1. Joseph Tony Serra was born on December 30,1934 and is an American criminal defense and civil rights attorney, political activist and tax resister from San Francisco.
14 Facts About Tony Serra
1. 2.
Tony Serra's father, Anthony Serra, was a Spanish immigrant from Mallorca who worked in a jelly bean factory, and his mother, Gladys Serra was a Russian Jewish immigrant from Odessa; she died by suicide in 1977.
3.
Tony Serra earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Philosophy from Stanford University and a Juris Doctor degree from Boalt Hall at the University of California, Berkeley.
4.
In 1970, Tony Serra successfully defended Black Panther leader Huey Newton in a murder trial.
5.
In 1983, Tony Serra won an acquittal for Chol Soo Lee, a Korean American immigrant in San Francisco who had been convicted of murder in 1973, and sentenced to life imprisonment.
6.
Tony Serra has represented individuals from groups as diverse and politically-charged as the White Panthers, Hells Angels, Good Earth and New World Liberation Front.
7.
In 2003, Tony Serra was awarded the Trial Lawyer of the Year award by the organization Trial Lawyers for Public Justice for his successful litigation of Judi Bari against the FBI.
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Judi Bari 8.
In 2004, Tony Serra won an acquittal during a retrial on murder charges for co-defendant Rick Tabish in the death of casino mogul Ted Binion.
9.
Tony Serra has been in trouble with the law several times for failure to pay income taxes.
10.
Tony Serra refused to pay taxes in protest of the War in Iraq based on his conviction that the Bush administration was leading the country in the wrong direction and that he would, therefore, not contribute any money to fund what he saw as Bush's corrupt politics.
11.
Tony Serra was released from the federal camp in February 2007, reporting immediately to a San Francisco halfway house.
12.
Tony Serra was released from federal custody, and the halfway house, on March 13,2007, after finishing his sentence.
13.
Tony Serra has taken a vow of poverty and is known for living a frugal lifestyle and driving a run-down car.
14.
Tony Serra has five children with Mary Edna Dineen: Shelter, Ivory, Chime Day, Wonder Fortune and Lilac Bright.