“Life”
On this day in 1981, in a courtroom in Rome, Mehmet Ali Ağca was sentenced to life in prison for the attempted assassination of Pope John Paul II.

He was a petty criminal as a young boy, and a member of local street gangs. Later taking up a career as a smuggler, he also was trained in weaponry and terrorist tactics in Syria. Ağca was a member of the Grey Wolves, a right-wing Turkish group; it was reportedly under their orders that he murdered a Turkish newspaper editor.

Ağca was imprisoned for life for that murder, but fled to Bulgaria, where he claims he was hired by that government to assassinate the Pope. The story gets decidedly murky, with no definite proof of Bulgaria’s involvment. After the shooting, he was immediately apprehended – the crowd grabbed him when he started shooting.

Pope John Paul II forgave Ağca, visiting him several times and staying in contact with his family. In addition, Italian president Ciampi pardoned him in 2000. Turkey, however, wasn’t through with him; he is imprisoned there. He will be eligible to leave prison in 2010.

When the Pope passed away this year, Ağca's brother reported that their family was grieving, and reported that the Pope had been “a great friend” to the family. Ağca himself requested permission to attend the funeral, but it was denied.


Death
With the U.S. looking at potential entry into WWI, anti-war and Isolationist radicals were voicing their opposition to "militarism."

"We are going to use a little direct action on the 22nd to show that militarism can't be forced on us and our children without a violent protest." Those words appeared on a radical pamphlet in mid-July, 1916.

At San Francisco's Preparedness parade, the protest was indeed violent. At a little after 2pm, about 1/2 hour after the start of the parade, a bomb that had been concealed in a suitcase detonated, killing ten and wounding forty. It was worst terrorist act in San Francisco history.

Radical labor leader Thomas Mooney and his assistant Warren K. Billings were convicted of the bombing, but the trial was rife with errors and perjury, and Mooney was pardoned in 1939 by the Governor of California. Billings received a pardon in 1961. To date, no one else has been brought to trial.