And now:Ish <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: From: "Day Starr (*No-qui-si*)" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> LOS ANGELES (AP) - The three-decade legal battle of Elmer ``Geronimo'' Pratt ended Wednesday with the district attorney's decision to drop further prosecution of the former Black Panther who spent 27 years in prison for a murder he said he didn't commit. ``The murder at issue in this case occurred over 30 years ago,'' said Gil Garcetti, Los Angeles County's top prosecutor. ``Most of the witnesses are deceased. It would be virtually impossible to retry this case.'' San Francisco attorney Stuart Hanlon, who spent 25 years seeking Pratt's freedom, said after Garcetti's announcement, ``I'm glad it's over.'' ``I wish I could say I felt uplifted,'' Hanlon said. ``But all I feel is frustration and anger that it took this long. It's clear to everyone that Pratt was wrongly convicted.'' There was no immediate comment from Pratt. He was at home in Morgan City, La., and had gotten word, a family member said by telephone. Pratt was freed in 1997 after 27 years behind bars when a judge ruled that he was denied a fair trial because the star prosecution witness concealed the fact that he was a police informant. On Tuesday, a California appeals court upheld the ruling, granting a new trial. Pratt had been convicted of being one of two men who robbed and fatally shot Caroline Olsen on a Santa Monica tennis court. He claimed that he was in Oakland for Black Panther meetings at the time and that FBI agents and police hid and possibly destroyed wiretap evidence that would prove it. Pratt blamed the arrest on a campaign by J. Edgar Hoover's FBI against the Black Panthers and other alleged subversives. Hanlon said he has filed a false conviction lawsuit in federal court on Pratt's behalf, seeking damages from the district attorney's office, the Los Angeles Police Department and the FBI. Although he will not seek further prosecution, Garcetti said he stands behind the prosecutors who tried the case and won a conviction in 1972. -- Back To The Blanket Journal: http://www.angelfire.com/biz/BackToTheBlanket Heroine Mu Gui-Ying http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Pagoda/7111 ________________________________________________________________________ Wish to Leave? See <http://www.dickshovel.com/mailinglist.html>. &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&& Tsonkwadiyonrat (We are ONE Spirit) Unenh onhwa' Awayaton http://www.tdi.net/ishgooda/ &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
