Remembering The Trial Of The Chicago 7
'Courtroom Circus' Began 30 Years Ago This Week

CHICAGO, Posted 3:20 p.m. September 19, 1999

Defense attorneys were thrown in jail. One defendant was chained and gagged while others pranced through the courthouse in judicial robes, praising sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll. Beat poet Allen Ginsburg bellowed "Hare Krishna" from the witness stand.

If ever a modern American trial deserved to be called a circus, it was the case of the "Chicago Seven" -- seven Vietnam War protest leaders charged with conspiring to start a riot during the 1968 Democratic National Convention

The defense tried to educate jurors about the "Woodstock Nation." Ginsberg loudly demonstrated the Hare Krishna chanting that he used to calm thousands of young people on the first night of the convention.