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<font size=3>FYI tonnes of info on the case and on ways to help and
support can be found<br>
at
<a href="http://www.freemandrum.org/" eudora="autourl">
www.freemandrum.org</a>, this is the site set up by Gary's
family.<br><br>
<br>
Canadian Press: Alleged Black Panther to be extradited<br><br>
by Colin Perkel<br>
Friday, November 25, 2005<br><br>
TORONTO -- A man accused of being a militant Black Panther who shot
and<br>
paralyzed a Chicago police officer more than 35 years ago was
ordered<br>
extradited on Friday but won't be facing American justice anytime
soon.<br><br>
An Ontario judge ruled that Joseph Pannell, a married father of four who
has<br>
lived in the Toronto area for more than two decades, must return to
the<br>
United States to face charges of attempted murder for the 1969 shooting
of police<br>
officer Terrence Knox.<br><br>
After the ruling, Pannell's wife and four children stood in protest
outside<br>
the U.S. Consulate located across the street from the downtown
courthouse.<br><br>
"We all have bleeding hearts right now, but this is not over,"
said<br>
Pannell's wife, Natercia Coelho.<br><br>
"He came here because he feared for his life. What happened to him
was wrong<br>
in '69, and what happened today is wrong."<br><br>
Pannell, a former Toronto library worker, spent more than two decades
living<br>
quietly in the west-end suburb of Mississauga under the name Gary
Freeman.<br><br>
He was arrested in July 2004 after the U.S. Department of Justice and
the<br>
FBI asked Canadian authorities to search for matches to his
fingerprints.<br><br>
Ontario Superior Court Justice David Watt ruled that Pannell's case met
the<br>
test for extradition because there was sufficient evidence to have
committed<br>
him to trial had Pannell faced the charges in Canada.<br><br>
However, it is federal Justice Minister Irwin Cotler who must now
decide,<br>
based on all the facts of the case, whether to turn him over to the
Americans.<br><br>
"Fight this surrender to the end," lawyer Julian Falconer said
Pannell told<br>
his defence team.<br><br>
Pannell's lawyers now plan to make submissions to the minister, and it
will<br>
likely be at least six months before a decision, which can also be<br>
challenged in the Ontario Court of Appeal, is rendered.<br><br>
Pannell also said he plans to take Watt's ruling to the appeals court
based<br>
on the judge's decision to disallow cross-examination of the U.S.
prosecutor<br>
who provided a summary of the evidence against him.<br><br>
"The ruling speaks to the inherent frailties in the system we have
for<br>
extradition," Falconer said.<br><br>
"The question is why a Canadian court is left in the position where
our own<br>
system gives us almost no right or opportunity to assess the reliability
of<br>
the information by which we're extraditing him."<br><br>
Pannell, who was 19 at the time of the shooting, has never denied
shooting<br>
Knox, who was then 21, but said it happened in self-defence after the
police<br>
officer attacked him.<br><br>
"African-American males in the city of Chicago were under siege by
police,"<br>
Falconer said of the political conditions at the time.<br><br>
Pannell's lawyers argue there are major inconsistencies in Knox's version
of<br>
what happened March 7, 1969. They also say much of the evidence has
long<br>
been destroyed, and Pannell could not get a fair trial in the
U.S.<br><br>
Canadian Press 2005<br><br>
<br><br>
</font><pre><a href="http://www.ctv.ca/newsletter">
http://www.ctv.ca/newsletter</a>
</pre><font size=3>The Web CTV.ca
<img src="cid:6.2.5.6.2.20051128091409.025fe058@freedomarchives.org.0" width=2 height=18 alt="|">
<br>
<a href="http://www.ctv.ca">
<img src="cid:6.2.5.6.2.20051128091409.025fe058@freedomarchives.org.1" width=185 height=44 alt="CTV.ca">
</a> <br><br>
<br>
<img src="cid:6.2.5.6.2.20051128091409.025fe058@freedomarchives.org.2" width=12 height=15 alt="[]">
Sat. Nov. 26 2005 7:52 AM ET <br><br>
</font>
<img src="cid:6.2.5.6.2.20051128091409.025fe058@freedomarchives.org.3" width=127 height=27 alt="Canadian">
<br><br>
<img src="cid:6.2.5.6.2.20051128091409.025fe058@freedomarchives.org.4" width=160 height=120 alt="A Toronto judge has ordered Joseph Pannell be extradited to the">
<br><br>
A Toronto judge has ordered Joseph Pannell be extradited to the United
States.<br>
<img src="cid:6.2.5.6.2.20051128091409.025fe058@freedomarchives.org.5" width=160 height=120 alt="Mace Freeman, Pannell's son, speaks with CTV News outside the c">
<br><br>
Mace Freeman, Pannell's son, speaks with CTV News outside the courthouse
on Friday.<br>
<img src="cid:6.2.5.6.2.20051128091409.025fe058@freedomarchives.org.6" width=160 height=120 alt="Nathericia Coehlo, Pannell's wife, reveals her thoughts on the">
<br><br>
Nathericia Coehlo, Pannell's wife, reveals her thoughts on the situation
Friday to CTV News outside the University courthouse.<br><br>
<h3><b>Man who allegedly shot U.S. cop to be extradited
</b></h3><font size=3>CTV.ca News Staff<br><br>
A Toronto judge ruled Friday that a man should be extradited to the U.S.
to face attempted murder charges for a 35-year-old shooting. <br><br>
Reputed former Black Panther Joseph Pannell is alleged to have shot and
paralyzed Chicago police officer Terrance Knox. <br><br>
He's been wanted in the U.S. since skipping bail on two occasions, the
first time in 1971 and the second in 1973, when he fled to Canada.
<br><br>
Pannell, who went by the name Gary Freeman, had worked as a researcher
with the Toronto Public Library for 13 years and had lived in
Mississauga, for more than two decades.<br><br>
After the ruling, his wife and four children held a protest outside the
U.S. Consultate, directly across from the court house.<br><br>
"We all have bleeding hearts right now, but this is not over,"
said Pannell's wife Natercia Coelho.<br><br>
"He came here because he feared for his life. What happened to him
was wrong in '69, and what happened today is wrong.<br><br>
"One thing that you learn, we will not surrender."<br><br>
Pannell's wife and four children had hoped the court would not allow the
extradition. <br><br>
They plan to file an appeal of the court decision.<br><br>
When the shooting occurred in 1969, Knox was patrolling high school
grounds in the Kensington District of Chicago. The officer stopped a
19-year-old on the street to ask him why he wasn't in school. <br><br>
Pannell allegedly pulled out a 9 mm handgun and fired 13 times. Three
shots struck Knox, severing an artery in his arm and leaving him
partially paralyzed.<br><br>
In the summer of 2004 American authorities started to catch-up with the
suspected former Black Panther. <br><br>
Investigators sent Pannell's fingerprints to Canada. After a check,
authorities north of the border found a match. It came from a 1983
customs violation where Pannell failed to declare a camera he bought
during a trip to the U.S. <br><br>
It has not been proven that Pannell was a member of the militant black
rights group.<br><br>
<br>
</font><x-sigsep><p></x-sigsep>
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