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Black Vietnam Vet Framed

By VVAW

Geronimo Pratt, a Vietnam veteran, has been in jail in California for eight years, convicted of murder and robbery. At the trial, he claimed he was in another part of California, 450 miles away from the scene of the crime. The State of California, with the help of the FBI put together a case that resulted in Geronimo's conviction. The evidence against him was both hearsay and political: because Geronimo had been a leader of the Black Panther Party in Los Angeles, his past was used to portray him as an obvious criminal. He was first sent to Vacaville, a mind-conditioning institution noted for using drugs and operations to alter the thinking of prisoners. He is now being held in San Quentin.

Geronimo was—and is—innocent. And the FBI knew it. You see, the FBI had wiretapped the Panther meeting Geronimo was at (and you guessed it—it was 450 miles away from where the crime took place!) and did not release the taps to the court for "security" reasons. Despite the new information, Geronimo is still in jail awaiting a new court decision to follow all the legal hassellling. So much for "fair and impartial" trials, or for the FBI's "interest" in justice!