During 1983 and 1984, Dennis and Flint became more deeply involved in the lawsuit brought by Lewis Pitts, Gayle Korotkin, Dan Sheehan and the Greensboro Justice Fund against the Klan, the Nazis, police, FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (BATF) in Greensboro, North Carolina for the murder of five Communist Workers Party (CWP) leaders at an anti-Klan demonstration in 1979. In January 1985, Flint moved to North Carolina for six months for discovery and trial. The evidence showed that a BATF agent provoked the Nazis, that an FBI and police informant planned and led the Klan’s assault on the demonstrators, and that the local and federal authorities knew that the assault was going to take place and consciously absented themselves. Much of the massacre itself was filmed by the local TV stations and videotapes were repeatedly shown on monitors in the courtroom. Although we were faced with constant efforts by the defendants to vilify the plaintiffs because of their political viewpoints and membership in the CWP, the jury returned a verdict against several of the Klan, Nazis and police – the first such verdict ever obtained in the South.
History by Section
Early Days
The Murder of Fred Hampton
Government Surveillance
Representing the Panthers in Downstate Illinois
Attica New York Prison Riots
The Fred Hampton Murder Trial
Prisoner Rights Work
Puerto Rican Independence Movement and the Puerto Rican Community
Fred Hampton Appeal
George Jones Street Files and False Imprisonment
Representing Demonstrators, Protestors, and Activists
Greensboro
Puerto Rico Work Continues
Police Brutality and Torture
Continuing to Represent Demonstrators and Activists
The Attica Prison Civil Case
Continuing Work in Solidarity With Puerto Rico
Fighting the Death Penalty
Sexual Abuse Litigation and Illegal Strip Search
Back to the Supreme Court
The 1996 Democratic Convention
Policy and Practice Cases
False Arrests and Convictions
Continuing to Defend Dissent
Continuing the Fight for Justice in the Chicago Police Torture Cases
Criminal Defense for Civil Rights Abuses
Jail Suicide
Opposing the Criminalization of the LGBTQ Community
People’s Law Office and The National Lawyers Guild
