Biography
Ron Ridenour was a Los Angeles Free Press journalist and supporter of striking Chicana garment workers. He was arrested at a picket line in November 1970 and convicted of resisting arrest. The Militant reported in November 1973 that he was serving a six-month jail sentence on nights and weekends while allowed to work weekdays. The newspaper characterized the prosecution as a frame-up. This strike-support case was distinct from his later prosecution for photographing police at an antiwar protest.
The Militant of September15,1972 reported that Ridenour was convicted on August17,1972 of interfering with an officer while photographing police treatment of paralyzed Vietnam veteran Ron Kovic at an antiwar demonstration outside Nixon campaign headquarters. After a five-day trial, he was acquitted of unlawful assembly; a failure-to-disperse charge had been dropped. A September19 sentencing was still scheduled, and its actual outcome is not established by this report. Separately, attorney Neil Herring obtained his release after three days in custody during a lapse in an appeal stay in the earlier garment-strike case.
The June 1, 1973 Militant reported that the Los Angeles County Superior Court had overturned Ron Ridenour’s conviction for interfering with police while photographing the beating of a paralyzed Vietnam veteran at an antiwar protest in May 1972. Attorney Neil Herring argued that Ridenour had been singled out because he represented the Los Angeles Free Press. This prosecution was separate from the November 1970 garment-strike case; the reversal does not establish a release date.
