SCOTT CAMIL

1972. A decorated Marine, Scott Camil was a leader of the Vietnam Veterans Against the War. Richard Nixon's Justice Department hauled Scott and other vets before a grand jury, and then, just as they were about to protest at the Republican convention, indicted some of them - the Gainesville Eight - for conspiring to violently disrupt it. The case ended in an acquittal without the presentation of a defense.

Before, I was so open that anybody could come into my house. And they just filled the place up with cops. When we were before the grand jury, our lawyers even worried some of us might be government agents. Then the judge put U.S. Attorney Guy Goodwin on the stand and asked, "Are any people subpoenaed before the grand jury government informants?" Goodwin said, "No." So we picked those people to work on our defense for the Gainesville trial. But Goodwin had lied under oath. Emerson Poe was one of my best friends. My girlfriend and I used to babysit for his wife and him. When she had a miscarriage, we took care of his kid while they were at the hospital. Poe had been right with me as assistant regional director of VVAW. He worked with us when we met with lawyers, talked strategy, and he even helped us select a jury. And then we're sitting there near the end of the trial, and Jack Carrouth, the prosecutor, calls him. Emerson Poe gets up--and he's one of them. It blew me away. I couldn't believe he could be an informer, but the whole time he was reporting back to the FBI.