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<font size=3>February 23, 2008<br>
<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/23/us/23panther.html?_r=4&ref=us&oref=slogin&oref=slogin&oref=slogin&oref=slogin" eudora="autourl">
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/23/us/23panther.html?_r=4&ref=us&oref=slogin&oref=slogin&oref=slogin&oref=slogin<br>
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</a></font><h1><b>4 Decades After Shooting, Effort to Make Punishment Fit
the Crime </b></h1><font size=3>By CATRIN EINHORN<br><br>
CHICAGO What punishment should be imposed on a man who shot a police
officer almost 40 years ago and fled to Canada, but went on to live an
upstanding life as a husband and father who worked in a library?<br><br>
There was a rare answer here on Friday: Require him to give $250,000 to a
foundation that helps the families of injured Chicago police
officers.<br><br>
Joseph Pannell, 58, who admits that he shot a police officer here in
1969, will serve just 30 days in jail and two years’ probation as part of
a plea bargain that legal experts called extremely unusual.<br><br>
The driving force behind the arrangement, both sides said, was the former
Chicago police officer himself, Terrence Knox, whose right arm was
permanently damaged by the shooting.<br><br>
“Something good had to come out of this,” Mr. Knox said Friday, after
watching Mr. Pannell accept the deal during a hearing in a Cook County
courthouse.<br><br>
“The easy way out would have been to have a trial, and cost this county
hundreds of thousands of dollars, have him go to jail, and cost the
prison system hundreds of thousands of dollars,” Mr. Knox said.<br><br>
Mr. Pannell, who was charged with aggravated battery, attempted murder
and bail-jumping, could have faced up to 23 years in prison. All but an
aggravated battery charge were dropped.<br><br>
The $250,000 came from Mr. Pannell and his family, and friends and
lawyers in the Chicago area, said Neil H. Cohen, Mr. Pannell’s
lawyer.<br><br>
The case began on March 7, 1969, when Mr. Knox, then 21, was patrolling
near a Chicago high school in a squad car. Prosecutors said that when he
pulled over and asked Mr. Pannell, then 19, why he was not in school, Mr.
Pannell fired several shots at him. While on bail, Mr. Pannell fled to
Canada. He married a Canadian and worked as a library research assistant.
<br><br>
In 2004, he was arrested, but fought extradition. Last month he gave up
that fight, saying he was inspired by the new political climate he saw in
Chicago, symbolized, he said, by the support of Mayor
<a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/d/richard_m_daley/index.html?inline=nyt-per">
Richard M. Daley</a> and other political leaders for the presidential
candidacy of Senator
<a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/o/barack_obama/index.html?inline=nyt-per">
Barack Obama</a>.<br><br>
Mr. Pannell, who has long gone by the name Gary Freeman, called the
incident “an American tragedy” and said he took responsibility for his
actions.<br><br>
“We must seek to move away from adversarial confrontation and towards
peaceful reconciliation and conflict resolution,” Mr. Pannell went on.
“Today is about acceptance of responsibility, atonement and redemption.”
<br><br>
Mr. Pannell’s lawyer declined to answer specific questions about the
shooting. But previously, John Norris, a lawyer for Mr. Pannell in
Canada, said he had acted in self-defense during a time of intense
distrust between the Chicago police and African-Americans. <br><br>
The Chicago police have said Mr. Pannell was a member of the Black
Panther Party, though Mr. Pannell denies that.<br><br>
Mr. Knox, who went on to become a businessman, said he had not spoken to
Mr. Pannell and did not wish to. <br><br>
Defendants in violent cases are rarely offered plea bargains that include
large donations to charity instead of lengthy prison time, legal experts
said. <br><br>
“It almost looks like a bribe,” said Ronald Allen, a professor of law at
<a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/n/northwestern_university/index.html?inline=nyt-org">
Northwestern University</a>, who added that since the arrangement had the
victim’s blessing, it might not be unreasonable.<br><br>
“In a way, it’s recompense for exactly the kind of harm that he
caused.”<br><br>
<br><br>
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