A JUDGE in the US state of Louisiana has reversed the conviction and ordered the immediate release Tuesday of a terminally ill former Black Panther who spent 40 years in solitary confinement for murder.
Herman Wallace, who is dying from liver cancer is one of the “Angola three,” named after a notorious prison where they were held that was built on the site of a former plantation worked by slaves from Africa.
The three embraced the Black Panther movement while already in prison for lesser crimes.
The trio was active in organising sit-ins and other protests to demand desegregation and better protection of inmates against abuses.
Wallace, who was behind bars for armed robbery, and fellow Panther Albert Woodfox, were sentenced to life after being convicted of stabbing a white prison guard to death in 1972.
A third man, Robert King, was never charged but blamed for the murder nonetheless and, like Wallace and Woodfox, placed in solitary confinement. He was released after 29 years.
No fingerprints taken from the scene matched those of the men convicted of the crime, and witnesses said they were working in another part of the prison.
In July, Wallace personally wrote to US District Judge Brian Jackson to plead for an expedited review of his case, noting that it had been three and a half years since he had filed a habeas corpus petition and no action had been taken.
In a response, Judge Jackson reversed Wallace’s 1974 conviction on Tuesday and “ordered that the state immediately release Mr. Wallace from custody,” according to a copy of the decision obtained by AFP.
Read more: http://www.news.com.au/world-news/north-america/ex-black-panther-herman-wallace-who-spent-40-years-in-solitary-ordered-released-murder-conviction-reversed/story-fnh81jut-1226731255294#ixzz2gWkcAp4r
40 years is a looooong time. I’ve read a few of the black panther books and I remember the Angola 3 being mentioned. Glad for his release.
but dem seh no evidence and oh God why solitary for so long??? dem wicked ooooooooooooooo
In those days (not that we are that much far removed) all the evidence they need was the color of your skin. They still have Assata Shakur on the fbi wanted listed. The black panther party did really have the US government a way. ‘A Taste of Power’ and ‘Panther Baby’ are 2 good reads, different perspectives from people inside the party.
I need to do some reading on them because mi nuh get why the us found them to be such a threat omg this is inhumane smh
They had them off as terrorists. They did in some ways have a radical pro black message. And u know gov fraid of anybody whom they believe don’t fraid of dem, and who preaches a fight back message
Dont know much about them but I do try to read the news as much as I can fi keep mi brain working…when I saw this lastnight mi seh no man!!
“Hoover’s involvement with the Black Panther Party came as the party began to gain prominence during 1967 & 68. As COINTELPRO had been established in 1956 to police “political radicals” within the United States, focus and pressure now came onto the Black Panther Party. On June 15, 1969, J. Edgar Hoover declared, “the Black Panther Party, without question, represents the greatest threat to internal security of the country”; he pledged that 1969 would be the last year of the Party’s existence.
As Roger states in the film, “if you read the FBI files you will see that even Mr. J. Edgar Hoover himself had to say that it was not the guns that were the greatest threat to the internal security of the United States of America; it was not the guns, it was the Free Children’s Breakfast Program that was the greatest threat to the internal security of the United States of America. Grits. Now why was it the Free Children’s Breakfast Program? It was the Free Children’s Breakfast Program because the Free Children’s Breakfast Program engendered a certain following on the Black community’s part, a certain respect on the Black community’s part. I mean, nobody can argue with free grits. So Hoover saw it as a kind of, he saw the Free Children’s Breakfast Program as a kind of, what’s the word he used? He said it was a kind of, look in the file, you’ll see, he said it was a kind of infiltration. That’s ridiculous isn’t it? Infiltration? How are Black people, who are born and raised in the Black community, who live and work in the Black community, going to infiltrate their own Black community? If anybody’s infiltrating I think its J. Edgar Hoover.”
wtf?????????????????? no dem serious bad smhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
A whole 40 years to then say we don’t have the evidence to hold you. That’s a lifetime and they they wonder why black folks cry racism for so many things. 4is right, the only evidence they needed was black skin.
40 years and dying, sad he. Compensation is no help to him now.
40 years, I’m sure his mind has also taken a beating……pobrecito!
yes wicked act and they money cannot do shit for him now smh..he will not live long either..liver cancer is swift
I don’t think a lot of people understand the sacrifice those people made. I just wish they would.J. Edgar Hoover did so much damage to a lot of families.