Video: 'Ten For Two - The John Sinclair Benefit - Part 2' (Dec. 13, 1971, at 19:57)

(Monday, December 13, 1971) — Three days after the John Sinclair Freedom Rally, a protest and concert headlined by former Beatle John Lennon and his wife, Yoko Ono, at the Crisler Arena at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan, John Sinclair was unexpectedly released today from Southern Michigan Prison in Jackson after serving more than two years of a 10-year prison term for possession of two marijuana cigarettes.

Video: 'John Sinclair and John Lennon Telephone Conversation'

The Michigan Supreme Court, acting on its own motion, granted a $2,500 appeal bond to Sinclair, citing a bill passed by the state legislature the previous week making the maximum penalty for possession of marijuana one year’s imprisonment.

Lennon and Ono, back in New York City on this day to produce a session for David Peel at the Record Plant recording studio, took an emotional call from newly liberated Sinclair and his wife, Jeni.