Dan White, America’s most unwanted man
From
JOHN HUTCHISON
in San Francisco
Nobody wants Dan White for a neighbour. In November, 1978, he crawled through a basement window into the city hall, carrying a loaded pistol and a pocketful of extra ammunition. He was on his way to an appointment with the Mayor, Mr George Moscone, who received him in his private office, alone. There, Dan White, formerly a San Francisco fireman, a policeman, and councillor, shot the Mayor to death, left through a rear door, and ran to the office of Councillor Harvey Milk. He killed Mr Milk, too.
White’s motive: vengeance. He was furious because the Mayor would not reappoint him after he had resigned from the Board of Supervisors (councillors) which governs the city. And he was resentful that Mr Milk, a homosexual, should be a supervisor. White confessed to the murders on tape, after giving himself up. The public outrage was intense, and it was expected that he would be punished by either death or life imprisonment under a law making assassination of a public official a special circumstance mandating such penalty. Instead, a jury found White guilty only of manslaughter, and he was given the maximum sentence permitted for that crime — ’five years in prison. The public consternation erupted
almost instantly into violence unprecedented in San Francisco, with rioting, the burning of dozens of police vehicles and parked cars, and an attack on the City Hall that was repulsed with the use of tear gas. White has served his five years; he was released last month. Officials took him secretly from the prison and soon announced that “he is now somewhere in Los Angeles.” On his release from prison, large but peaceful demonstrations were held in San Francisco, mainly by
the gay population, and many expressions of outrage by the general public, particularly against the law which permitted White’s successful plea that he was of “diminished capacity” to realise what he was doing at the time of the killings. Wherever he lives, he will be unwanted. He is said to have indicated about a year ago that he might take up residence in Eire, where he has distant relatives. No, said the Irish Government; he would not be welcome. A small community in rural California got wind of a rumour that White might settle there; it told him to stay away. A sugges-
tion that he might go to the Southern California city of San Diego drew a prompt, hostile response. The mayor of San Francisco has made it clear that White is not wanted there, and it is generally assumed that his life would be in constant danger if he were to return to San Francisco. White has a wife and children in San Francisco. He was described by his gaolers as a model prisoner who hopes to disappear into society and rebuild his life. Those aspirations seem unreal. His notoriety is flagrant.
In this unforgiving environment, the Dan White story shows signs of becoming an evil legend. A book about him was published on the day he was released. A play, “Oh, Danny Boy,” running in San Francisco now, probes the tensions aroused by the unpopular jury. All this opprobium and rejection suggests that Dan White may be a man in hiding for the rest of his life — a fugitive from the city where he was born and where he was once an elected leader. If, as siseems likely, he can never come oome, and is shunned wherever his deeds are known, then his real sentence may have only just begun.
Dan White, America’s most unwanted man
Press, 10 February 1984, Page 18
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