2A
NEWS/ The Charlotte Post
Thursday, June 5, 1997
More
than skin
Prosecutors rethink trial
deep
By Linda Deutsch
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
MELODYE MICERE STEWART
In the
spirit of
Ma’at
"To do always as much as we
can, in the way we can, in order
to leave our community more
^ beautiful and beneficial than
when we inherited it.” Dr.
Maulana Karenga’s concept of
Kuumba - creativity - aptly
describes a host of African
Americans who dedicated their
lives to enhancing the commu
nity with beauty.
In ancient African cosmology,
beauty waa/is not simply skin
deep. The way you lived your
life was the foundation of beau
ty; good character, not good
looks, was the standard of
beauty. As a reflection of this
idea, the Kiswahili word,
Nzuri, means both the beauti
ful and the good - you could not
be considered beautiful and
have an ugly disposition. The
good and the beautiful are
inseparable.
African American history is
filled with examples of people
who exemplified both good and
the beautiful, utilizing their
Kuumba - creativity - to
enhance the community. The
creative arts provides many
obvious examples, including
the creativity of the artists,
writers and musicians of the
Harlem Renaissance era of the
1920s to the artists, writers
and musicians of the Black
Arts Movement of the 1960s.
But we must also look at the
historical struggle for equality
as an expression of Kuumba.
African American creative
genius is found in the concep
tion of an “Underground
Jtailroad,” of which Harriet
IXibman represents as master
ijconductor.” Thomas Jefferson
Houston was another “conduc
tor” who helped spirit away
enslaved Africans to freedom.
'J'he creative genius of his
^andson, Charles H. Houston,
was noted by Supreme Court
Justice Thurgood Marshall,
i/ho wrote, “You have a large
iumber of people who never
beard of Charlie Houston. But
You're going to hear about him,
because he left us such impor
tant items...” As the architect
Jnd legal strategist of Brown
Versus the Board of Education,
historian Columbus Salley
called Houston the “legal engi-
! rteer of the African American
quest for justice and equality in
post-Reconstruction America.”
LOS ANGELES - With the
Black Panthers a distant mem
ory on America's political land
scape, prosecutors must decide
whether to retry the 29-year-
old murder case of ex-Panther
Elmer “Geronimo” Pratt.
Savoring his legal victory
after a quarter-century battle
for Pratt’s freedom, San
F rancisco attorney Stuart
Hanlon was cautious in assess
ing Pratt’s chance of release
when he returned to courth
this week.
“The question now is whether
the district attorney will
appeal,” Hanlon said of a
judge’s ruling 'Thursday that
reverses Pratt’s 1972 convic
tion.
His future may turn on his
torical perspective. It’s a differ
ent world now than when FBI
chief J. Edgar Hoover declared
the beret-clad band of armed
militants a danger to the
nation.
“The country has changed,”
Hanlon said. “The Panthers
are no longer a threat and peo
ple now don’t trust the govern
ment. Way back then every
body but us fringe lunatics
trusted the government. But so
much has happened; people no
longer trust the police or the
government.”
Pratt, with shaven head,
wire-rimmed glasses and gray
ing goatee, is a 49-year-oId
grandfather now, a figure
remote from the Panther
arrested in 1970 for the 1968
robbery and murder of
Caroline Olsen on a Santa
Monica tennis court. He always
maintained he was hundreds of
miles away in Oakland at
party headquarters when the
killing occurred.
The prospect of another trial
29 years after the fact is seen
by many experts as futile.
Witnesses have died or been
discredited. Evidence is no
longer fresh.
“Are we going to go through
putting the DA and the police
on trial?” asked Hanlon.
“I’m willing to do it but I have
better things to do and so does
Geronimo.”
In fact, few retrials have been
held after such a long passage
of time. One was the case of
Byron De La Beckwith, con
victed in the murder of civil
rights leader Medgar Evers 29
years after two trials ended in
deadlocks.
Lawyers have long claimed
Pratt’s conviction was political
retribution against the
Panthers, but only recently did
they uncover proof that the
chief witness against Pratt,
Julius “Julio” Butler, was a
police and FBI informant who
infiltrated the Panthers and
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PHOTO/KEVORK DJANSEZIAN
Elmer “Geronimo” Pratt, ex-Black Panther leader, sits In Los
Angeles Superior Court during a hearing whether to overturn
his murder conviction on March 28,1996. A judge granted a new
trial for Pratt last week in Los angeles, capping a 25-year legal
battle.
lied about it under oath.
Orange County Superior
Court Judge Everett W. Dickey
ruled last week that Butler was
crucial to Pratt's conviction.
Butler claimed Pratt had con
fessed to him; Pratt denied it.
In a 13-page decision, Dickey
said: “The evidence which was
withheld about Julius Butler
and his activities could have
put the whole case in a differ
ent light, and failure to timely
disclose it undermines confi
dence in the verdict.”
Los Angeles County District
Attorney Gil Garcetti has
three options: appeal the deci
sion, pursue a new trial or
drop the charges.
“It may be very tough for the
prosecution to retry this
case,” said Laurie Levenson of
Loyola Law School. “It’s been
a quarter of a century, and
their key witness has been
proved a liar.”
The only eyewitness,
Olsen's husband, Kenneth, is
dead.
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