Greensboro Klan-Nazi trial in tenth week
News analysis
By Paul Palumbo
Students returning to Greensboro this fall may notice that the
so-called "Klan-Nazi" trial has
monopolized the attention of the
Greensboro media. The controversial trial, in which five
Klansmen and Nazi party members are being charged with five
counts of murder, is now in its
tenth week.
The defendants are charged
in the shooting deaths of five
persons, all members of the
Communist Workers Party, on
November 3, 1979, in Greensboro. Michael Nathan, Sandra
Smith, James Waller, Cesar
Carice and William Sampson
were killed during an anti-Klan
rally held in Greensboro. The
incident took place at the corner
of Everitt St. and Carver Dr.
The CWP demonstrators
were armed with sticks and at
least one pistol in anticipation of
possible violence. The Klansmen were armed with several
shotguns and pistols as they
arrived at the site of the
anti-Klan demonstration. In the
fight that ensued, the CWP
members were killed and several others were injured.
The prosecuting attorney will
be trying to convince the all-
white jury that the five defendants currently on trial fully
intended to instigate violence
and use their firearms at the
demonstration.
The defense will be attempting to show that the defendant
were actually trapped by the
Communist demonstrators and
that the defendants acted solely
in self-defense. In order to show
this, the defense had tried to
establish two things; that the
first gunfire came from one or
more demonstrators and that
the demonstrators attacked the
Klansmen with sticks before
any shooting occurred. To date
there has been at least one
testimony to support this claim.
James Waters, an eyewitness to
the shooting, testified on Au-
guest 22 that he thought the
Guilforclian
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first gunfire came from an area
where a group of demonstrators
had gathered.
However, several other eyewitness testimonies contradict
Water's testimony. Laura Blu-
menthal, a Greensboro reporter, and several news cameramen have testified that they
thought the first shots came
from the Klan. Blumenthal also
testified that the stick fighting
occurred after the first shots
were fired. The question has not
been resolved, but the testimony of these eyewitnesses
•••••••
contradicts the defense's claim
that the Klansmen acted in
self-defense. Current testimony
involves tracing the weapons
used in the shootings to the
defendants.
