ASSATA SHAKUR

black revolutionary

"I am ashamed that I have even taken part in this trial. You abuse the law. You're racists, yes you are. I knew the judge was unfair. You have convicted a woman who had her hands up in the air.”

Assata was held for a year before her trial in solitary confinement in the basement of the all-male Middlesex County Jail in New Jersey. She was arested May 2, 1973 by state troopers on the New Jersey Turnpike. Her companion, Zayd Makik Shakur, was shot and killed. Expert medical witnesses at her trial corroborated her accusation that Assata was wounded while she held her hands above her head. She and Sundiata Acoli were charged with the murder of Zayd and a state trooper.

Fifteen days after her conviction by an all-white jury, she was taken in chains from the Clinton Correctional Facility for Women to the Maximum Security Prison at Yardsville. There she is the only woman among 810. men. Officials claim they "feared for her safety" in the women's prison. She is kept in 24hour lockup in a tiny cell with no privacy. Her every move is watched by male prisoners and guards.

In the four years Assata has been jailed she has been acquitted three different times of accusations by the state of New York and the federal government. She still faces extradition from New Jersey to Brooklyn on a murder charge there. Her codefendent in the case has already been released for lack of evidence.

“I am a Black revolutionary, and as such I am the viction of all the wrath, hatred and slander that amerikkka is capable of. Like all other Black revolutionaries, I have been hunted Hke a dog, and like all other Black revolutionaries, amerikkka is trying to lynch me."

DESSIE WOODS victim of assault

In June of 1975 Dessie Woods and Cheryl Todd were forced to hitchhike from their home in Atlanta to Reidsville Prison 100 miles away to see Cheryl's brother who had written of severe medical problems left unattended by authorities in that maximum security facility. Cheryl, under treatment for high blood fainted when the two women pressure, reached the gates of the prison. They were arrested by security guards for "public drunkenness" and later beaten. Released three days later, they were desperate to return to Atlanta.

Ronnie Horn, a white insurance salesman posing as a detective, offered them a ride. They willingly told him of their ordeal at Reidsville. When he turned down a back road they became suspicious and got out of the car. Horne threatened them with arrest if they did not return to the car. Once on the road again, "He told us he was going to fuck us both." Cheryl, hysterical, ran from the car. The man pulled out his shotgun, and Dessie struggled with him for the back seat, finally shooting him twice in the head with his shotgun. Then she calmed Cheryl, and they took carfare money from Horne's wallet and left. The next day they were both arrested, charged with murder and armed robbery, and imprisoned in the Wheeler County Jail.

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SEVEN WOMEN JAILED

The women in the following article have two things in common: they are imprisoned for "acts of violence," and they are non-white. The establishment press does not tell us about these women and their circumstances.

The trial was moved from Wheeler to Hawkinsville in Pulaski County, where the Ku Klux Klan was founded shortly after the Civil War. In a town of 3000 in a rural southern plantation county, armed bailiffs, state troopers, deputies, and local police guarded the city and courthouse against rumors of a militant rally in the women's behalf. Several black people in the area were fired from their jobs or suspended from their jobs for peaceably demonstrating in the streets.

The state's case was so shabby that after several hours of deliberation, the jury of 6 black women, 1 black male, and 5 white females returned to the courtroom and stated they were hopelessly hung. Judge O'Connor demanded that they return and reach a verdict. Two days later, on Feb. 2, 1976, they returned with "compromise" convictions of theft for Cheryl Todd, manslaughter and armed robbery for Dessie Woods. Dessie, tears streaming down her face, walked over to the jury, and said to the Black people:

Cheryl was sentenced to 5 years, 3% of the sentence to be served on probation. Dessie was sentenced to 10 years for voluntary manslaughter and 12 years for armed robbery. She is currently in the Georgia Women's Institute of Corrections at Hardwick, Georgia. Letters received from her indicate that she has been forcibly drugged and beaten since her incarceration. She has on occasion been stripped naked and thrown into a punishment cell isolated from other prisoners.

"I have been in a lot of cities, big and small, but you are the dumbest niggers I have ever seen. You let those devils brainwash you to kill your own sister."

FILIPINA NARCISCO LEONORA PEREZ circumstantial evidence

The charges stem from the deaths of thirteen patients at the VA hospital in Ann Arbor, Michigan, during a six-month period in the summer of 1975. The administration of Pavulon, a powerful muscle relaxant, is believed to have caused breathing failures which led to the deaths and affected fifty other patients.

After calling seventy-eight witnesses for nine weeks of testimony and spending $250,000 on FBI chemical analysis, the best the prosecution could do was place the nurses in the vicinity where the breathing failures happened.

Supporters claim that the hospital is anxious to cover up possible charges of governmental experi. mentation, drug contamination, neglience, and lack of security. In addition, during the FBI's two-year investigation, the nurses' supervisor (who had been suffering from mental illness for some time) confessed to the poisonings shortly before she committed suicide. She was never investigated as a suspect. Several witnesses in the case, including William Loesch, a patient who recovered, testified that they saw an unidentified man in a green scrub suit running away before some of the breathing failures. The muscle relaxant used was kept in an unlocked refrigerator.

As the case approached trial, the Federal prosecutor was supposed to turn over coples of the medical evidence to the defense. This was not done. The only motive for the crime suggested by the prosecution was that the nurses wanted to protest bad working conditions at the hospital.

Filipina and Loenora face life prison terms for murder and five year terms for conspiracy. They also face possible deportation to the Philippines. In mid-October sentencing and hearings on defense motion for a new trial will occur.

ELLA ELLISON life without parole

This 29-year old black mother of four is the only woman in Massachusetts serving a "natural life" sentence. She was convicted in connection with a 1973 bank robbery and cop killing.

Motions for a new trial have been filed with the Suffolk Superior Court in Boston, based on evidence that two prosecution witnesses, Williams and Irving, lied at the original trial in exchange for reduced charges. They now testify there was no woman involved. In addition, the defense charges that the prosecution withheld important evidence, including two tapes and statements given to the police who arrested the two men.

FRANCINE HUGHES battered wife

Francine Hughes is the 29-year-old mother of four young children. A frequent victim of violent beatings by her husband, James, she divorced him in 1971, left the town of Dansville, Michigan with her children, and moved in with her parents in Jackson.

James visited the children often, and fights with Francine usually ensued. After one such visit, he left in a rage, got drunk, and was involved in an accident that left him totally disabled. Under pres. sure from James' parents, who convinced her that she was somewhat to blame for his condition, Francine returned to Dansville, bought a house, and moved in with her children. In the months that followed, Francine nursed her ex-husband, who was still living with his mother, back to health while at the same time attending classes at Lansing Business University and taking complete care of her children. As James' injuries improved, the beatings began once again and increased, and so did Francine's calls to the police. James also spent more time at Francine's home and eventually moved in.

On March 9, 1977, police responded to a call for protection from Francine that followed another fight during which James had beaten her and destroyed her textbooks.

That night, when her children were all together, she loaded them into the car, allegedly set fire to the area around which James was sleeping, and then drove to the police station where she turned herself in. She is now in Ingham County Jail, where she is being held without bail awaiting an October 3 trial on charges of first degree murder and felony murder.

Francine's children are now living with her parents and she hasn't seen them in five months. The prosecutor refuses to lower the charges so that she can be released on bail to prepare her case.

According to the Francine Hughes Defense Committee, the U.S. Task Force & 1965 reported that one-third of all homicides in the United States are domestic. FBI statistics show that during the 1960's, rape increased 96% and totals for wife abuse were three times as high as for rape.