Angola 2/Wallace 6/13 Update!-gctid28437

[nattyreb]

Breaking news yesterday ...
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Ex-Black Panthers want freedom after decision

By JANET MCCONNAUGHEY,
Associated Press Writer

Two former Black Panthers convicted of killing a prison guard in 1972 should be freed after a federal magistrate found a previous attorney made mistakes during a trial, their current lawyers said Wednesday.

Magistrate Judge Christine Nolan wrote that Albert Woodfox's conviction should be overturned because his former attorney should have objected to testimony from witnesses who had died after his original trial and to letting a prosecutor testify about the chief prosecution witness's credibility. The attorney's omission denied Wilcox a fair second trial in 1998, Nolan wrote in a recommendation Tuesday to U.S. District Judge James Brady, who will rule later.

Woodfox, 61, and Herman Wallace, 66, spent 36 years in solitary confinement after being convicted in the stabbing death of guard Brent Miller on April 17, 1972. They said they were targeted because they helped establish a prison chapter of the Black Panther Party.

Wallace has been appealing his conviction based on arguments similar to Woodfox's.

Attorneys plan to meet soon with prosecutors to discuss both cases, in hopes of settling them without any further review, said Attorney Nicholas Trenticosta, who represents Woodfox and Wallace.

But First Assistant State Attorney General John Sinquefield said he plans to ask U.S. District Judge John Brady to reject Noland's recommendations. Sinquefield prosecuted Woodfox in 1973 as an assistant district attorney and was called as a witness during his retrial in 1998.

Along with another ex-Black Panther convicted of killing an inmate at the prison, the trio became known as the "Angola Three" because they were held in isolation for about three decades at the Louisiana State Penitentiary in Angola, La., about 40 miles northwest of Baton Rouge.

The witnesses who died before Woodfox's second trial included the prosecution's main witness — an inmate who made a deal in exchange for his testimony — and an expert who talked about blood spatters on clothing that state officials said had been lost, Nolan wrote.

Asked Wednesday about his testimony regarding the witness, Sinquefield said, "I was subpoenaed, and I testified under a subpoena over there and told the truth the best I could remember it."

The attorney also should have asked for money to hire experts to testify about blood, DNA and fingerprints and other evidence in Woodcox's defense, the magistrate wrote.

Noland also noted strong evidence of misconduct by prosecutors but said she declined to go into detail because the ineffective counsel alone was grounds to overturn the conviction.

Trenticosta asked the Louisiana Supreme Court on Wednesday to consider Wallace's case. Although a state court commissioner had recommended overturning his conviction, a district judge refused and a state appeals court rejected Wallace's arguments last month.

Wallace and Wilcox were kept in solitary confinement from 1972 until March, when they were moved to a maximum-security dormitory. Woodfox was serving 50 years for armed robbery before the 1972 charge.

The third member of the "Angola Three" spent 29 years in isolation before his conviction was overturned in 2001. Robert King, known as Robert King Wilkerson in the 1970s, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit murder and was freed.

King said he now lives in Austin, Texas, and supports himself by giving talks about his case and that of Woodfox and Wallace. "I keep the focus on Herman and Albert," he said.

When they went to Angola, the prison was known as America's bloodiest. Murders were common and, according to testimony at Woodfox's 1998 trial, there were widespread problems with rape, Noland wrote.

Asked about the long years in isolation, King said, "It's like being in hell."

[nattyreb]

'Angola 3' member reportedly in solitary holding cell
WDAM.com Laurel-Hattiesburg, MS The Pinebelt's Choice For News, Sports and Weather | 'Angola 3' member reportedly in solitary holding cell

Associated Press - June 13, 2008 9:24 AM ET

NEW ORLEANS (AP) - An inmate who only recently was moved into a dormitory after 36 years in solitary confinement at the Louisiana State Penitentiary reportedly is now in a cell that inmates call "the dungeon."

That word comes from Emma Mackinnon, a spokeswoman for attorneys representing Herman Wallace and two other former Black Panthers known as the Angola Three because they were kept in isolation for decades in the state prison at Angola.

Officials at the prison and other state corrections officials could not immediately be reached for comment.

Mackinnon says the other member of the Angola Three who is still in prison - Albert Woodfox - called attorneys last night and said guards had come for Wallace, and said they were moving him to a holding cell known as the dungeon.

A federal magistrate has recommended overturning Woodfox's conviction. Wallace has an appeal on similar grounds in state court.

'Angola 3' member moved to one-man holding cell
6/13/2008, 11:29 a.m. CDT
The Associated Press  
'Angola 3' member moved to one-man holding cell - NewsFlash - NOLA.com

NEW ORLEANS (AP) * An inmate who only recently was moved into a dormitory after 36 years in solitary confinement was in a one-man holding cell Friday, accused of breaking a prison rule.

Warden Cathy Fontenot, a prison spokeswoman, said she could not say what Herman Wallace allegedly did because rule violations are not public information.

"It's a minor violation of a phone issue," defense attorney Nicholas Trenticosta said * the sort of infraction likely to bring a temporary loss of privileges if it is found valid.

Wallace will get an administrative hearing within 72 hours, Fontenot said.

Wallace is one of three former Black Panthers known as the Angola Three because they were kept in isolation for decades in the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola, 40 miles northwest of Baton Rouge.

One was freed in 2001 after 29 years in solitary confinement, but Wallace and Albert Woodfox were in isolation cells from 1972 until this past March, when they were moved to a maximum-security dormitory with nine other inmates.

Wallace was moved days after a federal magistrate recommended overturning Woodfox's conviction for killing a prison guard. Wallace, who also was convicted in the stabbing death of guard Brent Miller on April 17, 1972, has an appeal on similar grounds in state court.

Trenticosta said he and other attorneys met with Wallace and Woodfox on Thursday to talk about the non-binding recommendation to U.S. District Judge John Brady.

He said the move to a holding cell is standard when an inmate is accused of breaking a rule, and the timing for Wallace appears to be just coincidence.

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