#NewJersey’s Supreme Court voted to grant parole to a former member of the #BlackLiberatio

#NewJersey’s Supreme Court voted to grant parole to a former member of the #BlackLiberationArmy convicted of killing a state trooper alongside infamous exile #AssataShakur in 1973 - despite outcry from the governor and local police. #SundiataAcoli, 85, had several parole bids previously rejected but his attorneys argued he’d been a model prisoner for nearly three decades and has counseled other inmates. Today’s Supreme Court decision overrules the state parole board whcih contended that Acoli is still a risk to commit future crimes and hasn’t taken full responsibility for Trooper Werner Foerster´s death. Acoli’s more-famous co-defendant, Joanne Chesimard, also known as Assata #Shakur, was convicted and sentenced to a life term but escaped from a New #Jersey prison in 1979. Shakur was given asylum in #Cuba by then-President Fidel Castro and remains a fugitive. She was also famously a ‘godmother’ to the late rapper #TupacShakur through her friendship with his mother. In a statement, New Jersey’s progressive Democrat Governor Phil Murphy said he was 'deeply disappointed’ by the ruling. State Attorney General and Murphy appointee Matthew Platkin said in a statement, 'I am grateful to the attorneys in my office who opposed the release of Sundiata Acoli and I am disappointed that he will be released on parole.’ Colonel Patrick Callahan, the current head of New Jersey’s State Police, wrote on Facebook that he spoke with Foerster’s widow Rosa when the news came in. ’[She] is as devastated and disappointed by this decision as I am,’ Callahan wrote. 'Acoli’s release is not only an injustice for the Foerster family and the men and women who serve within the New Jersey State Police, but to every law enforcement officer in this country who dedicates their lives for the safety of the citizens we are sworn to protect.’ In Tuesday’s 3-2 ruling with Chief Justice Stuart Rabner not participating, the court held that the state parole board didn’t meet its required burden of demonstrating there was a substantial likelihood of Acoli committing another crime. #Tupac #AfeniShakur #WonderWombman @wonderwombman @wonderwombman2 https://www.instagram.com/p/CdcGI8FuE4T/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI= -- source link

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