Bitter Legacy

A mayor's killer may be freed

The brutal murders of San Francisco Mayor George Moscone, 49, and Supervisor Harvey Milk, 48, in their city hall offices almost five years ago set in motion events that are still unfolding. Moscone's death resurrected the then fading political career of Dianne Feinstein, who as president of the board of supervisors automatically succeeded him as mayor. She later won election in her own right. Milk, the self-styled "mayor of Castro Street" (the center of San Francisco's major homosexual district), became a martyred pioneer of gay politics and a recognized trail blazer of the out-of-the-closet activism that is now both a force and a fashion in the city. Another legacy of the killings: a possible parole for Daniel James White, 37, the former city supervisor who murdered Moscone and Milk. During White's controversial 1979 trial, his attorney pursued the so-called Twinkies defense, arguing that White committed his crimes in a "diminished mental capacity" caused in part by eating too much junk food. A lenient jury bought the line and produced a verdict of voluntary manslaughter rather than murder. Under California's determinant sentencing law, that judgment carried a maximum term of seven years and eight months. With time off for good behavior, that makes White eligible for parole from Soledad prison beginning next Jan. 6, after he will have served five years.

Even that eligibility seems criminal to the many San Franciscans still outraged by what they believe to be a ludicrously light sentence. The only legal alternative for them may rest with the U.S. Justice Department. Attorney John Eshelman Wahl, who represents Milk's estate, is urging a new trial for White on the charge of violating federal civil rights laws. The sentence could be life imprisonment. The board of supervisors and Feinstein have endorsed Wahl's proposal. Said Feinstein recently: "The wounds are still very, very fresh." Harry Britt, the man named in 1978 to fill Milk's vacant seat on the board and like Milk a gay activist, said, "The legal system broke down in San Francisco. The federal law is designed to deal with situations where local law enforcement failed on a question of basic values." But Deputy Mayor Rotea Gilford opposes the idea. Said he: "Dan White was tried. A number of people disagree with the result of the trial. But that's our system. What good does it do to rehash it?" The Justice Department is weighing the matter and may come to a decision this month. -