Director and Others to Testify on Program Aimed at Harassing Activists". The FBI put out a $2 million bounty for her recapture almost 50 years ago. [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. [141] The New Jersey Legal Ethics Committee also investigated complaints against Hinds for comparing Shakur's murder trial to "legalized lynching"[142] undertaken by a "kangaroo court". [58][68][69] Zayd Shakur's body was found in a nearby gully along the road. [59] The vehicle was "slightly" exceeding the speed limit. In May 1973, Shakur and two other members of the Black Liberation Army (BLA) were pulled over on the New Jersey Turnpike by State Trooper Werner Foerster and another highway officer. Trooper Harper was wounded in the left shoulder, reported in "good" condition, and given a protective guard at the hospital. Assata Olugbala Shakurpolitical activist, author, fugitive, and step-aunt of the famed, slain hip-hop artist Tupac Shakur was born JoAnne Deborah Bryon on July 16, 1947 in New York City, New York. Seller with a 100% positive feedback. Brown,[136] Stanley Cohen (who died of unknown causes early on in the Turnpike trial), Lennox Hinds, Florynce Kennedy, Louis Myers, Laurence Stern, and Evelyn Williams, Shakur's aunt. Daly, Michael (December 13, 2006). [66] According to the testimony of State Police investigators, two jammed semi-automatic pistols were discovered near Foerster's body. [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". 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. [128] Based on New Jersey law, if Shakur's presence at the scene could be considered as "aiding and abetting" the murder of Foerster, she could be convicted even if she had not fired the bullets which had killed him. [100] Louis Chesimard (Shakur's ex-husband) and Paul Stewart, the other two alleged robbers, had been acquitted in June. (February 14, 1974). Getty Images Joanne Chesimard, or Assata Shakur, is New Jersey's most wanted fugitive for killing a state trooper and then fleeing to Cuba in 1979. An activist in black radical groups such as the Black Panther Party and the Black Liberation Army, Shakur was convicted of murdering a New Jersey state trooper in 1977, but supporters helped her escape prison and take refuge in Cuba. [102] During the retrial, the defendants repeatedly left or were thrown out of the courtroom. In 1979, she escaped from prison and made her way to Cuba, where she was granted political asylum and continues to live today. ", "Trump calls on Cuba to return U.S. fugitives, including cop-killer Chesimard", "Like Water for Chocolate: Common's Recipe for Progressive Hip-Hop", "CUNY Chief Orders Names Stripped From Student Center", "First Amendment Violation Claim Proceeds Against College Over Removed Plaque", Two Scholarships Given New Names After Controversy, Superhero Inspiration for Course on 'Black Heroes', "Common Pulled From Kean University Commencement Speech After Police Complaints", "A Herstory of the #BlackLivesMatter Movement", "Activists of every stripe unite in ICE civil disobedience", "Assata Shakur birthday honored by Women's March organizers", "When the 'Resistance' Gets Reprehensible", "Six months after the Women's March on Washington, the Resistance Revival has a message for Trump", "County pays $15K to FBI fugitive, part of Freeman Park land deal", The Cointelpro papers: documents from the FBI's secret wars against dissent in the United States, "New Most Wanted Terrorist Joanne Chesimard; First Woman Added to List," May 2, 2013, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Assata Shakur Speaks website in support of Shakur, "The Story of Joanne Chesimard," May 2003 editorial, NJLawman.com. From 1971 to 1973, the Black Liberation Army was held responsible for a series of sniper attacks and bank robberies in New York, New Jersey, St. Louis, and Detroit. [177], On February 20, 1979,[178] after the Maximum Security Unit at Alderson was closed,[176] Shakur was transferred to the Clinton Correctional Facility for Women in New Jersey. [63] The prosecution argued that Assata had fired the bullets that had wounded Harper, while the defense argued that the now deceased Zayd had fired them. [193] In New York, three days after her escape, more than 5,000 demonstrators organized by the National Black Human Rights Coalition carried signs with the same slogan. [163] Appleby finally sentenced Shakur to 30days in the Middlesex County Workhouse for contempt of court, concurrent with the other sentences, for refusing to rise when he entered the courtroom. Assata Shakur was found guilty of the murder of both Foerster and her companion Zayd Shakur, . [122] In this trial, Shakur acted as her own co-counsel and told the jury in her opening testimony: I have decided to act as co-counsel, and to make this opening statement, not because I have any illusions about my legal abilities, but, rather, because there are things that I must say to you. [195] In July 1980, FBI director William H. Webster said that the search for Shakur had been frustrated by residents' refusal to cooperate, and a New York Times editorial opined that the department's commitment to "enforce the law with vigorbut also with sensitivity for civil rights and civil liberties" had been "clouded" by an "apparently crude sweep" through a Harlem building in search of Shakur. What happens to Assata Shakur now? There were people [in the BLA] who absolutely took the position that it was just time to resist, and if black people didn't start to fight back against police brutality and didn't start to wage armed resistance, we would be annihilated. After a bomb threat was made against Judge Appleby, Sheriff Joseph DeMarino lied to the press about the exact date of her transfer to Clinton Correctional Facility for Women; He later claimed the threat to be the cause of his falsification. Johnston, Richard J. H. (March 9, 1974). Prial, Frank J. During a confrontation, a shootout ensued, killing Foerster and one of the passengers in the car. 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: . Jones, Robert A. James, Joy, and Sharpley-Whiting, T. Denean (2000). "Neurosurgeon's Testimony Backs Mrs. Chesimard". One man involved in the killing was still wanted at the time of the arrests. [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. Johnston, Richard J. (February 20, 1974). Judge Starkey said, "People have constitutional rights, and you can't shuffle them around. [12] She attended for a while before dropping out. Quick Reference. Due to the possibility of miscarriage, the prosecution successfully requested a mistrial for Shakur; Acoli's trial continued. (1975). 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. Allen-Mills, Tony (May 27, 2007). Shakur, Assata (1987, New edition November 1, 1999). . "Mrs. Chesimard Bids U.S. Court Bar Trial Sessions on Her Sabbath". [96] Shakur was ejected following an argument with Williams, and Hilton left with her as jury selection continued. 1974). They "attempted to tie Assata to every suspected action of the BLA involving a woman". [198] Since her escape, Shakur has been charged with unlawful flight to avoid imprisonment. [117] Freeman was said to have later escaped unhurt. The Black Liberation Army (BLA) defined itself as a politico-military organization engaged in armed struggle against the U.S. government. 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]. [62] Mutulu Shakur and Marilyn Buck were convicted in 1988 of several robberies as well as the prison escape. [26] Shakur is alleged to have said that she was glad that she had been shot; afterward, she was no longer afraid to be shot again. In May 1973, Shakur was arrested after being wounded in a shootout on the New Jersey Turnpike. [18] But she soon left the party, disliking the macho behavior of the men and believing that the BPP members and leaders lacked knowledge and understanding of United States black history. [145] On May 6, 1977, Judge Clarkson Fisher, of the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey, denied Shakur's request for an injunction requiring her transfer from the all-male facility to Clinton Correctional Facility for Women; the Third Circuit affirmed. Assata Shakur, a former member of the Black Liberation Army, was convicted in 1977 for the murder of a state trooper during a shootout in New Jersey. Between 1971 and 1973, Shakur was accused of several crimes and made the subject of a multi-state manhunt. ", then displayed a revolver and demanded money. "[79] Polls of residents in Middlesex County, where Acoli had been convicted less than three years earlier,[80] showed that 83% knew Shakur's identity and 70% believed that she was guilty. Sundiata Acoli, 85, the oldest former member of the Black Panthers still to be incarcerated for acts of violence during the 1970s Black liberation struggle, is finally to be released from. "[242], The Chicago Black activist group Assata's Daughters is named in her honor. [176] At Alderson, Shakur was housed in the Maximum Security Unit, which also contained several members of the Aryan Sisterhood as well as Sandra Good and Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme, followers of Charles Manson. The FBI circulated wanted posters throughout the New York New Jersey area; her supporters hung "Assata Shakur is Welcome Here" posters in response. The Black Liberation Army (BLA) was an underground Marxist-Leninist, black-nationalist militant organization that operated in the United States from 1970 to 1981. . She became involved in political activism at Borough of Manhattan Community College and City College of New York. [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. [234] In 2008, a Bucknell University professor included Shakur in a course on "African-American heroes"along with figures such as Harriet Tubman, Sojourner Truth, John Henry, Malcolm X, and Angela Davis. [104], The Turnpike shootout proceedings continued with Judge John E. Bachman in Middlesex County. Shakur still frequently visited her grandparents in the south. [158] Additionally, in his autobiography, Kunstler alleged that he later learned from a law enforcement agent that a New Jersey State Assembly member had addressed the jury at the hotel where they were sequestered, urging them to convict Shakur. [13], Shakur attended Borough of Manhattan Community College (BMCC) and then the City College of New York (CCNY) in the mid-1960s, where she became involved in many political activities, civil rights protests, and sit-ins. A condition of making a new deal between the United States and Cuba is the release of political prisoners and the return of fugitives from justice. [224] Calls for Shakur's extradition increased following Fidel Castro's transfer of presidential duties;[222] in a May 2005 television address, Castro had called Shakur a victim of racial persecution, saying "they wanted to portray her as a terrorist, something that was an injustice, a brutality, an infamous lie. She was questioned by her own attorney, Stuart Ball, for under 40minutes, and then cross-examined by Barone for less than two hours (see the Witnesses section below). [52] After her capture, however, Shakur was not charged with any of the crimes for which she was purportedly the subject of the manhunt. Shakur has lived in Cuba since, despite US government efforts to have her returned. She fought for human rights in the 1960s and 1970s. [173] When Kunstler first took on Shakur's case (before meeting her), he described her basement cell as "adequate", which nearly resulted in his dismissal as her attorney. 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