Justice Delayed For Nathson Fields
by Nate Goldbaum

Nathson Fields, his family and supporters learned once again in February that justice delayed is justice denied.

On February 25, when Fields arrived for what was supposed to be the first day of a retrial for a murder he didn't commit, everyone believed he was just days from freedom. Instead, we discovered that prosecutors had made several procedural motions that will extend Nathson's 15-year nightmare for up to a year. As of April, we were still waiting for a decision from an appellate court on the bogus questions raised by the prosecutors.

Nathson was sent to death row by former Judge Thomas Maloney to cover up the judge's corruption racket as the FBI was closing in on him. In February, Fields' lawyers won several procedural motions that prevented the prosecution from smearing Fields with his codefendant's offer of a bribe to Maloney in the original trial or by mentioning Fields' past affiliation with the El Rukn gang. But the prosecutors' appeals of these decisions have set the trial back indefinitely.

The delay tactic devastated Fields' supporters, who had been in good spirits after winning favorable rulings just a few days earlier. Nathson's wife, Jamilah, said that after several such disappointments, she was "going to stop buying balloons" and food for the welcome-home dinner that the couple have long planned.

After the hearing, she told reporters, "It takes so-called justice this long to work, and it's still not working." Nathson's case continues to prove the words of Frederick Douglass: "Without struggle, there is no progress."

The New Abolitionist - May 2000, Issue 15
Campaign To End The Death Penalty, Chicago, IL - www.nodeathpenalty.org