This raised the spectre of Bobby Seale's treatment during the Chicago 7 (8) trial, where Leonard Weinglass had been one of the defense attorneys.
Although the film itself is fictional, many of the elements found within are metaphors of social and political events of the time, such as the trial of the Chicago Seven, the Kent State shootings, police brutality, and political polarisation.
John Froines — Professor in environmental health sciences, former Director of Toxic Substances for Occupational Safety and Health Administration, and member of the Chicago Seven.
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Attorney Leonard Weinglass, who defended Abbie Hoffman in the Chicago Seven trial in the 1960s, utilized the necessity defense, successfully arguing that CIA involvement in Central America and other hotspots was equivalent to trespassing in a burning building.
Thereafter, he drew the proceedings for NBC at major trials around the country, including the Chicago Seven, the Harrisburg Seven, Jack Ruby, James Earl Ray, Clay Shaw, Arthur Bremer, Benjamin Spock, the Gainesville Eight, Billie Sol Estes and most famously the court martial of Lt. William Calley convicted in the My Lai Massacre trial.