Saturday, October 1, 2011

Noam Chomsky & Kathleen Cleaver on Geronimo Pratt, COINTELPRO, Corporations (7/7) (1997)

October 16, 1997 www.amazon.com Watch the full program: thefilmarchived.blogspot.com In 1968, Caroline Olsen, a 27-year-old elementary school teacher, was murdered by gunshot during a robbery on a Santa Monica tennis court. Olsen's husband, Kenneth, who was also shot but survived, initially identified another man as the killer. Julius Butler, a Black Panther and police informant, fingered Geronimo Pratt as the killer. In 1970 Pratt was arrested and charged with murder and kidnapping. His attorney, Johnnie L. Cochran Jr., assured his client that the charges would be dropped, given that Pratt had been 350 miles away on the night of the murder and could prove it. But they were met with surprising setbacks, from lying prosecution witnesses trooped to exculpatory evidence disappearing at police stations and the LA District Attorney's office. Later it was revealed that FBI "moles" had infiltrated defense sessions and monitored Cochran's phone calls. Pratt always maintained his innocence. During his incarceration he studied law and steadfastly built a defense. Pratt was represented by attorneys Stuart Hanlon and Johnnie Cochran in his original trial. Together with William Paparian, Hanlon contributed much to the appeals that later led to Pratt's conviction being vacated. Pratt's conviction was vacated on June 10, 1997, on the grounds that the prosecution had concealed evidence that might have exonerated the defendant. In particular, the government had not disclosed that a key ...



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