Huey P. Newton Trial: 1968 - Jury Disappoints All

The jury's verdict was a disappointment to both sides. Newton was acquitted of assaulting officer Heanes. Instead of convicting Newton on the more serious charge of murder, the jury found him guilty of voluntary manslaughter. Because the jury also decided that Newton was still on felony probation at the time of the shooting, the manslaughter conviction carried an automatic sentence of 2-15 years.

The defense appealed with a new concerted attack on the jury systems and an assortment of misrulings by the judge. On May 29, 1970, the California Court of Appeals reversed Newton's conviction because of Judge Friedman's incomplete instructions to the jury. The judge erred by not giving jurors the option of convicting Newton of involuntary manslaughter, a charge consistent with his claim that he was disoriented and unconscious after Frey shot him.