A nonprofit named “The Innocence Project” was established in 1992 by lawyers Barry Scheck and Peter Neufeld. To date, the organization has helped at least 319 people who were wrongly convicted prove their innocence with the use of DNA testing and other technology that didn’t exist at the time of many of the original criminal convictions.
There is a sad and troubling history in America regarding the number of ethnic minorities who end up being wrongfully convicted. One of the most interesting stories in Los Angeles was connected to a Black Panther named Geronimo Pratt, who was convicted of a homicide and spent 27 years in prison, 8 of those years in solitary confinement. He was eventually proven to have been wrongfully convicted and ultimately set free in 1997. It appears most likely that his visible profile as a Black Panther may have contributed to him being wrongfully convicted.
The biography written by Jack Olsen about Pratt’s life is incredibly moving and very disturbing. The book’s title is “Last Man Standing: The Tragedy and Triumph of Geronimo Pratt.”
Another former Black Panther’s story is even more convoluted and fascinating than Geronimo Pratt. That person’s name is Assata Shakur, and she has been a fugitive hiding out in Cuba for the past forty years. Her supporters helped her escape from prison and she was granted political asylum in 1984 by the Cuban government. A few years ago, then-President Trump actually held a press conference in which he told the Cuban government to send her back to America. Cuba declined the request. Assata Shakur and Angela Davis co-wrote Shakur’s autobiography, which is entitled “Assata: An Autobiography.” While the circumstances regarding Shakur’s being wrongfully convicted are less clear than with the Geronimo Pratt case, the whole criminal case still had a sketchy look and feel to it from start to finish. Assata Shakur is currently on the FBI’s list of the 10 Most Wanted Terrorists.
RoxanneAdams 