Stephen Mitchell Bingham was born on April 23,1942 and is an inactive American legal services and civil rights attorney who, after being a fugitive from justice from 1971 to 1984, was tried and acquitted in 1986 for his alleged role in Black Panther George Jackson's attempted escape earlier from San Quentin State Prison in Marin County, California, in 1971.
17 Facts About Stephen Bingham
1.
2.
Stephen Bingham's father was an author, attorney, and activist who was elected to the Connecticut State Senate as a New Deal Democrat in 1940 and served one term; he was the editor and a founder of the left-leaning Common Sense.
3.
Stephen Bingham's grandfather, Hiram Bingham III was a governor and a US Senator from Connecticut as well as the first European to see the ruins of Machu Picchu since the late-16th century conquistador Baltasar de Ocampo.
4.
Stephen Bingham attended Yale University, where he participated on the freshman track and the varsity cross country teams.
5.
Stephen Bingham became involved in politics during his sophomore year, and was reportedly influenced by Allard Lowenstein.
6.
Stephen Bingham was a member of the Yale Young Democrats and the Student Advisor Board, as well as the executive editor of the Yale Daily News.
7.
Stephen Bingham decided to pursue a career in law and attended the University of California, Berkeley School of Law.
8.
Stephen Bingham was admitted to the California bar in January 1970.
9.
Stephen Bingham worked as part of a San Francisco Bay Area group that provided legal help to inmates.
10.
Stephen Bingham was accused of concealing a pistol in a tape recorder and smuggling it to Jackson in San Quentin's Adjustment Center.
11.
Stephen Bingham was reported to have traveled to France at least twice.
12.
In 1974, Stephen Bingham was interviewed for The New York Times in an unknown Canadian city by a law school classmate.
13.
Stephen Bingham claimed that he was framed due to his activism in prison reform.
14.
Stephen Bingham was reported to have "lived quietly in San Jose, California for six months" prior to surrendering.
15.
Stephen Bingham was reported to have retained his "political activism" after the trial.
16.
Stephen Bingham worked at Bay Area Legal Aid in California, where he was a staff attorney in its San Francisco regional office specializing in welfare law issues.
17.
Stephen Bingham became an inactive member of the State Bar of California on January 15,2015.