Jonathan Peter Jackson, was a revolutionary who died of gunshot wounds suffered during his armed invasion of a California courthouse. At age 17, Jackson stormed the Marin County Courthose with automatic weapons, kidnapping Superior Court Judge Harold Haley, prosecutor Gary Thomas, and three jurors. Escaping with the hostages, Jackson demanded the Soledad Brothers' immediate release from prison. The Soledad Brothers, a group of African American inmates facing charges for allegedly throwing a white prison guard to his death at San Quentin, included Jackson's elder brother George Jackson. None of the Soledad defendants were at the courthouse on the day of the attack. In an ensuing shootout, Jackson and Judge Haley were killed, along with two inmates already in the courtroom, who had readily joined the attack; prosecutor Thomas was paralyzed and one juror was seriously injured. The guns that Jackson used were registered to political activistAngela Davis, who previously formed a committee supporting the Soledad Brothers. Davis stood trial for alleged involvement in the kidnapping and was acquitted of all charges in June 1972.
includes passages in his 1971 book, Blood in My Eye, which he attributes to his brother Jonathan. These passages figure prominently in the development of the elder Jackson's theory of revolutionary praxis. Jackson had occasionally worked as a bodyguard for political activist and Black Panther member Angela Davis. Davis would later endorse the "spirit" of Jackson.
On August 7, 1970, Jackson brought a satchel containing three automatic firearms, registered to Davis, into the Marin County Hall of Justice, where Judge Haley was presiding over the trial of San Quentin inmate James McClain. Once inside Judge Haley's courtroom, Jackson drew an automatic gun, and, aided by McClain and Black Panther inmates Ruchell Cinque Magee and William Arthur Christmas, took Judge Haley as well as Deputy District Attorney Gary Thomas and three female jurors hostage. Jackson and the other kidnappers bound the hostages with piano wire and used psychological torture to enforce compliance. The militants proudly encouraged responding journalists to document their actions as they loaded the hostages into a rented van, with the intent of transporting them to a nearby radio station where they would demand that the Soledad Brothers be released, contrary to their lawful detainment under court order. Responding police fired on the van that Jackson was driving in an attempt to end the attack. During the shootout, Jonathan Jackson, Christmas, McClain, and Judge Haley were killed, while Magee and Deputy District Attorney Thomas were seriously injured. Jackson's son, Jonathan Jackson Jr., was born eight and a half months after his father's death. A monument on the premises to Judge Haley was the target of a follow-up attack perpetrated by the Weather Underground terrorist network in October of the same year.
