The Resistance Conspiracy case (1988-1990) was a Federal Judicial trial in the United States in which six people were charged with the
1983 U.S. Senate bombing
The 1983 U.S. Senate bombing was a bomb explosion at the United States Senate on November 7, 1983, motivated by United States military involvement in Lebanon and Grenada. The attack led to heightened security in the DC metropolitan area, and th ...
and related bombings of
Fort McNair
Fort Lesley J. McNair is a United States Army post located on the tip of Greenleaf Point, the peninsula that lies at the confluence of the Potomac River and the Anacostia River in Washington, D.C. To the peninsula's west is the Washington Chan ...
and the
Washington Navy Yard
The Washington Navy Yard (WNY) is the former shipyard and ordnance plant of the United States Navy in Southeast Washington, D.C. It is the oldest shore establishment of the U.S. Navy.
The Yard currently serves as a ceremonial and administrativ ...
:
Marilyn Jean Buck,
Linda Sue Evans,
Susan Rosenberg
Susan Lisa Rosenberg (born October 5, 1955) is an American activist, writer, advocate for social justice and prisoners' rights. From the late 1970s into the mid-1980s, Rosenberg was active in the far-left terrorist May 19th Communist Organizati ...
, Timothy Blunk,
Alan Berkman, and
Elizabeth Ann Duke.
Background
The bombings were claimed by the "
Armed Resistance Unit" and were designed to inflict property damage; warning phone calls were made and no one was injured. Between 1983 and 1985, the group bombed the
United States Capitol Building
The United States Capitol, often called The Capitol or the Capitol Building, is the seat of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, which is formally known as the United States Congress. It is located on Capitol Hill ...
as well as three military installations in the Washington D.C. area and four sites in New York City.
Some but not all of those convicted had been members of the
May 19 Communist Organization
The May 19th Communist Organization (also variously referred to as the May 19 Coalition, May 19 Communist Coalition or M19CO) was a US-based far-left armed terrorist group formed by members of the Weather Underground Organization. The group was ...
, also known as the May 19th Coalition and the May 19 Communist Movement, a self-described revolutionary organization formed in part by splintered-off members of the
Weather Underground
The Weather Underground was a Far-left politics, far-left militant organization first active in 1969, founded on the Ann Arbor, Michigan, Ann Arbor campus of the University of Michigan. Originally known as the Weathermen, the group was organiz ...
. Originally known as the
New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
New York may also refer to:
Film and television
* '' ...
Chapter of the
Prairie Fire Organizing Committee
The Prairie Fire Organizing Committee is an American far left organization that evolved from the Weather Underground.
Origins
In 1974, the Weather Underground released the book ''Prairie Fire: The Politics of Revolutionary Anti-imperialism''. ...
(PFOC), the group was active from 1978 to 1985.
Arrests
On May 11, 1985, Marilyn Jean Buck and Linda Sue Evans were arrested in
Dobbs Ferry, New York
Dobbs Ferry is a village in Westchester County, New York, United States. The population was 10,875 according to the 2010 United States Census. In 2019, its population rose to an estimated 11,027. The village of Dobbs Ferry is located in, and is a p ...
, by
FBI
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and its principal Federal law enforcement in the United States, federal law enforcement age ...
agents who had trailed them in the hope the pair would lead them to other fugitives.
Laura Whitehorn
Laura Jane Whitehorn (born April 1945) is an American activist who participated in the 1983 United States Senate bombing and was imprisoned 14 years in federal prison. In the 1960s, she organized and participated in civil rights and anti-war mov ...
was arrested the same day in a Baltimore apartment rented by Buck and Evans.
At the time of the arrests
Susan Rosenberg
Susan Lisa Rosenberg (born October 5, 1955) is an American activist, writer, advocate for social justice and prisoners' rights. From the late 1970s into the mid-1980s, Rosenberg was active in the far-left terrorist May 19th Communist Organizati ...
and Timothy Blunk were already under arrest, Rosenberg for explosives and weapons charges connected with the Brinks robbery, Blunk for similar charges.
Fugitive group members Alan Berkman and Elizabeth Ann Duke were captured by the FBI 12 days later near Philadelphia,
although Duke jumped bail and disappeared before trial.
The case became known as the Resistance Conspiracy Case.
Indictment, plea and sentencing
On May 12, 1988, the seven members of the group under arrest were indicted. The
indictment
An indictment ( ) is a formal accusation that a legal person, person has committed a crime. In jurisdictions that use the concept of felony, felonies, the most serious criminal offence is a felony; jurisdictions that do not use the felonies concep ...
described the goal of the conspiracy as being "to influence, change and protest policies and practices of the United States Government concerning various international and domestic matters through the use of violent and illegal means" and charged the seven with bombing the United States Capitol Building, three military installations in the Washington D.C. area, and four sites in New York City. The military sites bombed were the
National War College
The National War College (NWC) of the United States is a school in the National Defense University. It is housed in Roosevelt Hall on Fort Lesley J. McNair, Washington, D.C., the third-oldest Army post still active.
History
The National War Colle ...
at Fort McNair, the Washington Navy Yard Computer Center, and the Washington Navy Yard Officers Club. In New York City, the sites bombed were the Staten Island Federal Building, the Israeli Aircraft Industries Building, the
South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...
n consulate, and the offices of the
Patrolmen's Benevolent Association Police unions in the United States include a large number and patchwork variety of organizations. Of those unions which conduct labor negotiations on behalf of its police members, 80% are independent and have no affiliation to any larger organized ...
.
On September 6, 1990 ''The New York Times'' reported that Whitehorn, Evans and Buck had agreed to plead guilty to conspiracy and destruction of government property. Prosecutors agreed to drop bombing charges against Rosenberg, Blunk and Berkman, who were already serving long prison terms (Rosenberg and Blunk 58 years, Berkman 10) for possession of explosives and weapons. Whitehorn also agreed to plead guilty to fraud in the possession of false identification documents found by the FBI in the Baltimore apartment.
At the December 6, 1990, sentencing of Whitehorn and Evans by Federal District Judge Harold H. Greene, in a courtroom packed with supporters, Whitehorn was sentenced to 20 years in prison and Evans to an additional five years after completing a 35-year sentence being served for illegally buying guns.
Buck was already serving 17 years on other convictions, and was later sentenced to a 50-year term for the Brinks holdup and other armed robberies.
On August 6, 1999, Whitehorn was released on parole after serving just over 14 years.
[Day, Susan. ''Cruel but Not Unusual: The Punishment of Women in U.S. Prisons. An Interview with Marilyn Buck and Laura Whitehorn by Susan Day''. NeoSlave Narratives: Prison Writing and Abolitionism. SUNY Press, 2004).]
On January 20, 2001, his last day in office, President
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson Clinton ( né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and agai ...
commuted the sentences of Evans and Rosenberg.
References
Adapted from Senate Website, a product of the US government*
{{Weather Underground
Weather Underground
20th-century American trials