It’s sometime around 7:00 a.m., on December 4, 1969, and attorney Jeff Haas is in the Monroe Street police lockup in Chicago, interviewing Fred Hampton's fiancée. Only four hours earlier, she was lying in bed next to Hampton when the police burst into their apartment. She is still in her nightgown, describing how the police pulled her from the room as Fred lay unconscious on their bed. She heard one officer say, “He's still alive. She then heard two shots. A second officer said, "He's good and dead now." She looks at Jeff and asks, “What can you do?” The Assassination of Fred Hampton is attorney Jeff Haas’s personal account of the eighteen-month trial in which he and People’s Law Office partner Flint Taylor pursued Hampton’s assassins, ultimately prevailing over FBI stonewalling and unlimited government resources bent on hiding the conspiracy that led to Hampton's death. The book not only tells the story of justice delivered but also puts Hampton in a new light as a dynamic community leader whose dedication to his people and to truth telling inspired the young lawyers of the People's Law Office, solidifying their lifelong commitment to fighting injustice.
About the Author
Jeffrey Haas is an attorney and the cofounder of the People's Law Office, whose clients included the Black Panthers, Students for a Democratic Society, community activists, and a large number of those opposed to the Vietnam War. He has handled cases involving prisoners' rights, Puerto Rican nationalists, protestors opposed to human rights violations in Central America, police torture, and the wrongfully accused. He lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico.