admission, with a concussion and two stab wounds. The circumstances around Díaz's death still remain undetermined. The People v. Zammora et al. In the process of investigating the murder of José Díaz, hundreds of young men and women in the L.A. area were brought in for police processing. Among the suspects arrested, several were severely beaten during questioning, including Henry Leyvas, Lupe Leyvas, Benny Alvarez, and Eugene Carpio, and Manuel Reyes. Twenty-two men were placed on trial as a group, under the defense of seven attorneys in the People v. Zammora et al. George Shibley later joined as an attorney on the case, winning favor from the defendants and their families for his attempts to communicate in Spanish. Alice McGrath was hired by Shibley to take notes on the trial. Though the murder weapon was never produced, after six days of deliberation, only five of the twenty-two young men were found "not guilty." The other seventeen young men were convicted of murdering José Díaz, including Henry Leyvas, who with José Ruíz and Robert Telles, was convicted of murder in the first degree and two counts of assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill. Leyvas, Ruíz, and Telles were sentenced to life in prison, while the other young men were sentenced to one to five years. The ruling was reversed in October 1944 and the men were released, due to the efforts of the Sleepy Lagoon Defense Committee, with Alice McGrath as executive secretary. However, many of the young men returned to prison, including Henry Leyvas. The Zoot Suit Riots With rising tension between the zoot suiters and military servicemen in the L.A. area, what is known as the Zoot Suit Riots began on June 3, 1943 when a group of sailors claimed to have been robbed and beaten by Pacheco. Servicemen beat zoot suit wearing civilians with clubs and other makeshift weapons, and stripped them of their suits. Approximately ninety-four civilians and eighteen servicemen were treated for serious injuries, with all of the ninety four arrested, but only two of the servicemen. One source claims the Riot continued for five nights, when military and police efforts ended the violence. However, a second source states that the span of the Riots was nine days. Production history Stage debut Zoot Suit premiered at The Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles on April, 1978. This production with Center Theatre Group marked