| Summary |
"The story of Geronimo Pratt's conviction and imprisonment, for a murder committed while he was 350 miles away from the crime scene and under FBI surveillance, is a textbook case of abuse of the American legal ystem for political ends. After returning from two tours of duty in Vietnam, Pratt become a leader of the Black Panthers in Los Angeles. Visible and articulate, he was targeted by the FBI's counterintelligence program. He was soon set-up and convicted for a highly publicized 1968 Santa Monica, California murder, when he was in fact in Oakland. At trial, where he was represented by the now-famous Johnnie Cochran, evidence was suppressed (and later destroyed), witnesses were intimidated and perjury was suborned. His case attracted international attention. By the time he was finally freed based on the government's concealment of proof he was in Oakland, Pratt had been wrongly imprisoned for 26 years. The book is rigorously researched and passionately written by veteran crime reporter and writer Jack Olsen." |