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In the Federal Building jury room and then in the Palmer House hotel, the jury of ten women and two men argued and horse-traded for four days before reaching a verdict on the charges against the Chicago Seven—which were that they had conspired to incite a riot during the 1968 convention, and that they had individually crossed state lines with intent to foment a riot. In the long days of the trial, the jurors—ordinary Americans perplexed by the impassioned pleas and portentous issues set before them—had almost become forgotten people. At first a majority of eight, including the two men, favored convicting all of the defendants of both conspiracy and the individual charges; three women insisted on complete acquittal, one vacillated between the two camps. Agreement was finally reached late at night, with each faction holed up in a separate hotel room, through the mediating efforts of one of the majority—the youngest juror, Kay Richards, 23, a computer operator.
"Feelings were so high, with the two groups against each other, we just didn't feel at ease in there in the jury room together," Miss Richards said later. By her account, "three women thought the law the defendants were indicted under was unconstitutional." That is a question for an appeals court, she explained to them, not for the jury. "So we agreed we should not be a hung jury. We decided to compromise, and it was just a question of how to compromise." Said another juror, Mrs. Ruth Petersen, 44, who favored conviction on both counts for all and admitted that there was not one of the defendants she really liked: "Half a chicken is better than none at all. We were all anxious to go home." Jurors are often moved by just such sentiments, but they rarely confess it so bluntly.
Finally, the jury reached a verdict. For all seven defendants, on the conspiracy counts of the indictment: not guilty. For five of them—Dellinger, Rennie Davis, Tom Hayden, Abbie Hoffman and Jerry Rubin—on the count that they had crossed state lines and acted individually to encourage a riot: guilty as charged. The other two defendants, John Froines and Lee Weiner, were acquitted on the second count as well.
Jail Terms. Before sentencing the five convicted men Judge Hoffman sat back in his deep chair and let them make statements free from interruption. Dellinger: "Like George III, you are trying to hold back the tide of history, you are trying to hold back a second American revolution." Abbie Hoffman: "I'm an outlaw. I always knew free speech wasn't allowed in present-day America." Hayden: "They were bound to put us away." Rubin: "This is the happiest moment of my life." Davis: "My jury will be in the streets tomorrow all over the country." Defense Attorney Kunstler protested that Judge Hoffman was "wrong legally and morally" to sentence the defendants only two days after the verdict. "To say I am morally wrong," Hoffman replied, "can only add to your present troubles."