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Nixon was president by then and, prompted by his attorney general, John Mitchell, the U.S.
Attorneys Richard Schultz (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) and Thomas Foran (J.C. Mackenzie) ended up prosecuting the case.
Diminutive and a dapper dresser, Hoffman showed his bias from the start of the protesters trial.
(An appeals court later cited this decision as one of the grounds for reversing the convictions.)
He also denied a defense request to subpoena President Johnson.
He revoked the longtime pacifists bail after he shouted a barnyard vulgarity at a prosecution witness.
That same day, Rubin told Judge Hoffman he was synonymous with Adolf Hitler.
(The contempt charges were overturned on appeal, and Seales conspiracy charges were eventually dropped.)
(Perhaps unsurprisingly, he also forbade the singers from performing their songs on the stand.)
Judge Hoffman dispensed the maximum five-year prison sentence, plus $5,000 in fines.
It appears in remarks and actions both in the presence and absence of the jury.
(Waluss conviction was overturned, and the government never retried him.)
In his last year on the bench, lawyers accused Hoffman of being inconsistent and abusive.
When he refused to retire, he was effectively sidelined by an executive committee and received no new cases.
Until the end, Judge Hoffman was unrepentant about his behavior during the Chicago Seven trial.
I did nothing in the trial that Im not proud of.
I presided with dignity.
When I felt I had to be firm, I was firm.
Upon Hoffmans death, Kunstlerremembered the judgeas a sad figure who had been badly used by the federal government.
But Kunstler also noted that he was kind of a worthy opponent when I wasnt hating him.
