Geronimo Pratt "Free at last"
The former Black Panther was released on bail on June 10, after 27 years behind bars for a crime he didn't commit.
In 1970 Geronimo Pratt was framed for the murder of a schoolteacher, and (two years later) sentenced to 25 years to life in prison. He was "railroaded" for the killing as FBI and police sought to undermine the Black Panther movement in California.
The conviction was overturned when a judge ruled that prosecutors had failed to tell the defence that their key witness who claimed Pratt confessed, was an paid infiltrator and informant for the FBI and police
Stuart Hanlon, one of Pratt's attorneys, said his client's release still doesn't
"The justify the American legal system.
justice system that kept him in jail for 25 years can't be justified by one jud es ruling. It's been a long struggle, said
Eldridge Cleaver, the 61-year-old former minister of information for the
Black Panthers, said Pratt's release and reversal of his conviction would help to solidify the party's reputation in history.
"We will be judged as having a made a positive contribution," he said. "We stood up for freedom and justice." Of
Pratt, Cleaver said: "His legacy is one of endurance, of always saying no to the attempts to subvert him." *
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