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June 12, 2008
Federal Magistrate writes that Albert Woodfox's case should be overturned
June 12, 2008
National Briefing | South-NY Times
Louisiana: Case of Ex-Black Panther
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
The conviction of a former Black Panther in the killing of a prison guard in 1972 should be overturned because his former lawyer should have objected to testimony from witnesses who had died after his original trial, a federal magistrate found. The lawyer’s omission denied a fair second trial for the man, Albert Woodfox, in 1998, the magistrate, Christine Nolan, wrote Tuesday in a recommendation to the federal judge who will rule later. Mr. Woodfox, 61, and Herman Wallace, 66, were convicted in the stabbing death of the guard, Brent Miller, on April 17, 1972. Mr. Wallace has been appealing his conviction based on arguments similar to Mr. Woodfox’s. Mr. Woodfox and Mr. Wallace, with another former Black Panther, became known as the Angola Three because they were held in isolation for about three decades at the Louisiana State Penitentiary in Angola.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/12/us/12brfs-CASEOFEXBLAC_BRF.html?_r=1&sq=Black%20Panther&st=nyt&oref=slogin&scp=1&adxnnlx=1213290557-XtJM%20cgTd1fQS/Os4VaP2w&pagewanted=print
Posted by lois at June 12, 2008 01:17 PM