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NEW BETHEL ACQUITTALS
New Bethel Acquittals

In the trials that followed the New Bethel Incident, the RNA members charged in the shooting were ultimately acquitted. Clarence Fuller and Alfred 2X Hibbitt were tried for the killing of the officer, and the juries declined to convict.

The acquittals were a significant setback for the authorities and a vindication for the RNA, which argued that its members had acted in self-defense against a police assault. But the episode also marked the RNA as a target for sustained surveillance and repression by both local police and the FBI.