Patricia Swinton

Released
Gender:Female
Race:White
Era:1970s
State:New York
Time Imprisoned:
5 Years
Support
Anti-War Anti-Imperialism
No image available

Biography

Patricia "Pat" Swinton was a New Left radical charged in connection with a wave of bombings of corporate and government buildings in New York City in 1969. Between July and November 1969, eight buildings were bombed by a small group around Sam Melville and Jane Alpert; Melville, Alpert, and David Hughey were arrested in November 1969, but Swinton — who lived under the name "Shoshana" — went underground and remained a fugitive for more than five years.

The FBI captured her on March 12, 1975 at a commune in Vermont. At trial she was acquitted in September 1975. Afterward she said her case illustrated "one of the ways the Government is willing to use its power... to get political dissenters."

Case

Charges: Conspiracy in the 1969 bombings of eight corporate and government buildings in New York City (the Sam Melville–Jane Alpert group).
Arrested: Mar 12, 1975
Sentence: Verdict as recorded: No — acquitted at trial in September 1975. Charges as recorded: Conspiracy in the 1969 bombings of eight corporate and government buildings in New York City (the Sam Melville–Jane Alpert group). Swinton spent more than five years as a fugitive before her March 12, 1975 capture in Vermont. TIME SERVED IS RECORDED AS A FLOOR. The source says more than five years without saying how much more, so 60 months is entered as the least the custody can have been rather than as its length. The record previously counted none of it. TIME SERVED IS RECORDED AS A FLOOR. The source says more than five years without saying how much more, so 60 months is entered as the least the custody can have been rather than as its length. The record previously counted none of it. TIME SERVED IS RECORDED AS A FLOOR. The source says more than five years without saying how much more, so 60 months is entered as the least the custody can have been rather than as its length. The record previously counted none of it.
Convicted: No — acquitted

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