[12][10][201], In an open letter, Shakur has called Cuba "One of the Largest, Most Resistant and Most Courageous Palenques (Maroon Camps) that has ever existed on the Face of this Planet". Kaufman, Michael T. (February 9, 1972), "9 in Black 'Army' Are Hunted in Police Assassinations". [134], On February 23, Shakur's attorneys filed papers asking Judge Appleby to subpoena FBI Director Clarence Kelley, Senator Frank Church and other federal and New York City law enforcement officials to testify about the Counter Intelligence Program, which they alleged was designed to harass and disrupt black activist organizations. Fast Facts: Assata Shakur Also Known As: JoAnne Chesimard Born: July 16, 1947, in New York City [138], At Shakur's sentencing hearing on April 25, Appleby sentenced her to 26 to 33years in state prison (10 to 12 for the four counts of assault, 12 to 15 for robbery, 2 to 3 for armed robbery, plus 2 to 3 for aiding and abetting the murder of Foerster), to be served consecutively with her mandatory life sentence. [100] The defense attempted to discredit White on the grounds that he had spent eight months in Matteawan Hospital for the Criminally Insane in 1968, and White countered that he had faked insanity (by claiming to be Allah in front of three psychiatrists) to get transferred out of prison. Early life [ edit] (May 3, 1973), "2 Die in Shootout; Militant Seized". Emery, Richard, and LaMarche, Gara (June 11, 1980). Daly, Michael (December 13, 2006). . [87] White and Rivers testified that Shakur had guarded one of the doors with a .357 magnum pistol and that Sadiki had served as a lookout and drove the getaway truck during the robbery; neither White nor Rivers was cross-examined due to the defense attorney's refusal to participate in the trial. (December 13, 1973), "Chesimard Trial Goes To The Jury". Kaufman, Michael T. (January 30, 1973). [101], Shakur personally cross-examined the witnesses, getting White to admit that he had once been in love with her; the same day, one juror (who had been frequently napping during the trial) was replaced with an alternate. (2001). [138], At the post-trial press conference, Kunstler blamed the verdict on racism, stating that "the white element was there to destroy her". John Young, in August, 1971. Beginning in 1971, Shakur was allegedly involved in several incidents of assault and robbery, in which she was charged or identified as wanted for questioning, including attacks on New York City police and bank robberies in the area. [81][82] In light of the pending murder prosecution against Shakur in New Jersey state court, her lawyers requested that the trial be postponed for six months to permit further preparation. negras y a sus lderes, Shakur pas cuatro aos en la crcel antes de su condena en 1977, sustentada en pruebas poco slidas. Between 1973 and 1977, Shakur was charged with murder, attempted murder, armed robbery, bank robbery, and kidnapping in relation to the shootout and six other incidents. [64] The other charges were: first-degree murder (of Foerster), second-degree murder (of Zayd Shakur), illegal possession of a weapon, and armed robbery (related to Foerster's service revolver). Assata Shakur. "F.B.I. Three indictments were dismissed without trial. [49], By June 1973, an apparatus that would become the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF)[50] was issuing nearly daily briefings on Shakur's status and the allegations against her. Director and Others to Testify on Program Aimed at Harassing Activists". [99] Kennedy objected to this identification on the grounds that the prosecutor, assistant United States attorney Peter Truebner, had offered to stipulate that Shakur was not depicted in any of the photographs. [70], With gunshot wounds in both arms and a shoulder, Assata Shakur was moved to Middlesex General Hospital under "heavy guard" and was reported to be in "serious condition". Tools Sundiata Acoli (born January 14, 1937, [1] as Clark Edward Squire) is an American political activist who was a member of the Black Panther Party and the Black Liberation Army. "Assata Shakur: Profiled and on the Run". The New York Amsterdam News section is an ad in support of Assata Shakur. Shakur has lived in Cuba since, despite US government efforts to have her returned. [243] In April 2017, former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick's foundation donated $25,000 to the group. Seller with a 100% positive feedback. [63] Questioned by prosecutor C. Judson Hamlin, Harper said he saw Foerster shot just as Assata Shakur was hit by bullets from Harper's gun. At least 12 aging members of the Black Panthers are still imprisoned in the US. I wanted to know everything." Title: Black Liberation Army Papers Creator: Black Liberation Army Inclusive dates: 1963-1998 Extent: 1.5 Linear feet (1 records box and 1 manuscript box) Abstract: . [29][30][31][32] Law enforcement officials in Atlanta, Georgia, said that Shakur and Jackson had lived together in Atlanta for several months in the summer of 1971. [111] On March 5, 1974, two new defendants (Jeannette Jefferson and Robert Hayes) were named in an indictment involving the same charges. [93] Judge Gagliardi instructed both the prosecution and the defense not to bring up Shakur or Sadiki's connections to the BLA, saying they were "not relevant". [115] Shakur and co-defendant Ronald Myers were accused of entering the bar with pistols and shotguns, taking $50 from the register, kidnapping the bartender, leaving a note demanding a $20,000 ransom from the bar owner, and fleeing in a rented truck. [104], The Turnpike shootout proceedings continued with Judge John E. Bachman in Middlesex County. [149] Acoli did not testify or make any pre-trial statements, nor did he testify in his own trial or give a statement to the police. [56] Although named after Shakur, CHESROB (like its predecessor, NEWKILL) was not limited to Shakur. [164] Three other defendants were indicted in relation to the same holdup: Melvin Kearney, who died in 1976 from an eight-floor fall while trying to escape from the Brooklyn House of Detention, Twymon Myers, who was killed by police while a fugitive, and Andrew Jackson, the charges against whom were dismissed when two prosecution witnesses could not identify him in a lineup. "Militant Autobiography: The Case of Assata Shakur," in. [117] Freeman was said to have later escaped unhurt. Nelson, Jim (February 29, 1988). "Mistrial Declared in Chesimard Case as Jury Splits 11-1". "[123], In an open letter to Castro, chair of the Congressional Black Caucus Representative Maxine Waters of California later explained that many members of the Caucus (including herself) were against Shakur's extradition but had mistakenly voted for the bill, which was placed on the accelerated suspension calendar, generally reserved for non-controversial legislation. Black militancy: notes from the underground. [118] Shakur and co-defendant Ronald Myers were acquitted on December 19, 1975, after seven hours of jury deliberation, ending a three-month trial in front of Judge William Thompson.[117]. Hanley, Robert (November 6, 1979). [126] The actual transfer took place on January 29. [58] Acoli was captured after a 36-hour manhuntinvolving 400 people, state police helicopters, and bloodhounds. [195][200] In 1985, her daughter, Kakuya, who had been raised by Shakur's mother in New York, came to live with her. Assata was a Black Panther then a Black Liberation Army (BLA) leader in the early '70s, so she was a target of the FBI's COINTELPRO operation. In 1979, she escaped from prison and made her way to Cuba, where she was granted political asylum and continues to live today. [163], In October 1977, New York State Superior Court Justice John Starkey dismissed murder and robbery charges against Shakur related to the death of Richard Nelson during a hold-up of a Brooklyn social club on December 28, 1972, ruling that the state had delayed too long in bringing her to trial. [138] After Joseph W. Lewis, the jury foreman, read the verdict, Kunstler asked that the jury be removed before alleging that one juror had violated the sequestration order (see above). [44], As of February 17, 1972, when Shakur was identified as one of four BLA members on a short trip to Chattanooga, Tennessee, she was wanted for questioning (along with Robert Vickers, Twyman Meyers, Samuel Cooper, and Paul Stewart) in relation to police killings, a Queens bank robbery, and the grenade attack on police. [230], On December 12, 2006, the Chancellor of the City University of New York, Matthew Goldstein, directed City College's president, Gregory H. Williams, to remove the "unauthorized and inappropriate" designation of the "Guillermo Morales/Assata Shakur Community and Student Center," which was named by students in 1989. [97] After the selection of twelve jurors (60 were excused), Williams was allowed to retire from the case, with Shakur officially representing herself, assisted by lawyer Florynce Kennedy. "[225] In 2013, the FBI announced it had added Shakur to its list of 'most wanted terrorists', the first time that a woman was so designated. [182][133] Their investigation, which focused on alleged human rights abuses of political prisoners, cited Shakur as "one of the worst cases" of such abuses and including her in "a class of victims of FBI misconduct through the COINTELPRO strategy and other forms of illegal government conduct who as political activists have been selectively targeted for provocation, false arrests, entrapment, fabrication of evidence, and spurious criminal prosecutions". [70] Ball's questioning ended with the following exchange: On that night of May 2[n]d, did you shoot, kill, execute or have anything to do with the death of Trooper Werner Foerster? [165] The prosecutor was C. Richard Gibbons. "Assata Shakur: Case of oppression in U.S". [58][60] Recordings of Trooper Harper calling the dispatcher were played at the trials of both Acoli and Assata Shakur. [36] After an $89,000 Brooklyn bank robbery on March 1, 1972, a Daily News headline asked: "Was that JoAnne?" Krebs, Alan (February 3, 1978), "Notes on People". [122] The jury determined that a widely circulated FBI photo allegedly showing Shakur participating in the robbery was not her. Assata Olugbala Shakur (born JoAnne Deborah Byron; July 16, 1947[a]) is an American political activist who was a member of the Black Liberation Army (BLA). But one issue not raised during his visit was the fate of Assata Shakur, the legendary figure within the Black Panther Party and the Black Liberation Army who now lives in Cuba, where she has political asylum. Joanne Chesimard, a leader of the Black Liberation Army, was convicted of killing a state trooper on the New Jersey Turnpike in 1973. I didn't feel like no Joanne, or no negro, or no amerikan. [62][133] During the trial, hundreds of civil rights campaigners demonstrated outside of the Middlesex County courthouse each day. [70], Shakur's defense attorneys were William Kunstler (the chief of Shakur's defense staff),[134] Stuart Ball, Robert Bloom, Raymond A. She then joined the BLA, a loosely knit offshoot of the Black Panthers, which engaged in an armed struggle against the US government through tactics such as robbing banks and killing police officers and drug dealers.[4]. [158], A key element of Shakur's defense was medical testimony meant to demonstrate that she was shot with her hands up and that she would have been subsequently unable to fire a weapon. Shakur later wrote that teachers seemed surprised when she answered a question in class, as if not expecting black people to be intelligent and engaged. "Judge and Defendants Clash Again as Chesimard Jury Is Chosen". [159] Prosecutor Barone questioned whether Davidson was qualified to make such a judgment 39months after the injury; Barone proceeded to suggest (while a female Sheriff's attendant acted out his suggestion) that Shakur was struck in the right arm and collar bone and "then spun around by the impact of the bullet so an immediate second shot entered the fleshy part of her upper left arm" to which Davidson replied "Impossible. 1978). . Throughout the 1970s, she was indicted nearly a. A photograph of a woman (who was later alleged to be Shakur) wearing thick-rimmed black glasses, with a high hairdo pulled tightly over her head, and pointing a gun, was widely displayed in banks. Their married life ended within a year; they divorced in December 1970. On April 6, 1971, Shakur was shot in the stomach during a struggle with a guest at the Statler Hilton Hotel in Midtown Manhattan. [192], At the time of the escape, Kunstler had just started to prepare her appeal. Judge Starkey said, "People have constitutional rights, and you can't shuffle them around. In 1977, she was convicted in the first-degree murder of State Trooper Werner Foerster during a shootout on the New Jersey Turnpike in 1973. Quick Reference. Two years later, she escaped. [165] The charges were dismissed without trial. While forensic evidence backed up her account, Assata Shakur was sentenced to life plus 33 years in prison for the murder of a police officer, a crime she didn't commit. [63] At this trial, Harper said that Foerster reached into the vehicle, pulled out and held up a semi-automatic pistol and ammunition magazine, and said "Jim, look what I found",[63] while facing Harper at the rear of the vehicle. Johnston, Richard J. The FBI put out a $2 million bounty for her recapture almost 50 years ago. ". Assata Olugbala Shakur is an Black civil rights activist who was a member of the Black Panther Party (BPP) and Black Liberation Army (BLA). Thomas "Blood" McCreary, a member of the BLA, is the largest series in the Black Liberation Army archive. [208] In the six months preceding the publications of the book, Evelyn Williams, Shakur's aunt and attorney, made several trips to Cuba and served as a go-between with Hill. [145], Judge Appleby also threatened Kunstler with dismissal and contempt of court after he delivered an October 21, 1976, speech at nearby Rutgers University that in part discussed the upcoming trial,[146] but later ruled that Kunstler could represent Shakur. [119][122], By the time she was retried in 1977, Acoli had already been convicted of shooting and murdering Foerster. [138] Upon hearing the verdict, Shakur saidin a barely audible voice "I am ashamed that I have even taken part in this trial", and that the jury was racist and had "convicted a woman with her hands up". Jones, Robert A. [64] That night, the second night of jury deliberation, the jury asked Judge Appleby to repeat his instructions regarding the four assault charges 30minutes before retiring for the night, which led to speculation that the jury had decided in Shakur's favor on the remaining charges, especially the two counts of murder. She became involved in political activism at Borough of Manhattan Community College and City College of New York. Shakur, Assata (1987, New edition November 1, 1999). Shakur's only daughter, Kakuya Shakur, was conceived during her trial[108] and born on September 11, 1974, in the "fortified psychiatric ward" at Elmhurst General Hospital in Queens,[122][170] where Shakur stayed for a few days before being returned to Rikers Island. The United States District Court for the District of New Jersey denied the petition and also denied Shakur an injunction against the holding of trial proceedings on Fridays. [76], During an interview, Assata Shakur discussed her treatment by the police and medical staff at Middlesex General Hospital. [222], New York City Councilman Charles Barron, a former Black Panther, has called for the bounty to be rescinded. . "Prosecution Rests Case on Chesimard Robbery Trial; Defendant Ejected". ", Seedman, Albert and Peter Hellman. The New York Amsterdam News section is an ad in support of Assata Shakur. [81] In her autobiography, Shakur recounts being beaten, choked, and kicked on the courtroom floor by five marshals, as Williams narrated the events to ensure they would appear on the court record. [113], Shakur was extradited to New York City on May 6,[114] arraigned on May 11 (pleading not guilty), and remanded to jail by Justice Albert S. McGrover of the State Supreme Court, pending a pretrial hearing on July 2. Under cross-examination, Shakur was unable to explain how three magazines of ammunition and 16 live shells had gotten into her shoulder bag; she also admitted to knowing that Zayd Shakur carried a gun at times, and specifically to seeing a gun sticking out of Acoli's pocket while stopping for supper at a Howard Johnson's restaurant shortly before the shooting. From: Black Liberation Army in Encyclopedia of African American History 1896 to the Present . 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