Final Arguments
In his short final argument for the defense William Kunstler quoted Thomas Jefferson: “I tremble for my country because I know that God is just” and referred to the “good Germans” who refused to oppose or question those in authority.
He pointed to the difficult position Judge Horton was in when he resisted community and political pressure in the heated environment of the Scottsboro trial as he strove to see that justice was done to the eight blacks accused of rape in Alabama. Kunstler urged that Judge Sachtjen follow the lead of Judge John Curtin in Western New York who gave a one-year suspended sentence to five Roman Catholics who bombed a draft board destroying property, although not taking a life. “They were luckier than Karl Armstrong. But someone could have been in the building.” Kunstler drew the attention of the court to, of all things, Michelangelo’s sculpture of David. Unlike other portrayals of David, which show his foot on the severed head, Michelangelo was not concerned with triumph but endeavored to capture the thoughts of a man about to do something which would jeopardize himself, not knowing the outcome of what he was about to do. Was Kunstler suggesting that Armstrong attempted to slay the military Goliath? That was implied perhaps, but Kunstler stressed the internal torment of Judge Sachtjen as he faced the decision on sentencing Armstrong. “How are you going to tell millions of little children here and in Southeast Asia that their fathers, brothers, sisters, mothers, uncles, grandparents, friends and neighbors won’t be home because some maniacs blew up their country? That’s the question before you, not the tragic death of Robert Fassnacht.”43Although Armstrong faced a possible imprisonment of ninety-five years on the state charges and seventy years on the federal charges, in the plea bargaining the prosecution agreed not to ask for more than a maximum of twenty-five years on both to run concurrently. While not bound to such a bargain, Judge Sachtjen sentenced Armstrong to fifteen years on each of four arson charges, to ten years on the possession of explosives, and to twenty-three years on the second-degree murder charge, all to run concurrently.