pleaded guilty to the weapons charge. The sources reviewed do not establish his exact release date or a custodial sentence in this case.
Photo: Elaine Brown photographic archive; photographer not credited. Original-image crop; identified by the source (Robert Heard, fourth from left in seated row, 1974 Central Committee photograph). Source: https://elainebrown.org/black-panther-era/ . Non-free image used at low resolution under this site's educational/memorial fair-use rationale; not an open-license or permission claim.
An October 1974 interview with defense lawyer John George individually identifies Robert Heard as one of the Panthers arrested at the Fox Restaurant on July 30, 1974. George distinguished Heard’s case from Flores Forbes’s case, describing Heard’s confrontation with vice officer George Whitfield during the first phase of the incident. The interview also reported dismissal of a harboring allegation in a separate matter involving Huey Newton and a tailor.
The Black Panther, October 26,1974, PDF page 5; The Black Panther, October 26,1974, PDF page 7; The Black Panther, October 26,1974, PDF page 20.
