Vol. 79/No. 43      November 30, 2015

 

Court overturns freeing Albert Woodfox,
last of ‘Angola 3’

 
 
In a travesty of justice, a federal appeals court on Nov. 9 overturned a lower court decision that had ordered the release of Albert Woodfox and barred Louisiana state prosecutors from putting him on trial for a third time. Woodfox, now 68 years old and in frail health, was framed for the 1972 murder of prison guard Brent Miller and has been held in solitary confinement ever since.

Woodfox is the only member of the “Angola 3” still in prison. Along with Robert King and Herman Wallace, he had organized an inmate chapter of the Black Panther Party at Louisiana State Penitentiary in the town of Angola. All three were targeted by prison authorities because of their political activities.

Wallace, framed with Woodfox in the killing of Miller, died in 2013 just three days following his release from prison after a court ruled he never received a fair trial. King was released in 2001 after his conviction in the killing of a fellow inmate was overturned.

A date has not yet been set for a new trial. “Albert is clearly and plainly being singled out for harsh treatment,” his lawyer George Kendall said by phone from New York Nov. 13.

There was never any physical evidence connecting Woodfox to the murder, noted Judge James Brady in his June decision to free Woodfox and bar the state from putting him on trial a third time. His case presented “exceptional circumstances to justify an extraordinary remedy,” he wrote.

Prosecutors admit that there would be no case without the testimony of their key witness, inmate Hezekiah Brown. It was not revealed until after the first trial that Brown had been promised better conditions and an eventual pardon in exchange for his testimony.

Woodfox’s first two convictions were overturned on appeal because of blatant racial discrimination in the selection of the grand juries that brought the indictments.

“For over four decades, Mr. Woodfox has been housed in a small, single cell, in 23-hours-a-day lockdown,” Judge Brady said, adding that given the prosecutors’ previous conduct, there is no reason to believe that a third trial would respect Woodfox’s constitutional rights.

In its 2-to-1 ruling overturning Brady’s decision, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit did not challenge the main facts he cited, but claimed they are either “irrelevant” or “better addressed in other proceedings.”

In a stinging dissent, appeals court Judge James Dennis wrote, “If ever a case justifiably could be considered to present ‘exceptional circumstances’ barring reprosecution, this is that case.”

Woodfox’s attorneys are considering appealing the decision to the Supreme Court, Kendall said. A civil suit by Woodfox, challenging his conditions in solitary confinement, will begin June 29 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

Since Feb. 12, Woodfox has been held at the West Feliciana Parish Detention Center. “In Angola and Wade prisons he could see people passing by through the bars on the cell door and wave hi,” Kendall said. “Now he has a steel door and he can’t do that. But they’ve given him a TV and a phone.” His calls are recorded and he’s not allowed to speak with reporters.

Prison authorities have been unable to break Woodfox’s spirit. “I am living proof that we can survive the worst to change ourselves and our world no matter where we are,” he told a visitor in April 2014.  
 
 
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