[1] Rackley had been held and tortured at New Haven, Connecticut Panther headquarters for two days, under suspicion of being an informant for the FBI's COINTELPRO program.
It was established at the trial that afterwards, Warren Kimbro, a resident of the house, McLucas, and national Panther field marshal George W. Sams, Jr. had driven Rackley to the marshes of Middlefield, Connecticut, where Kimbro and McLucas had each shot Rackley, on Sams' orders.
According to Michael Koskoff, one of the lawyers for McLucas, Many of the people in the New Haven chapter of the Panthers were middle class.
[2]McLucas was arrested a month after the murder in Salt Lake City, Utah, and brought back to New Haven for trial.
The case later became part of an urban legend that falsely claims that Hillary Clinton defended Bobby Seale and helped him get acquitted.