The Camden 28

PBS Premiere: Sept. 11, 2007Check the broadcast schedule »

Film Update

Part 2: Jayma Abdoo

After the Camden 28 trial, Jayma Abdoo was a legal worker for Kairys, Rudovsky & Maguigan in Philadelphia for nine years, focusing largely on police abuse. She returned to school, to earn a bachelor's degree from the Columbia University School of General Studies and a master's degree in history at the College of William and Mary. Since 1992, she had worked at Barnard College.

Jayma died in 2006.

Terry Buckalew

Since the acquittal of the Camden 28, Terry Buckalew says he has "had a rich life ... with several interesting jobs and a wonderful family that I relish." Terry has worked with sexually abused children and their offenders, was the director of an outpatient mental health agency, and was a fund-raiser for nonprofit organizations. He earned his master's degree in adult education from Penn State University, and he is also a proud grandfather.

Paul Couming

Paul Couming lives in Minneapolis with his two children and their mom, artist Tina Nemetz. He received his nursing degree in 1979; he has a bachelor's degree in history as well. He works as an OR nurse at the Twin Cities Trauma Center.

Howard Zinn

Historian Howard Zinn testified at the trial of the Camden 28, and joined them in the same Camden courtroom for the reunion in 2002.

Anne Dunham and Frank Pommersheim

Anne Dunham and Frank Pommersheim were married several months before the Camden trial began. After the trial, they moved to the Rosebud Indian Reservation in South Dakota, where they lived and worked for 10 years. They now live in Vermillion, South Dakota, and have three children.

Frank is a professor at the University of South Dakota Law School, specializing in Indian law and criminal law. He serves as a judge for several tribal courts of appeal and has written extensively on tribal legal issues. Frank has also published three books of poetry and coaches seventh-grade girls basketball.

Anne is currently the librarian at Vermillion Middle School. She has also worked as a trainer in conflict resolution, peer mediation and bias awareness, and she performs as a storyteller.

Peter Fordi

After the Camden 28 trial, Peter Fordi became education director for NCCJL, an alternative-to-prison project that trained convicted felons in the building trades and as automobile technicians. In 1978, he moved to California, where he worked as an FAA-certified aircraft and power plant mechanic and as an aircraft electronics (avionics) technician. In 1986, he was suspended from the Society of Jesus. In 1987, he began teaching avionics at Northrop University and later, at its successor school, Westwood College. Peter retired in February 2002.

Keith Forsyth

Keith Forsyth remained active in the movement against the Vietnam War until the war ended in 1975 and continued to participate in movements for social justice until the early 1980s. Then Keith went back to college, started a family with his wife, Susan, collected degrees in physics and electrical engineering, and completed his transformation from the "best lock-picker in the peace movement to the best optical engineer ever produced by the state of Ohio." Today Keith does product development for an optical communications company.

John Grady:

After the Camden 28 trial, John Grady lived for three years in Ithaca, New York, where he taught sociology. He then spent time in Camden and in the Bronx, but returned to Ithaca in 1993. John lived there with his five children and fourteen grandchildren.

John died in 2002.

Ed McGowan:

After the Camden 28 trial, Ed McGowan worked with Religious for Justice and Peace, advocating Native American rights in the United States and Irish Catholic rights in Northern Ireland. In 1974, he started a one-man lobby called Project Reconcile in Washington, D.C., on behalf of Unconditional Amnesty for Resisters. He lived in California, then returned to New York State, where he taught college for more than a dozen years. He co-founded an Irish theater group in 1979, which is still ongoing. In 1980, he took up playing the fiddle again, after not having played for 30 years, and he has played in three bands since then.

Lianne Moccia:

Lianne Moccia lives in Lebanon, New Hampshire, with her husband and their two children. She works as a sign language interpreter and interpreter educator throughout New England. In addition, Lianne plants and maintains her garden, growing organic vegetables and flowers every year.

Ned Murphy:

After the Camden 28 trial, Ned Murphy moved to Baltimore for three years, then moved to New York City. In August of 1978, he began sharing his home with the street children of New York. They moved into a house in the Bronx, and over the years, it has been home to 62 young men. From that home, they began a soup kitchen in 1982 in a rented storefront on Fordham Road in the Bronx. They called the organization P.O.T.S. (Part of the Solution). More than 20 years later, the organization has expanded into two buildings and offers a variety of services.

Ro Reilly:

After the Camden 28 trial, Ro Reilly continued to be active in a range of activities, with a focus on Latin America. In the late 1970s, she became active in movements for a third U.S. political party. After the birth of her daughter, she directed his energies locally. She has worked on a wide range of public school reform issues, including funding equity for the urban school districts and curriculum and scheduling reform. She lives in the New York area.

Kathleen M. Ridolfi

Kathleen Ridolfi lives with Linda Starr, her partner of 13 years, and their two children. She is the director of the Northern California Innocence Project and a law professor at Santa Clara University. Previously, she was a Philadelphia public defender, and she has also worked with the Women's Self-Defense Law Project, the Center for Constitutional Rights, Nancy Drew Associates and the National Jury Project.

Bob Williamson

After the Camden 28 trial, Bob Williamson moved to New Mexico, where he eventually started his own graphic arts and printing company. He sold his company in 1986, and since then he has served as a consultant and business coach, teaching workshops and providing personal coaching with a focus on bringing passion, creativity and a spirit of service to companies all over the country. He is the author of several business books and is currently working on a novel based on his life experiences. Bob has a daughter.

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