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<img src="cid:7.1.0.9.2.20091009211831.035b3e18@freedomarchives.org.0" width=143 height=29 alt="Mother Jones">
<br><br>
</font><h2><b><a href="file:////mojo/2009/10/angola-3-appeal-denied">
Angola 3 Appeal Denied</a></b></h2><font size=3> By
<a href="file:////authors/james-ridgeway">James Ridgeway</a> | Fri
October 9, 2009 7:25 PM PST<br><br>
The Louisiana State Supreme Court Friday denied an appeal from Herman
Wallace, who has been held in solitary confinement for more than 37
years. Wallace and Albert Woodfox are members of what has become known as
the Angola 3, whose story has been
<a href="http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2009/03/36-years-solitude">
covered extensively by
</a>
<a href="http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2009/03/36-years-solitude">
<i>Mother Jones</a></i>. Convicted of the 1972 murder of a prison guard
at the notorious Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola, both men
maintain their innocence; they believe they were targeted for the crime
and
<a href="http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2009/06/life-permanent-lockdown">
relegated to permanent lockdown </a>because of their organizing work with
the prison chapter of the Black Panthers. Wallace, who is now 68 years
old, was recently transferred from Angola to the Hunt Correctional Center
near Baton Rouge, where he continues to be held in solitary. Two days
ago, Wallace descended even deeper into the hole, placed in a
disciplinary unit called Beaver 5 for unknown violations of prison
policy.<br><br>
Herman Wallace launched the appeal of his conviction nearly a decade ago.
His lawyers have introduced substantial evidence showing that the state’s
star witness, a fellow prisoner named Hezekiah Brown, was offered special
treatment and an eventual pardon in exchange for his testimony against
Wallace and Woodfox. In 2006, a judicial commissioner assigned to study
the case found that there were grounds for overturning the conviction,
but Wallace’s application was subsequently denied--by the state district
court, court of appeals, and now by the Louisiana Supreme Court.<br><br>
While every setback comes as a blow to a man nearing 70 who has spent
nearly four decades in lockdown, one of Wallace’s attorneys said tonight
that this denial by the state’s highest court came as no surprise, since
it has a reputation for refusing to overturn the decisions of lower
courts. Today’s ruling opens the doors to a federal habeas corpus
challenge, beginning with the Federal District Court for the Middle
District of Louisiana at Baton Rouge. Here, if Wallace is lucky, his case
will be reviewed by a fact-finding federal magistrate, and his conviction
overturned by a federal judge. This is what happened to Albert Woodfox
last year. Yet Woodfox, too, remains in prison--and in solitary
confinement--as the state appeals the judge’s decision.<br><br>
Louisiana’s Attorney General, James “Buddy” Caldwell, has stated that he
opposes releasing the two men “with every fiber of my being,” while the
Warden of Angola and Hunt prisons, Burl Cain, has more than once
suggested that the two men must be held in solitary because they ascribe
to “Black Pantherism.” In addition to their criminal appeals, Wallace and
Woodfox (along with Robert King, who was released in 2001), have a case
pending on constitutional grounds. They argue that the conditions and
duration of their time in solitary confinement constitute cruel and
unusual punishment in violation of the Eighth Amendment, and that they
are being held there for their political beliefs, in violation of the
First Amendment. <br>
<br><br>
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