KTLA News: "Reaction to Dan White verdict" (1979)

A new standard of justice has been set with Dan White. Will all black persons in America... Will all Spanish-speaking persons... Will all poor whites from here on receive the same tender concern? The same leniency? I think not. And so I think that the White verdict is making a lot of anger and rage, not only among us, we gay folk, but among society at large. Here in Los Angeles, people are calling to say that they are angry, are confused, are, are searching for direction. And so I think it's the last that we need to talk about. Yes. Where do we go from here? And where does society go from here? If the new standard of justice applied to Dan White applies to all assassins of public officials, then I think that every public official in America tonight will go to bed feeling very uneasy. [no audio] [Tony Valdez:] Morris, what's the feeling today now that Dan White has been officially sentenced to seven years and eight months? [Morris Kight:] A good deal of anger and a good deal of confusion. I think the anger stems from the fact that he and his attorney said that he killed Mayor Moscone and Supervisor Milk. That usually calls for a fairly stiff sentence. And so the fact that he got an exceedingly small one, seven years, but it'll be a lot less than that, that causes some anger. Also causes some concern and that we're concerned about larger issues. And today we're having to rethink who we are. [Valdez:] What is the feeling, looking at the homosexual community in San Francisco, it being a rather large one and seeing this light sentence? [Kight:] Well, again, there's the, the contradiction. Is that Supervisor White advocated Senator Briggs' death penalty initiative, initiative Proposition seven. Advocated it. All other members of the Board of Supervisors opposed it. So here is an opponent of it, Supervisor Milk, dead, and a proponent, Supervisor White, very much alive, and going to prison for a short term. Seems like a terrible contradiction. Also, it's contradictory that there are people in prison all over the country for ever so much less. [Valdez:] Yeah, do you see the White verdict as being a ripple in perhaps a wave, a new wave of conservatism that might be sweeping the country? [Kight:] Yes, that's possible But I think that there is not a new wave of conservatism sweeping the country. It's just that the organized part of society seems conservative. But now, 70% of people in this country who could be voting, who could be registered to vote, are not even registered. They've dropped out. They no longer find that this government of the system speaks to them. So if they were back in the political processes, perhaps we would have a different milieu. As for conservatism, you have to admit that the sentence that Dan White got was quite liberal if down not - down not radical. 'Cause it isn't much of a sentence, is it? He would serve it in three years, you know. [Valdez:] Yeah, the comparison has been drawn between this case and Sara Jane Moore, who was put in prison for life for attempting to shoot President Ford. [Kight:] Yes, ever so much less. And again here, she was a poor white woman. And there is a different standard of justice in our society for poor persons and, and, and members of, of any minority and poor whites are a minority. It's a different standard of justice than for other people. And everyone who's serving time in prison, I think, has the right to ask, "Will our case be re-evaluated and we receive the same standard of justice that Dan White got?" [Valdez:] What about charges that the prosecution really didn't push for a first-degree conviction? [Kight:] Yes, I think they did a very bad job. For one thing, the jury was not a jury representative of the population of San Francisco County. Whole populations, including all gay people were expunged from the jury. So the selection of the jury was mistake number one. And the lack of vigor and the prosecution was number two. However, I don't want to be hypocritical. I'm, I'm opposed to the death penalty. So I don't think Dan White or anyone else should be on death row. I think there are too many prisons. There should be fewer. But I also don't want to be impractical. Whatever it is that Dan White's getting, everybody else should be getting the same thing. You can't have two standards of justice, if you have a really equitable society. I think it's confusing and I'm confused because my own values are up for consideration today. I oppose the death penalty. I oppose the proliferation of prisons. I think people in them should be systematically retrained, resocialized and then removed from them. And does that apply to him? [Valdez:] Do you see another outbreak of violence? [Kight:] I hope not. I think that the events of May 21 in San Francisco in which there was a good deal of street demonstration, I think perhaps that was cathartic and therapeutic. I don't see that happening, but we'll see, won't we, tonight and tomorrow night - in San Francisco occurs. And killing Council Members and in killing legislators, if that's going to call for a very low sentence, then there will be a field day on them. And I hope that doesn't happen, because some of the most creative people in our society are democratically elected officials. I hope that they are not now sitting ducks for every crazy person who thinks that he/she can cure society by killing who they imagine is their, the problem.