page_title: Lolita Lebrón
section_title: Trial and imprisonment
hierarchical_section_title: Lolita Lebrón / Assault on the House of Representatives / Trial and imprisonment
caption_attribution_description: English: Image of Lolita Lebrón's 1954 arrest at the Congress, Washington D.C. Moved from English Wikipedia. Lolita Lebron, Puerto Rican nationalist leader, being led to police car by two police officers following her arrest in the shooting of five congressmen in the House of Representatives.
context_page_description: Lolita Lebrón was a Puerto Rican nationalist who was convicted of attempted murder and other crimes after carrying out an armed attack on the United States Capitol in 1954, which resulted in the wounding of five members of the United States Congress. She was released from prison in 1979 after being granted clemency by President Jimmy Carter. Lebrón was born and raised in Lares, Puerto Rico, where she joined the Puerto Rican Liberal Party. In her youth she met Francisco Matos Paoli, a Puerto Rican poet, with whom she had a relationship. In 1941, Lebrón migrated to New York City, where she joined the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party, gaining influence within the party's leadership.
  In the early 1950s, the Nationalist Party began a series of revolutionary actions, including the 1950 Jayuya Uprising against American presence on the island. They conducted these attacks to protest what they considered to be false and misleading claims by the United States government and Luis Muñoz Marín that Puerto Rico would no longer be dominated by the United States.
context_section_description: Lebrón and her comrades were charged with attempted murder and other crimes. She was imprisoned in the Federal Correctional Institution for Women in Alderson, West Virginia. The trial began on June 4, 1954, with judge Alexander Holtzoff presiding over the case, under strict security measures. A jury composed of seven men and five women was assembled, their identities kept secret from the media. 
   
  The prosecution was led by Leo A. Rover, as part of this process 33 witnesses testified. Ruth Mary Reynolds, the "American/Puerto Rican Nationalist" and the organization which she founded "American League for Puerto Rico's Independence" came to the defense of Lebrón and the three other Nationalists. Lebrón and the other members of the group were the only defense witnesses, as part of her testimony she reaffirmed that they "came to die for the liberty of her homeland". As part of her 20-minute speech to the jury at her trial, Lebrón stated that she was "being crucified for the freedom of my country."
  During the early part of their trial she remained calm, complaining through her lawyers alleged disrespect for the flag while it was being produced as evidence. She loudly protested when the defense suggested that the group might have suffered from mental instability while committing the deed. On June 16, 1954, the jury found all four defendants guilty. On the morning of July 8, 1954, Lebrón learned of her son's death minutes before the sentence was to be announced. She was quiet at the beginning of the hearing, but at one point, unable to contain herself, she became hysterical. Rover demanded the death penalty, but Holtzoff chose to sentence them to the longest terms of imprisonment possible. In Lebrón's case this was between sixteen and fifty years, depending on her behavior.
  Back at the prison, she went into shock upon receiving official notice of her son's death and did not speak for three days. On July 13, 1954, the four nationalists were taken to New York, where they pleaded not guilty to the charges of "trying to overthrow the government of the United States". One of the witnesses for the prosecution was Gonzalo Lebrón Jr., who testified against his sister. On October 26, 1954, judge Lawrence E. Walsh found all the defendants guilty of conspiracy and sentenced them to six additional years in prison.
  Lebrón has stated that the first two years in prison were the most difficult, having to deal with the deaths of her son and mother. Communication with her siblings was non-existent. Lebrón refused to accept letters from her sister because only letters written in English were permitted in the prison. Communication with the outside world was not allowed then. Later it was granted  after several inmates went on a hunger strike that lasted three and a half days. Due to her participation, Lebrón was not allowed to perform work outside of her cell for some time, although she was eventually allowed to work at the infirmary. While in prison, a group of judges offered her parole in exchange for a public apology, which she indignantly rejected.
  After completing the first 15 years of the sentence, Lebrón's social worker told her that she could ask for parole, but she did not display interest in the proposal, never signing the required documentation. Due to this lack of interest, she was mandated to attend a meeting before a penitentiary committee, where she presented a written deposition expressing her position about the parole proposal, as well as other subjects including terrorism, politics, and the United States' use of the atomic bomb. Following this, the other inmates reacted with skepticism over her intentions to refuse the offer, which made her distance herself from them, and focus her attention in studying, as well as writing poetry. During this timeframe, Lebrón's interest in religion grew. Lebrón's daughter Gladys died in 1977, while her mother was in prison.
caption: Lebrón being led by police officers following her arrest
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