Biography
Two-tour Marine Vietnam veteran turned anti-war organizer and a founding regional coordinator of Vietnam Veterans Against the War (VVAW). Lead defendant of the 'Gainesville Eight' indicted in 1972 for conspiracy to disrupt the 1972 Republican National Convention in Miami Beach with firebombs and weapons. All eight were acquitted by a federal jury in Gainesville, Florida on August 31, 1973.
In his first-person Episode 9 history, Camil describes a separate February 1972 drug arrest after he had obtained bond in the kidnapping case. He says he again obtained bond and was acquitted later that year. He also recalls rotating bond payments among the jailed Gainesville defendants, so the conspiracy proceedings cannot be treated as one uninterrupted jail stay through acquittal. The kidnapping charges’ dismissal eight months after arrest is not eight months of imprisonment. Source: https://vfpgainesville.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Episode-9.pdf#page=5
In his memoir, Camil described hiding overnight after a federal raid and surrendering the following morning with lawyers and press present. He and John Kniffin were placed in a cell. He later left jail after supporters raised cash bail.
Original document 1237, PDF page 5; Original document 1237, PDF page 6; Original document 1237, PDF page 7; Original document 1237, PDF page 8; Original document 1236, PDF page 11; Original document 1236, PDF page 18; Original document 1236, PDF page 20.
