In the late 1960s, eight "New Left" leaders were indicted on conspiracy and incitement to riot charges stemming from their participation in a demonstration against the Vietnam War held near the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago. The trial lasted nearly five months, and five defendants were sentenced to prison. Two others were acquitted, but an eighth, Bobby Seale (co-founder of Black Panther), was disqualified from participating during the trial. The trial and the events leading up to it were dramatized in the new Netflix film "The Trial of the Chicago Seven" (opens in new tab).

Much of the film focuses on the infuriating treatment of left-leaning protesters by establishment forces like the police, courts, and executive branch, which is all the more infuriating because it still resembles America in 2020 (opens in new tab).

Of course, not even Aaron "Walk and Talk" Sorkin could fit all the details of the trial and the lives of several defendants into a two-hour film.

After more than six months of grand jury deliberations, the group initially nicknamed the Chicago Eight (Lenny Davis, David Dellinger, John Froines, Tom Hayden, Abby Hoffman, Jerry Rubin, Bobby Seale, and Lee Weiner), who had been sentenced on several federal charges related to the 1968 demonstrations. All but Freunes and Weiner were charged with crossing state lines to incite a riot, and these two were charged with directing others to manufacture and use incendiary devices. In addition, all eight, and 16 others who were not ultimately indicted, were charged with conspiracy to incite a riot, to teach others to manufacture incendiary devices, and to interfere with a law enforcement officer in the performance of his duties.

That's right. Indeed, in The Trial of the Chicago Seven, shortly after Judge Julius Hoffman ordered Schiele restrained, gagged, and chained to a courtroom chair, Schiele is shown being cut off from the trial, when, in fact, Schiele was forced to appear in this manner for several days before his involvement in the case was declared a mistrial (opens in new tab). Hoffman also ignored the fact that Schiele's attorney was unable to attend the trial due to an emergency illness and refused Schiele's request to represent him. Seale, who was ultimately recused from the trial, was charged by the judge with 16 counts of contempt of court and sentenced to four years in prison.

Beyond the racist and unconstitutional treatment of Seal during the trial, his involvement in the case was a travesty to begin with, as he had no involvement in the planning of the protests, as shown in the film.

In the film, the defendants are adamant that the charges are not in pursuit of justice, but as a way for the Nixon administration to symbolically push back against the counterculture and the New Left movement in what they call a "political trial." Their accusations were true: Lyndon B. Johnson's Attorney General Ramsey Clark discouraged the grand jury from charging the original eight defendants after an investigation found that the violence at the demonstrations was caused primarily by Chicago police, but Nixon and his Attorney General, John Mitchell took office in early 1969, the indictments were passed.

The government-leaning bias of the trial is also evident in Judge Hoffman's actions (open in new tab). In addition to his racist treatment of Seal, the judge prevented the jury from hearing key testimony from former Attorney General Ramsey Clark and activist Ralph Abernathy, and refused to allow the jury to see some evidence supporting the defendants, including documents in which Hayden and Davis expressed the nonviolent goals of their demonstration. Hoffman also severely limited the defense's questioning of Chicago Mayor Richard Daley.

On top of that, the judge charged the defendants and their lawyers with contempt of court to an unprecedented degree, but that was after oral arguments were over, not during the trial as in the movie. In all, Hoffman handed down 159 contempt of court charges, many of which were handed down for innocent instances of laughter and sarcasm, and the defendants were sentenced to additional prison time ranging from months to years.

After a months-long trial, the remaining seven defendants were acquitted of the conspiracy charges, but all but Freunes and Weiner were found guilty of crossing state lines for the purpose of inciting a riot. They were each fined $5,000 and sentenced to five years in prison.

However, in May 1972, almost two years after the trial ended, all contempt charges were thrown out by the Court of Appeals (open in new tab), and all riot incitement convictions were later overturned because of the judge's "contemptuous and often antagonistic attitude toward the defense."

After the trial, most of the defendants continued their left-wing organizing and activism. For example, Jerry Rubin and Abby Hoffman, co-founders of the Youth International Party, reunited for a joint speaking tour in the 1980s (after Hoffman went into hiding for several years on drug charges); Tom Hayden ran several successful campaigns to become a California Assembly and Senate successfully on multiple occasions (and, interestingly, was married to Jane Fonda from 1973 to 1990).