COURT DISMISSES MURDER CHARGES AGAINST ACTIVIST

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000605700104-0
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 2, 2010
• Sequence Number: 104
• Publication Date: February 23, 1984
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/09/02 : CIA-RDP90-00552R000605700104-0
UNITED PRESS INTERNATIONAL
23 February 1984
DETROIT
COURT DISMISSES MURDER CHARGES AGAINST ACTIVIST
BY MONA MEGALLI
In granting a motion by the prosecution, a federal court for the second time
dismissed first degree murder charges against political activist Darnell Summers
in the 1968 shooting of an undercover Michigan State trooper.
Wayne County, Prosecutor John O'Hair said Wednesday there was ''no factual,
legal or ethical justification for proceeding with this case.''
Eric Seitz, Summers attorney, said Wayne County Circuit Judge Joseph.E,.
Sullivan ruled to dismiss charges due to lack of evidence.
"It is an enormous victory, " Seitz said. ''We have been contending all
along they did not have enough evidence."
Charges against Summers, 36, in the killing of trooper Robert Gonser, who was
shot in his car in Inkster, Mich., Aug. 8., 1968, were dismissed in 1969 because
the state's sole witness, Milford Scott retracted his testimony.
"I have been under investigation by several agencies: the FBI, the CIA,
Military Intelli e , etc, for the past 15 years and the surveillance shows I
i not have anything to do with it (the murder.), Summers said Wednesday.
Summers, a musician, left the United State in the mid 705 and continued his
political activities in West Germany, preaching a revolutionary ideology among
Americans GIs stationed there. He formed two Jazz bands, Afrodesia and The
Criminals.
The case was resurrected in 1982 and Summers was extradicted in July 1982.
Seitz said the judge dismissed the case without prejudice, meaning charges
could be filed for the third time. He said Summers would appeal to have the case
dropped for good.
Seitz said Sullivan was to rule on several defense motions Wednesday seeking
dismissal of the case because the prosecution refused to turn over evidence
gathered by federal and state authorities at the time of the murder.
He said Gonser, along with the Detroit Police Department, the FBI and other
agencies had been investigating Summers.
"Reports would have shown where he (Summers) was the time Gonser was killed.
They probably have evidence of prove he was innocent.''
Summers, if convicted, would have faced a life sentence without possibility
of parole.
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/09/02 : CIA-RDP90-00552R000605700104-0