was no time to be lost. When I evaluated his case it was apparent that the attorney who had defended him had failed to present certain aspects of the case to the jury. This omission had cost Mike his freedom and indicated a lack of specific knowledge and experience on the part of counsel. So I went to work and promised Mike that my friends and I would launch a ceaseless effort to get him off the hook.

Certain organized avenues of aid were shut off because a key person was away in New York. Other key personnel would not take it upon themselves to back up Mike's case until their top man would return.

If the injustice and its consequences were to be rectified, I was obliged to take immediate action by any means left open to me personally. Accordingly, I got my own attorney out of bed tho I had no idea that he would be willing or for that matter experienced to take on a case of this nature.

To my everlasting relief I learned that he did and would. We called a conference, decided to call in a specialist as a consultant counsellor and went before the Judges with Mike that Monday.

The Judge, an eminently fair, unprejudiced man, listened to the plea of Mike's new counsellors and granted time to prepare a case for retrial April 1st.

In the meantime a transcript of the previous trial had to be ordered. The two capable attorneys then launched their debate which lasted more than two hours. As a result, the Court set aside the first charge on the grounds of insufficient evidence. The second charge stemming from the first was sustained as a matter or jurisprudence and sentence was suspended.

Thus Mike was not required to register as a sex deviate (under Calif. law this would have been mandatory) and since he had been exonerated of violating a Calif. Statute no McCarran Act deportation was invoked.

At this point we could have taken it to the Appellate Court, have re-tried the case on the second charge and won complete exoneration. It would then have been my intention to impeach the accusing officer on the grounds of perjured testimony and thus inject a restraining force on the rampant persecution practiced by police entrapment. I regret to say that sufficient funds were hard to raise and since the judgment would have to be appealed within two days we decided to rest our case.

This is an outstanding example where a great wrong could be rectified by an organization with the right sort of administration and having a constant fund of sizeable proportion.

At any rate I am happy to say that I, as an individual, was able to interest some few supporters who gave financial aid and that we, American citizens, thus gave evidence that Mike's troubles were regarded as our own.

GEORGE HENRY MORTENSON

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