Penning the Panthers

Huey P. Newton, the handsome, light-skinned leader of the hypermilitant Black Panther Party for Self-Defense, stood impassively as the sentence was handed down. He had been convicted of manslaughter in the shooting of an Oakland, Calif., patrolman during a wild gun battle in October 1967, which left another policeman injured and Newton grievously wounded with a bullet through his stomach. It was one of the acts of war between police and Panthers that have bloodied the streets of Oakland for almost two years. Now, as Newton's black-uniformed followers looked on in silent anger, Alameda County Judge Monroe Friedman ordered him imprisoned for two to 15 years. Friedman denied a motion to free Newton on bail, glanced only cursorily at a 15-inch stack of petitions signed by 29,301 people testifying to Huey's character as "an honest, dedicated, loyal and selfless human being."

During the trial, Newton's Panthers promised violent vengeance if he were convicted. Lengthy appeals planned by Defense Attorney Charles Garry, however, helped mute their wrath. There were no demonstrations as Newton, 26, was manacled and driven 45 miles to a reception center at Vacaville for eventual transfer to another prison, possibly San Quentin.

Abrasive Eloquence. Another Panther was having his problems with the law last week. The Panthers' "minister of information," Author Eldridge Cleaver (Soul on Ice), was ordered back to prison for violating his parole from an assault conviction. Cleaver became involved last April in a firefight during which the Panthers' 17-year-old treasurer was shot by Oakland policemen. Cleaver himself was wounded. As a result, his parole was revoked, and he was accused of assault with intent to commit murder. A lower court later freed him, ruling that Cleaver was being held because of his extremist political opinions. Last week, however, the California Court of Appeals reversed that ruling, granting Cleaver 60 days at liberty for appeals.

For Cleaver, a jail-educated militant of abrasive eloquence, the court order for his imprisonment comes at an embarrassing moment. He is the presidential candidate for the antiwar Peace and Freedom Party. He is also scheduled to appear as a guest lecturer at the University of California's Berkeley campus, an appointment that stirred angry protests from the state's political establishment. For the Panthers, with two of their leaders on ice, it was a time of barely throttled fury.

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