Great Speckled Bird vol. 1 #4 April 26, 1968 

CONVICTED

ATLANTA, Monday, April 22 — Fulton County Courthouse, local hall of justice. David Braden, 30 years old, is to be tried this morning on charges of selling marijuana to a minor—the possible penalty, life imprisonment.

The elevator up. Lawyers, talking, joking about affairs of court. “Well, what’d you get for that woman? ” “Oh, she got off with eight years.” I marvel at the efficiency of Justice.

Fulton Superior Court. “ALL RISE.” All-American conditioned reflex, I rise. Enter Judge Emeritus Boy kin, known by some as a “hanging” judge. Defender of State, Solicitor Roger Thompson, hulks over his desk, ready for prosecution. The court seems anxious to get Braden, and dispenses quickly with other cases, mostly blacks. (“Boy, come over here.”) Black men are lead out chained in parallel.

A sense of inevitability seeps into the courtroom as Thompson reveals his talents and Judge Boykin renders his justice. (I set up counter court in my mind. Decide absolutely that Court is on trial, not Braden.)

Richard Koren, Braden’s lawyer, returns a special plea of insanity. The trial then is to determine whether Braden is mentally competent to aid his attorney in preparing a case. Selection of jury. Thompson systematically eliminates all blacks. He strikes anyone with more than Readers Digest experience with psychology. Braden sits oblivious ; to the trial, a slight bitter smile punctuated by a flicker when he recognizes the few friends who show.

Braden’s plea for insanity moves quickly. Dr. Wyatt, psychiatrist for the County Lunacy Commission, and Dr. Wiener, Georgia State psychologist, testify at length on Braden’s incapacity to aid his attorney. Korem testifies. Then three deputy sheriffs conclude, from their two to five minute observations of the prisoner, that Braden is perfectly normal.

Prosecutor Thompson moves into his summation. He reminds one of a slick small town car dealer, clinching a sale un a lemon. “Of course this man is too sophisticated for us Georgia rednecks. And now, you, the jury, representing the moral atmosphere of the community, and the welfare of our kids …” In five minutes the jury returns a verdict against insanity. Braden will be tried.

Tuesday morning. Braden attempted suicide the night before. Korem decides that Braden should try the leniency of the court, Braden pleads guilty. The court reduces the charge to possession. Sentence; seven year’s imprisonment. For possession of marijuana.

David Braden has been in solitary confinement in the county jail under$25,000 bond since March 12,1968 when he was indicted. I don’t recognize him—the pictures I have seen show him with a satanic intense smile, an actor. Now he sits, ashen, in pinstripe suit, unresponsive to the court.

Braden came to Atlanta in 1962 after completing most of a college education. He worked at the Atlanta Art School for a while. Since then he has set up several coffee houses. In 1966 he started an art gallery, the Mandorla. In the summer of 1967, Braden opened the Catacombs, originally a quiet coffee house.

When the young people started flowing in great numbers into the Fourteenth Street area, Braden fell into the role of provider for a large number. Hence his title, “Mother.” Then the media discovered him and set him up as the leader of the “hippy” colony. Now the court was condemning him as a “hippy.” ^

Braden had a particular charm that attracted many people while many disliked him intensely. However, the fact that Braden faced life imprisonment made his personal eccentricities seem irrelevant. The Mary Worth minds of the court seemed to see David’s elimination as the beginning of the destruction of the “hippy colony,” the threat to their “moral order.”

Braden has been harassed frequently by the police since 1962. On November 3,1967, he was arrested on the charge of possession of narcotics and on January 30,1968 he was given a one year suspended sentence.

On March 12, Braden was indicted by the grand jury for selling to a minor, 19yearold Chip Burson. According to newspaper accounts, “concerned parents” had forced the indictment. The Solicitor said at that time that “narcotics” seized in a January marijuana bust were allegedly purchased from Braden.

Four persons from the January 23 bust were listed as State’s witnesses, including Chip Burson. Since it was widely known that Burson sold marijuana, many wondered why Burson would have bought from Braden. It is also rumored that Burson was in New York on the date of the alleged sale, though witnesses to that effect were unavailable. There is no record of any court action thus far on Burson’s possession charges of January 23.

Braden’s lawyer Korem had talked to many people who said that Burson sold marijuana, but no one was willing to risk testifying to help Braden. Not more than a handful contributed to defense funds. Korem, with no funds and only a week to prepare, had virtually no case.

Braden was mentally unable to deal with the trial. Friends had received confused disconjuncted letters with no mention of his case. Dr. Wiener, psychologist at Georgia State, had visited David and found him severely depressed and unable to cope with the consequences of his trial.

Braden’s case is uncertain. Pending substantial contributions to a defense fund, Braden will probably spend at least 23 years in jail or hospitals. If he is certified for psychiatric treatment, there is no guarantee that he will not stay longer at Milledgeville.

The Georgia Uniform Narcotics Act of 1967 classifies marijuana with “addictive narcotic drugs” such as heroin, opium, cocaine. A first offense for selling marijuana can receive a minimum of ten years and a maximum of life. The death penalty is possible for a second offense.

Federal agencies and other established institutions have begun to receive scientific information concerning the non-addictive characteristics of marijuana. February Play boy reports that a paper circulating in the Health, Education and Welfare Department indicates that “so far as an objective analysis of the problem is possible, to that degree one can only conclude that the case against marijuana does not hold good.”

Dr. James Goddard, chief of the Food and Drug Ad ministration, recently stated that marijuana is no more dangerous than alcohol. Many who have used marijuana, claim that, in fact, marijuana is much less harmful to one’s health.

The guilt rests not with David Braden, but rather with a puritanical community and a brutal, ill-informed law. —jim gwin