Biography
Terry McDonald was a 19-year-old Waterloo resident arrested in Black Hawk County on December 27, 1968 in the Des Moines Jewett Lumber arson investigation. Contemporary activist reporting linked him to Black high-school organizing. By the April 18, 1969 trial of Charles Knox and the Cheatoms, McDonald was being held in Polk County Jail and identified as a prosecution witness. Later police testimony stated that he refused to testify and that his own arson charge was dismissed. His release date and total time in custody have not been verified.
The April 19, 1969 Daily Iowan identifies this prosecution witness as held in Polk County Jail awaiting his own arson trial. Statements about drug use and other charges arose in testimony and cross-examination; they are attributed reporting, not additional judgments here. The article supplies no physical release date or complete served duration. Source: https://dailyiowan.lib.uiowa.edu/DI/1969/di1969-04-19.pdf#page=1
Jewett Lumber case
The prosecution arose from the October 1968 Jewett Lumber Company fire in Des Moines. Contemporary reporting also associated the investigation with a fire at an A&P grocery store. The Militant characterized the arrests as an attack on Black organizing; that political interpretation is attributed to the newspaper, rather than treated as a court finding.
The Daily Iowan's April 19 report identified McDonald and Calvin Jones Jr. as prosecution witnesses being held in Polk County Jail during the April 18 trial. In 1970, sergeant Paul Gladson testified that McDonald refused to testify, leaving the prosecution without the corroboration required for its case against Knox and the Cheatoms. Gladson also said McDonald's own charge was dismissed. The testimony does not establish McDonald's exact release date or a continuous custody interval.
Available records document this historical case. No verified current detention is recorded. Custody duration and unsupported personal details are left blank.
