Henri Young seen in court, strategizing with attorneys James MacInnis (left) and Sol Abrams (right).
Henri Young during his famous murder trial.
Senior Correctional Officer Frank Mach is seen holding the murder weapons used by Young to kill Rufus McCain. Young used the thin-bladed knife to inflict the fatal wound.
Roche conceded to Young’s request and appointed two youthful attorneys, former Assistant U.S. Attorney Sol A. Abrams, and James M. MacInnis, a recent graduate of Stanford University Law School. Young’s trial began in April of 1941, making front-page headlines. These two young attorneys would successfully weave a defense strategy which shifted the trial’s focus, presenting Henri not as a cold-blooded killer, but as a victim of the extreme conditions at Alcatraz. MacInnis would argue that Young could not be held responsible for his actions after having served three years and two months in the “most extreme isolation conditions. ” He stated that Young had been driven to slay McCain by an “irresistible impulse,” and that he had become “psychologically unconscious” as a result of his long stretches of inhumane confinement.
The defense team called twenty-two inmates to testify on Young’s behalf. These witnesses would further strengthen Young’s case by listing allegations of horrible abuse and punishment. Among the many inmates to testify for Young were Harold Brest, who would himself attempt to escape from Alcatraz in 1943; Harmon Waley, a well-known inmate who was a principle architect of the famous Weyerhaeuser kidnapping; Burton Phillips, who in 1937 would had viciously attack Warden Johnston in the dining hall on Alcatraz, rendering him unconscious; William Dainard; James Grove; William Dunnock; Carl Hood; and Samuel C. Berlin, who would offer some of the most compelling testimony of all.
Inmate Harold Brest during his transfer to the San Francisco courthouse to testify on behalf of Henri Young. Warden Johnston is standing on the left, and Bureau of Prisons Director James Bennett is on the right.
Inmate Harmon Waley being led to court during the Young trial. Note Alcatraz Correctional Officer Phil Bergen on the right. The inmate on the far left with his head lowered is William Dunnock.
During Harmon Waley’s testimony, the witness claimed that on one occasion he had been severely beaten by guards and thrown into the prison dungeon, simply for asking to be examined by a doctor and given medicine for an illness. Associate Warden Miller testified that Waley had been considered a troublemaker and had spent frequent periods in isolation for his insolent behavior. Inmate James Grove testified that he was driven insane by conditions at Alcatraz, and that he had to be transferred to the Springfield Medical Facility in a straight jacket. Harold Brest said Young had confided to him that “he couldn’t stop himself from doing what he had done,” and he also stated that in his opinion, the confining conditions at Alcatraz had contributed to the murder of McCain. Samuel Berlin claimed that many of the deaths that had occurred on Alcatraz had been the direct result of inmate conditions and treatment, specifically referring to inmate Ed Wutke, who had committed suicide.
Young himself also took the stand, articulately emphasizing his time spent in isolation and the abuse he had suffered at the hands of guards. He alleged ghastly beatings by Associate Warden Miller, claiming to have lost several teeth in the assaults. These allegations proved frivolous, since prison records showed no teeth lost during the period in question, and only one tooth extraction performed at Young’s request in January of 1941. Young would further testify that he had been left to rot in the dark, damp, and moldy dungeon for weeks, without clothing, light, or running water.
William Wesley Dunnock also claimed to have received beatings from Miller, and stated that he was aware of other inmates being abused – once again mentioning Ed Wutke, whom Defense Attorney Abrams later claimed was “driven to suicide” because of his “unbearable treatment” on Alcatraz.
Associate Warden Miller testified that he had never assaulted Young, but that he had ordered him to isolation on several occasions due to his unruly conduct. Several witnesses came to testify on Miller’s behalf, stating that he always maintained Warden Johnston’s policy of proper and fair handling of the inmates. Further testimony was introduced to prove that Johnston had been one of the foremost advocates for inmate rights and rehabilitation. His record as Warden at Folsom and San Quentin supported his record of dedication to helping inmates reform. It was Johnston who had instituted work and educational programs for inmates at San Quentin and he had brought the same curriculum to Alcatraz. When Johnston was called to the stand, he vehemently defended the Alcatraz regimen. Johnston believed in strict but humane reform, later writing: “I believed that every human has some good spot, that I always tried to find that spot, and that I never closed the door of hope on any man.”
Despite favorable evidence supporting Young’s just treatment by Alcatraz personnel, the jury proved sympathetic to the defense and delivered a verdict of “involuntary manslaughter.” The ruling enraged Judge Roche, who sternly voiced his displeasure with the jury’s decision. On May 3, 1941, Henri Young was given the maximum sentence of an additional three years. Henri attempted to show his gratitude to Judge Roche by thanking him for appointing the youthful attorneys. Young was sharply cut off by Roche, who hastily remarked to the prisoner and the court: “I have known Warden Johnston for 30-years. I’ve watched him work. He is a man most respected in this community. I’ve visited San Quentin and Folsom unannounced and found everything in order... Warden Johnston’s work is outstanding. He admits that he made a mistake letting you out of isolation, and letting you go to the prison work shop where you had a chance to murder.” Young listened with a coy smile, and then responded by asking, “That’s a rather perverse attempt to rehabilitate - don’t you think Judge?” Roche nearly rose out of his seat, looking sternly down at Young and stating: “Some men deserve sympathy, but you’re not one of those. You planned a cold and deliberate murder of an unfortunate human being.” Henri Young simply continued to smile.
When the jury requested an investigation of the confinement practices at Alcatraz, Bureau of Prisons Director James V. Bennett released a powerful statement to the press. Many historians consider it as the most revealing commentary on the jury decision in the murder trial of Henri Young:
Statement of James V. Bennett
Director, Federal Bureau of Prisons
May 4, 1941
I am firmly convinced that the jury which tried Henri Young for murder of another inmate in the Alcatraz Penitentiary has been misled about conditions at the prison. It has been impressed by tactics which sought to free Young through disparaging and attacking a public institution performing humanely and intelligently a most difficult task of protecting the public from hardened and unregenerate criminals. Young has been described by former United States Attorney Simpson and Federal Judge Stanley Webster of Spokane, Washington, as "the worst and most dangerous criminal with whom they ever dealt" and as "one who would not hesitate to kill anybody who crossed his path." He has been permitted to go virtually unpunished on the basis of inferences and innuendoes made by inmates whose criminal records and life histories show them to be wholly unreliable and who were able to commit deliberate perjury with impunity since they could not be reached by any effective legal process. From such information as I have about the trial, it is apparent that the Jury had before it no first-hand information or reliable evidence as to the policies or methods followed in the management of the most difficult and desperate group of prisoners ever assembled.