<html>
<body>
<img src="http://www.hattiesburgamerican.com/graphics/mastlogo.gif" width=300 height=65 alt="hattiesburgamerican.com">
<font size=3> <br><br>
</font><font face="verdana" size=1>July 8, 2008<br><br>
</font><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=5>Louisiana federal judge
overturns ’Angola 3’ conviction<br><br>
</font><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=2><i>The Associated
Press</i> <br><br>
</font><font face="arial" size=2>BATON ROUGE, La. A federal judge has
overturned the conviction of a former Black Panther in the 1972 stabbing
death of a Louisiana prison guard.<br><br>
Albert Woodfox, who was held in solitary confinement for over 30 years,
is one of three former Panthers known as the “Angola Three.” He and two
other black prisoners at the Louisiana State Penitentiary were convicted
in the killing of guard Brent Miller on April 17, 1972.<br><br>
U.S. District Judge James Brady issued a ruling late today approving a
federal magistrate’s decision that Woodfox’s conviction should be
overturned because his previous defense lawyer failed to object to a
prosecutor’s testimony about a witness’ credibility.<br><br>
<br>
</font><font size=5><b>Ex-Black Panther's murder conviction overturned -
CNN.com* <br><br>
</b></font><font size=3>
<a href="http://edition.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/07/09/black.panther.ap/index.html">
http://edition.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/07/09/black.panther.ap/index.html</a>
<br><br>
<b>BATON ROUGE, Louisiana (AP)</b> -- A federal judge on Tuesday
overturned the conviction of a former Black Panther in the 1972 stabbing
death of a Louisiana prison guard.<br><br>
Albert Woodfox, who was held in solitary confinement for over 30 years,
is one of three former Panthers known as the "Angola Three." He
and two other black prisoners at the Louisiana State Penitentiary at
Angola were convicted in the killing of guard Brent Miller on April 17,
1972.<br><br>
U.S. District Judge James Brady issued a ruling late Tuesday approving a
federal magistrate's June recommendation that Woodfox's conviction be
overturned because one of his former lawyers failed to object to a
prosecutor's testimony about a witness' credibility. Brady also found
that Woodfox's trial lawyer failed to object to testimony from a witness
who had died after the trial.<br><br>
Woodfox's decades in solitary confinement attracted worldwide attention
from activists who called him a political prisoner.<br><br>
Nick Trenticosta, the New Orleans-based defense lawyer who handled the
appeal, said Woodfox's immediate future lies in the hands of prosecutors,
who could request a new trial. Trenticosta said he hoped Woodfox to be
released without another trial.<br><br>
"The man was convicted on false evidence, and he's been held in
solitary for almost 40 years. Let's release him," Trenticosta
said.<br><br>
A message left for prosecutors late Tuesday was not immediately
returned.<br><br>
Trenticosta said Woodfox had probably not yet heard about the
ruling.<br><br>
"I don't believe he knows," Trenticosta said. "But I'll
talk to him in the morning and he'll probably find out about it in the
newspaper."<br><br>
Woodfox and Herman Wallace were kept in solitary confinement from 1972
until March, when they were moved to a maximum-security dormitory with
other prisoners. Woodfox was serving 50 years for armed robbery when the
1972 killing occurred.<br><br>
Wallace has been appealing his conviction based on arguments similar to
Woodfox's.<br>
The third member of the "Angola Three" spent 29 years in
isolation before his conviction was overturned in 2001. Robert King,
known as Robert King Wilkerson in the 1970s, pleaded guilty to conspiracy
to commit murder and was freed. <br><br>
<br><br>
<br>
</font><x-sigsep><p></x-sigsep>
<font size=3 color="#FF0000">Freedom Archives<br>
522 Valencia Street<br>
San Francisco, CA 94110<br><br>
</font><font size=3 color="#008000">415 863-9977<br><br>
</font><font size=3 color="#0000FF">
<a href="http://www.freedomarchives.org/" eudora="autourl">
www.Freedomarchives.org</a></font><font size=3> </font></body>
</html>