In this interview Robert Treuhaft, local attorney and ally to The Flatlands, gives an update on the latest developments in the case of Luther Smith. Police had executed a no-knock warrant against Smith and, in a case of mistaken identity, had severely beaten him and traumatized his family. Smith had enlisted Treuhaft and fellow Flatlands ally John George to fight back in the legal arena.
On the day of interview, Treuhaft and George had filed charges on behalf of all seven members of the Smith family, as a preliminary measure on the way to seeking damages from the Oakland Police Department, the City of Oakland, and the 30 police officers involved in the raid.
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Treuhaft and his wife Jessica Mitford were fixtures of the radical community in Oakland. Mitford, the daughter of an English peer, had rebelled against her aristocratic background early in life, including a stint embedded with Republican troops during the Spanish Civil War. Emigrating to America in 1939, she married Treuhaft in 1943. Both became members of the American Communist Party until 1958; following their departure, Mitford published several works of memoir and investigative journalism, including The American Way of Death, a nationwide best-selling expose of the funeral industry.
Treuhaft’s legal career, in line with his political beliefs, centered around the defense of targeted groups and marginalized individuals. As a founding partner of Treuhaft, Walker and Burnstein, he provided substantial legal assistance to the poor of Oakland through the Alameda County Legal Aid Society.
Later, the firm would be better known for its role in the criminal defense of Black Panther Party members, and for the 1971 summer internship of a young Hillary Clinton during her years in law school. In addition to his legal advocacy, Treuhaft also ran as a reform candidate in 1966 for Alameda County District Attorney against Frank Coakley, an infamous law-and-order reactionary and opponent of police accountability.