Click here for Full Issue of Fidelio Volume 3, Number 1, Spring 1994 Political prisoners (leftto right) Laurence Hecht, Pa ul Gallagher, Anita Gallagher, and Donald Phau. had written to the judge to advise him that the sentences were excessive. Judge Weckstein is infamous for his correspondence, during the period the defendants faced trial in his courtroom, with the leadership of the Anti­ Defamation League of B'nai B'rith (ADL). Judge Weckstein allowed prose­ cutor John Russell to introduce only three items of evidence at the hearing, including the introduction to a book published by Executive Intelligence LaRouche Associates Jailed Review, The Ug ly Truth About the ADL, and a press release written by defendant n Nov. 4, 1993, Judge Cliffo rd campaign ran ads identifying a "public Paul Gallagher, to argue that no mercy OWeckstein of the Roanoke (Va.) enemies" list that was headed by should be shown because the fo ur defen­ Circuit Court sent fo ur associates of LaRouche and his associates. dants were members of a "cult." Lyndon LaRouche to prison for sen­ The fo ur political organizers had Instead of rejecting Russell's tences of between 25 and 39 years: been tried and sentenced in Judge improper tactic, Judge Weckstein Donald Phau (25 years), Laurence Weckstein's court in 1990 and 1991 on rewarded him with the comment that Hecht (33 years), Paul Gallagher (34 charges of "securities fraud," after the he, Weckstein, was very fa miliar with years), and Anita Gallagher (39 years). state of Virginia determined retroac­ the views of the defendants' organiza­ Weckstein acted only two days after tively that political loans were "securi­ tion on the ADL, having recently read Virginia voters had resoundingly reject­ ties," making it a fe lony to solicit such two of their books on the subject cover ed fo rmer Virginia Attorney General loans without a broker's license. to cover-The Ug ly Truth and Travesty. Mary Sue Terry's gubernatorial bid. As After a three-hour sentence reduction The latter is the story of the 1992 kid­ Attorney General, Terry had indicted, hearing, Judge Week stein ordered the nap conspiracy plot against LaRouche arrested, and prosecuted a number of Gallaghers, Hecht, and Phau to jail fo r associate and du Pont heir Lewis du associates of Lyndon LaRouche, includ­ decades-despite the fact that thirteen Pont Smith, in which plot the ADL ing the above fo ur. Her gubernatorial members of Virginia's General Assembly played a role. Robinson Honored in Selma when Mrs. Robinson and her first hus­ Robinson enacted by the Selma City band, Samuel W. Boynton, organized Council, the majority of whose mem­ sharecroppers to fightfor fu ndamental bers are white, named Nov. 14 Amelia human rights in poverty-stricken rural Boynton Robinson Day and was read Alabama, a commitment which grew by Bruce Boynton. Helga Zepp­ into her battle in the 1950's and 1960's, LaRouche, fo under of the Schiller alongside Dr. Martin Luther King, J r. Institute internationally, sent a procla­ and the Rev. James Bevel, for voting mation which was read at the event, rights for African-Americans. announcing that the Schiller Institute The program was moderated by Mrs. will celebrate Nov. 14 every year as Robinson's grand-daughter, Carver Amelia Boynton Robinson Day, in Boynton, who is named after Dr. George combination with annual events to Washington Carver of the Tuskegee honor Friedrich Schiller's birthday on Institute, a close fr iend of the Boynton Nov. 10. Zepp-LaRouche noted, "I fa m ily. Sam Walker, the museum's know Schiller would be happy to hear director, welcomed the crowd. that, given that Amelia is the perfect A declaration to honor Mrs. beautiful soul he was writing about." Amelia Boynton Robinson 75 © 1994 Schiller Institute, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission strictly prohibited..