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<h1><font size=3><b>This article mainly reflects the FOP position about
Veronza and takes the opportunity to call the Panthers a hate group.
Nonetheless, it states that Veronza's release date is June 21st.<br><br>
</font>Ex-Black Panther Granted
Parole</b></h1><font size=3>
<a href="http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-panther27may27,1,7288584,print.story?coll=la-headlines-california&ctrack=2&cset=true" eudora="autourl">
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-panther27may27,1,7288584,print.story?coll=la-headlines-california&ctrack=2&cset=true<br>
<br>
</a></font><h2><b>The man was convicted in 1974 of killing a park ranger
and has been in prison for 31 years.</b></h2><font size=3>By Ann M.
Simmons<br>
Times Staff Writer<br><br>
May 27, 2005<br><br>
A former captain of the Black Panther Party, who was convicted of killing
a park ranger near San Francisco 31 years ago, has been granted parole,
despite a last-ditch attempt by law enforcement officials to block his
release.<br><br>
Veronza Leon Curtis Bowers Jr., 59, is expected to leave a federal prison
in Coleman, Fla., on June 21, said U.S. Parole Commission
officials.<br><br>
"If he gets into trouble, he could be kept in," said Tom
Hutchison, a spokesman for the Maryland-based commission. But most
inmates close to their release date, he said, "just bide their
time" and wait to be freed.<br><br>
Bowers was convicted in 1974 of killing Kenneth Patrick, 40, the first
National Park Service ranger to be killed in the line of duty. Patrick
was shot three times while tracking poachers at Point Reyes National
Seashore in August 1973. He left a wife and three children.<br><br>
"Allowing this killer back in the streets puts the public and police
officers at risk," said Chuck Canterbury, national president of the
Fraternal Order of Police. "We will exhaust every legal avenue in an
effort to keep Bowers where he belongs behind bars."<br><br>
The association, which describes itself as the largest law enforcement
labor group in the nation with more than 318,000 members, also released a
letter that was sent Tuesday to U.S. Atty. Gen. Alberto
Gonzales.<br><br>
Calling Bowers an "unrepentant murderer and career criminal,"
Canterbury asked Gonzales to have the National Appeals Board review the
commission's decision.<br><br>
Bowers' many supporters have long maintained that he was unjustly
imprisoned and that his release was long overdue. His lawyer, relatives
and other supporters declined to comment, alleging media bias against
Bowers.<br><br>
Under federal law, Bowers became eligible for release after 30 years, and
his supporters expected that he would be paroled April 7, 2004. <br><br>
But the commission refused to permit his release.<br><br>
Bowers challenged the decision. Commissioners eventually set a parole
date of Feb. 21, 2005. His release was delayed when Patrick's widow,
Tomie Patrick-Lee, protested.<br><br>
The five-member commission decided May 17 that he should be released in
June. <br><br>
Patrick-Lee, who has since remarried, could not be reached for
comment.<br><br>
In a March interview, she recalled the harrowing day when her husband's
colleagues came to tell her that he was dead. Patrick had gone out that
foggy summer morning to look for deer poachers at the national seashore,
about 20 miles north of San Francisco.<br><br>
As investigators would later report, the ranger spotted a car on a remote
road between Point Reyes and Mount Vision.<br><br>
Bowers was in the car with Jonathan Shoher and Alan Veale, who in a
signed confession said Bowers was the triggerman.<br><br>
When Patrick approached the car with a flashlight, Bowers shot the ranger
in the chest with a 9-millimeter handgun, according to Veale's
statement.<br><br>
In prison, Bowers founded a nondenominational spiritual organization
devoted to healing meditation through the <i>shakuhachi</i>, a Japanese
flute. He composes music and is a member of a prison reggae band.
<br><br>
He has maintained that he was asleep at his Mill Valley home when Patrick
was shot.<br><br>
Bowers' supporters said Veale was a paid informant, who lied in return
for reduced sentences in other federal crimes. Investigators acknowledged
that charges were dropped against Veale in return for his confession.
Shoher got 10 years.<br><br>
At his sentencing, Bowers denounced his conviction as "American
fascism," according to news reports at the time. His supporters have
maintained that his political activities made him a target of the
FBI.<br><br>
The FBI considered the Panthers a nationalist hate group and launched an
operation to infiltrate it, monitor its activities and destabilize it,
Clayborne Carson, a Stanford University professor of history, has said.
<br><br>
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