Wednesday, October 16, 2013

Free At Last, Free At Last

10/16/13

A 71 year old former Louisiana state prison inmate dies of cancer three days after being released - his family states "he was just turning his life around."

In 1970,  Black Panther Herman Wallace was serving a 50 year sentence for armed robbery when he and two other men were convicted of killing a prison guard.

A 71-year-old man who spent 41 years in solitary confinement died today, just days after being freed. Herman Wallace, who had liver cancer, died at a supporter's home in New Orleans, his attorneys said. 'One of the final things that Herman said to us was, "I am free. I am free",' they said.
Yep, Martin Luther King would be so proud. Let's name a street after him.
Baton Rouge Judge Brian Jackson had ordered Wallace released from prison on Tuesday after granting him a new trial. Jackson ruled women were unconstitutionally excluded from the grand jury that indicted Wallace in the fatal stabbing of 23-year-old prison guard Brent Miller.
A West Feliciana Parish grand jury re-indicted Wallace on charges connected to Miller's death on Thursday. District Attorney Sam D'Aquilla told The Advocate newspaper that Jackson ordered a new trial because he 'perceived a flaw in the indictment - not his murder conviction'. Wallace and two other inmates held in solitary confinement for years came to be known as the 'Angola 3'.
The judge released Wallace on a procedural issue, not on any evidential question surrounding his conviction. If Wallace had died in prison he still would not have finished his original 50 year prison term.

*yawn*

source

1 comment:

Unknown said...

We shouldn’t tell persons who to be, anyways.Nice post. Thanks for sharing this.
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