BY HARRY RING
LOS ANGELES - A court hearing has produced new evidence confirming that Elmer "Geronimo" Pratt was the victim of a police frame-up. The one-time Black Panther Party leader is serving a life sentence for a murder he did not commit.

At the 13-day hearing, it was established that Julius Butler, the key witness against Pratt, was an informer for the Los Angeles district attorney's office and for the Los Angeles Police Department at the time he testified. Earlier, it was revealed that he was an FBI informer and that under its secret COINTELPRO operation, the FBI had targeted the Panthers for "disruption" and "neutralization." These crucial facts had been withheld from the jury that convicted Pratt. Three of the jurors have since declared that if they had known Butler was a police informer they would not have voted guilty.

The hearing in state Superior Court in Santa Ana was convened to determine if Pratt's conviction should be overturned and a new trial granted him. Testimony was concluded January 10. The district attorney, who opposed granting a new trial, and Pratt's attorneys, were instructed to file closing arguments by February 14. Judge Everett Dickey will then rule on whether Pratt should be granted a new trial.

The hearing had been slated to be held in Los Angeles County, where Pratt was convicted, but it was moved to neighboring Orange County to avoid a "conflict of interest." Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Richard Kalustian had been the assistant district attorney who prosecuted Pratt and was to testify at the hearing.

Pratt is currently incarcerated in Mule Creek state prison in northern California and was brought to the Orange County jail so he could attend the hearing. When he came in the first morning, many in the crowded courtroom stood up to welcome him with hand waves, and some with clenched fists. Pratt smiled broadly.

The central focus of the hearing was on Butler. He was questioned by Johnny Cochran, who gained fame as O.J. Simpson's lawyer. He had been Pratt's lawyer in the 1972 murder trial. Cochran will also participate in closing arguments along with Pratt's long-time attorney, Stuart Hanlon.

On the witness stand, Butler danced around the fact that he was indeed an informer at the time he testified for the prosecution. He testified he had not informed to the FBI, he had "conversations" with them. He stated that FBI memos saying he provided "confidential" information were mistaken. He had shared the information with others, including neighbors and his landlady.

He said he had not been an informer for the DA's office and the LAPD. He had been a "liaison" person, a "mediator."

But Butler tripped up when Cochran asked how he would define an informer and he responded, one who gives information to the police that can get someone arrested and convicted. Cochran then recalled that Butler had told the FBI that Pratt possessed a machine gun and pistol. He asked, "Would you say you were an informant?"

"I guess you could say that," Butler responded. "Yes."

Later Butler returned to the stand to amend that. He said he had not been an informer, but would not dispute the cops' belief that he was.

Testimony by policemen made clear they regarded Butler as a valued informer. Prior to the Pratt trial, Butler and others had been charged with abducting and beating a Panther suspected of being an infiltrator. Butler, on his own, pleaded guilty to four felony charges. His sentence? Probation and a $200 fine. The sentence was based on a probationary report which included one cop's affidavit that Butler "has been cooperative" with them.

At the hearing, ex-prosecutor Kalustian testified that after Pratt's conviction he requested that Butler's $200 fine be reduced. Later, he got Butler's felony conviction reduced to a misdemeanor so Butler could get into law school.

Imprisoned since 1972, Pratt has been denied parole 13 times. Four previous motions for a new trial were rejected. But continuing revelations about the frame-up, coupled with growing public support for Pratt, finally won the present hearing.

At the time of his arrest, Pratt was the leader of the Los Angeles Panthers. He was charged with killing Caroline Olsen and wounding her husband Kenneth during a robbery. Pratt insisted that at the time the crime was committed he was attending a Panther meeting in Oakland, 400 miles away. He said the FBI knew this because they had the Panthers under intense surveillance and had a tap on the Oakland Panther phone he used to make several calls. Later a retired FBI agent came forward to affirm he had seen such records. This information vanished from the FBI files.

Kathleen Cleaver, who attended the Oakland meeting, testified in Pratt's behalf at his trial. In 1992, others who attended the meeting came forward to verify that Pratt was there at the time of the murder. They explained they had remained silent on instructions from the late Huey Newton, the central leader of the organization. There was a bitter factional struggle in the Panthers at the time and Pratt had been among those opposing Newton.

Pratt was indicted for the Olsen murder in 1970 after Butler told police that Pratt had confided to him that he was the killer.

Butler, a former sheriff's deputy, had joined the Panthers in 1968 and by 1970 had become the group's area security chief. At the time, documents confirm, Butler was already providing information to the FBI. Their documents reported tensions between Pratt and Butler and said that on August 5 of that year, Pratt "probably" expelled Butler from the party. Five days later, Butler wrote a letter recounting Pratt's "confession" and gave it to two L.A. cops. Obviously tipped off in advance, FBI agents were on the scene and demanded the cops give them the letter. Later, the cops gave it to them and Pratt's indictment followed. The letter was the cornerstone of the case against Pratt.

In an interview outside the courtroom, Pratt's sister, Ginny Pratt, expressed both satisfaction and frustration with the hearing. She said the testimony was "bringing out a lot of facts we've been fighting to bring out for years." At the same time, she angrily added, "It's a cover- up....They're covering up the role of the government, the role of the FBI - what they did to destroy the Panthers.

"They framed Geronimo, they murdered Fred Hampton in Chicago," she declared. "It was all part of the COINTELPRO operation to destroy the Panthers."

Pratt's spokesperson, Mohammad Mubarak, said Pratt was encouraged by the hearing. He felt that the new evidence about the scope of Butler's role as an informer was important and carried greater weight because the disclosures came not from his supporters, but from the District Attorney's office and the police.

Testimony by retired LAPD Capt. Edward Henry helped round out what Butler's role was in the Panthers. He noted that in confrontations between the police and Panthers, Butler had been the most vociferous in hurling obscenities. After meeting with Butler, he added, he realized this was intended "to convince the Panthers that he was a good Panther."

When Butler was cursing the police, Henry was asked, did he think Butler was acting as a provocateur?

Henry responded, "In effect, yes."  
 
 
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