Gary W. Thomas

Thomas retired from the bench in 1998. He died on April 3, 2017, due to "natural causes". According to his wife, he had kidney problems, pneumonia, and other complications from his paralysis.

As part of Church of Scientology v. Gerald Armstrong, Thomas presided over a legal dispute in 1995 between the Church of Scientology and Gerald Armstrong, a former member and employee of that organization. Armstrong had previously settled a civil suit against the COS for $800,000 with the stipulation that he would not divulge information he had gained as a church insider. Finding that Armstrong had violated the terms of the settlement, Thomas later ordered Armstrong to pay the COS $100,000 and issued an injunction ordering him to stop speaking about Scientology. Armstrong's refusal to comply with previous court rulings prompted Thomas in 1997 to issue a warrant for Armstrong's arrest that is still outstanding. In 2004, Armstrong would file a document in Marin County Superior Court asserting that Thomas conspired with the Church of Scientology against him to violate various Constitution Rights and that his orders were illegal.

As of 1995, Thomas was one of three judges who had been appointed by the Marin County Superior Court to specialize in California Environmental Quality Act cases.

Thomas was elected a superior court judge in 1986. As a Marin County Superior Court judge, Thomas presided over a 1987 jury trial in which Matthew Kelly, the founder of the rock band Kingfish, filed a $10 million lawsuit against Grateful Dead drummer Bill Kreutzmann. In 1991, Thomas set bail at $500,000 for pornography pioneer Jim Mitchell until he could stand trial for the shooting death of his brother, Artie Mitchell; Mitchell was also ordered to surrender his passport and remain in the Bay Area. In 1994, famed forensic psychiatrist Martin Blinder was sued by a former lover for "professional negligence, assault and battery, sexual abuse, and inflicting emotional distress." Later, when the woman repeatedly failed to appear in court, Thomas dismissed the suit and ordered her to pay $13,000 in costs.

In 1982, Thomas accepted an innocent plea in municipal court from Phil Crane, a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives and a former U.S. presidential candidate, who had been charged with driving while intoxicated.

Grace Slick, the lead singer of Jefferson Starship, appeared before Thomas in municipal court on multiple occasions in 1978. In March, Thomas imposed probation on Slick who had earlier been convicted of drunk driving. When arrested for public drunkenness three months later, she pleaded "no contest" to violating the terms of the probation. Thomas then sentenced Slick to two years probation, with the caveat that she would be jailed if she drank alcohol during that period. He also ordered her not to leave the state, and to attend Alcoholics Anonymous meetings for six months.

On January 22, 1973, Thomas would recount his story again in the trial of Ruchell Magee. Magee, who had been thrown out of every previous session of the trial, was reported to have sat quietly through Thomas' testimony while never taking his eyes off of him. According to Thomas, Magee shouted prior to the shooting, "Let's kill 'em all now", and that McClain had replied, "Let's cool it, keep your cool, everything's cool." He would again confirm that Magee was holding the sawed-off shotgun when it discharged and killed Haley.

On April 3, 1973 [verify date], Superior Court Judge Morton R. Colvin declared a mistrial after the jury announced for the fifth time that it was deadlocked on reaching a verdict on charges of murder and kidnapping. One member of the jury, Hugh Chalmers, stated that the panel did not accept Thomas' testimony. Chalmers remarked: "We think that what happened in that van was not as the pain-ridden Mr. Thomas thought they happened. We feel that the judge was already dead when the shotgun went off. I think Mr. Thomas was honest, but I think his story was twisted."

Two years after the Marin County Civic Center shootout, California Governor Ronald Reagan appointed Thomas a municipal court judge. His role in municipal court was to handle misdemeanors, some civil suits, and the initial proceedings of felony cases. In 1973, Thomas ordered Glenn Yarbrough to pay $350 per month after the singer pleaded no contest to charges of failing to provide child support. Thomas received brief national publicity in 1975 for sentencing petty offenders to writing out thousands of times their promises not to violate various misdemeanor laws. He claimed that this type of punishment fit the crime and served as a good deterrent as the offenders would be jailed for hours at a time while completing their sentences.

During the 1972 Angela Davis trial, Maria Elena Graham, one of the three women hostages, testified that Thomas told the gunmen "not to do anything foolish" but was forced to the floor with the others in the courtroom. Graham told of how Haley, Thomas, and the three jurors were wired together and forced out of the courthouse and into the escape van. She said that there, just prior to shots being fired, she heard Thomas shout: "For God's sake - don't shoot!" Graham reported that while she was sprawled on the floor of the van, Thomas reached over her head and grabbed a revolver from Jackson.

In July 1971, Thomas' grand jury testimony from the previous fall was released. Questioned by Marin County District Attorney Bruce Bales, he indicated that it was Magee who shot Judge Haley.

In 1971, Thomas successfully prosecuted a homeowner who rigged a .22 caliber pistol as a booby-trap that wounded a teenager burglar. The California Supreme Court later upheld the conviction of assault with a deadly weapon and ruled that a spring gun may not be used to defend a home against burglary. This ruling is frequently cited as an example of case law pertaining to self-defense.[2]

On the morning of August 7, 1970, Thomas was an assistant district attorney for Marin County prosecuting the case of James McClain, an inmate at San Quentin prison who had been charged with assaulting a prison guard. Thomas was questioning Ruchell Magee, another inmate at San Quentin whom McClain had arranged to be a witness, when Jonathan Jackson interrupted the court proceedings. In the barrage of gunfire that followed during the escape attempt, Thomas was shot in the spine and paralyzed from the waist down. A ballistics expert would later testify that Thomas's spine was severed from a bullet fired from a San Quentin guard's .30 caliber carbine.

Thomas was reportedly told by doctors that he would need 6 to 12 months to recuperate, however, he returned to work on September 14, 1970 - five weeks after the shooting. He claimed that his recovery was hastened by "vigorous exercise and the fear of boredom". The wheelchair-using district attorney was reported to avoid photographers and refuse interviews.

In December 1970, Thomas was credited as saving the lives of the three women jurors and named "peace officer of the year" by the Marin County Peace Officers Association.

Thomas married Haley's niece, Maureen, around 1960. They were married for 57 years had two sons.

Thomas graduated from San Francisco's Riordan High School. After earning an academic scholarship to the University of San Francisco in 1955, he received a bachelor's degree in political science. Thomas received another scholarship and graduated from the University of San Francisco School of Law in 1961. He joined the State Bar of California in 1962, then worked in private practice and as a deputy county prosecutor until 1969 when he was promoted to assistant district attorney. Thomas was also a member of the United States Air Force Reserve from 1962 to 1968.

Gary W. Thomas (March 19, 1938 – April 3, 2017) was a Marin County, California prosecutor and Superior Court judge. Thomas was primarily known for his role in the Marin County Civic Center shootout in which he was taken hostage in a courtroom, along with Judge Harold Haley and three female jurors, by Jonathan Jackson and three inmates from San Quentin State Prison in what is widely speculated to be a failed attempt to free his brother, George Jackson, and the other two Soledad Brothers. Haley, Jonathan Jackson, and two of the inmates were killed during the escape attempt, and Thomas was paralyzed from the waist down.