Editing Huey P. Newton (section)

===Fatal shooting of John Frey===
Newton had been convicted of assault with a deadly weapon for repeatedly stabbing another man, Odell Lee, with a steak knife in mid-1964. He served six months in prison.<ref name="Pearson 1994">{{cite book|last1=Pearson|first1=Hugh|title=The Shadow of the Panther: Huey Newton and the Price of Black Power in America|publisher=Da Capo Press|isbn=978-0201483413|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BJT_n7Xl6JwC&q=shadow%20of%20the%20panther%20frey&pg=PA145|language=en|ref={{harvid|Pearson|1994}}|date=1995}}{{Dead link|date=August 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>{{sfn|Pearson|1994|p=68}} By October 27–28, 1967, he was out celebrating the release from his probationary period. Going to get take-out food just before dawn on October 28, Newton and a friend were pulled over by Oakland Police Department officer John Frey because the car he was in was listed by the Oakland Police as being associated with the Black Panthers.{{cn|date=March 2025}} Realizing who Newton was, Frey called for backup. After fellow officer Herbert Heanes arrived, shots were fired, and all three were wounded.{{sfn|Pearson|1994|pp=145–147}}

Heanes testified that the shooting began after Newton was under arrest, and one witness testified that Newton shot Frey with Frey's own gun as they wrestled.<ref>{{cite journal | title = Witness Says Newton Shot Policeman | journal = The New York Times | date = August 8, 1968}}</ref><ref name=state>{{cite journal | title = State Opens Case of Black Panther | journal = The New York Times | date = August 6, 1968}}</ref> No gun on either Frey or Newton was found.<ref name=state/> Newton stated that Frey shot him first, which made him lose consciousness during the incident.<ref>{{cite book | last1=Newton | first1=Huey P. | first2=David| last2= Hilliard| first3= Donald | last3= Weise | title=The Huey P. Newton Reader | url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9781583224670 | url-access=registration | year=2002 | isbn= 978-1583224670 | chapter = 'Crisis: October 28, 1967' and 'Trial'| publisher=Seven Stories Press }}</ref> Frey was shot four times and died within the hour, while Heanes was left in serious condition with three bullet wounds. Black Panther [[David Hilliard]] took Newton to Oakland's Kaiser Hospital, where he was admitted with a bullet wound to the abdomen. Newton was soon handcuffed to his bed and arrested for Frey's killing.<ref name="Hillard, David 2006">{{cite book | last = Hillard | first = David | title = Huey: Spirit of the Panther | year = 2006 | publisher = Thunder's Mouth Press }}</ref> A doctor, Thomas Finch, and nurse, Corrine Leonard, attended to Newton when he arrived at the hospital, and Finch stated that Newton was "agitated" when asking for treatment and that Newton was given a tranquilizer to calm him.<ref>{{cite news| url= https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1798&dat=19680813&id=XAwfAAAAIBAJ&pg=6152,1734195 | title= Witness in Black Panther Trial Pleads Memory Loss | work= [[Sarasota Journal]]| agency= [[Associated Press]] | date= August 14, 1968| access-date= October 30, 2017| page= 2| via= Google News Archive}}</ref>

Newton was convicted in September 1968 of [[voluntary manslaughter]] for the killing of Frey and was sentenced to 2 to 15 years in prison. In May 1970, the California Appellate Court reversed the conviction and ordered a new trial. After two subsequent trials ended in hung juries, the district attorney said he would not pursue a fourth trial, and the Alameda County Superior Court dismissed the charges.<ref>{{cite web | url= https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=3egbAAAAIBAJ&pg=4755%2C3864335 | title=Case Against Newton Dropped | website= The Dispatch| place= Lexington, North Carolina| agency= United Press International | access-date=August 5, 2012 | date= December 15, 1971}}</ref> In his autobiography, ''Revolutionary Suicide'', Newton wrote that Heanes and Frey were opposite each other and shooting in each other's direction during the shootout.
{{external media| float = right| video1 = [https://www.c-span.org/video/?59241-1/the-shadow-panther ''Booknotes'' interview with Hugh Pearson'' on ''The Shadow of the Panther", August 21, 1994], [[C-SPAN]]}}
Hugh Pearson, in his book ''Shadow of the Panther'', writes that Newton, while intoxicated, boasted about having willfully killed Frey.{{sfn|Pearson|1994|pp=7, 221}}