Biography
William Darryl Blakemore was a Louisville Seven defendant supported by the local Black Panther defense campaign. The prosecution arose during organizing against drug dealing.
In the separate federal shotgun prosecution, United States v. Blakemore, 489 F.2d 193, the Sixth Circuit records a five-year sentence concurrent with his ten-year state armed-robbery sentence. The federal charge was possession of a sawed-off twelve-gauge shotgun under 26 U.S.C. 5861(d). On December 13, 1973 the court reversed that federal conviction and remanded for a new trial because the prosecution’s missing-witness argument was improperly permitted. The ruling was not an acquittal or proof of release; a later trial outcome and actual custody endpoint remain unverified.
