Free Francisco Torres! Free the San Francisco 8!

Activists are rallying and packing the court room each day the trial is held, to keep up the public pressure on this case. They claim that no new evidence really exists to warrant trying them again, and have described in vivid detail pure, unadulterated torture at the hands of New Orleans police during that period.

Earlier this year, Attorney General Jerry Brown dropped charges against Ray Bordreaux, Richard Brown, Hank Jones, and Harold Taylor for insuficient evidence, while Jalil Muntaquim and Herman Bell accepted plea bargains on significantly reduced charges. Francisco Torres turned down his plea bargain offer and maintains his innocence.

Jerry Brown is a target of these actions and, especially given reported Governor ambitions, will hopefully be pressured into backing down and closing out the case forever. Public pressure is mounting. Supervisor Eric Mar was in attendance and interviewed by corporate media. Last week an open letter to Jerry Brown signed by many prominent local, national, and international leaders was published in the Guardian. Hopefully, this will end soon with a good outcome for Mr. Torres. Free the SF 8!