Geronimo Pratt

People

Geronimo Pratt

Outcome

unknown

In 1972, Elmer Gerard "Geronimo" Pratt, a decorated Vietnam War veteran, high-ranking member of the Black Panther Party and godfather to the late Tupac Shaku, was convicted of the 1968 murder of Caroline Olsen, a 27-year-old elementary school teacher killed during a robbery on a Santa Monica tennis court. Pratt's attorney, Johnnie Cochran, argued that Pratt had been 350 miles away in Oakland at the time of the murder, attending a Black Panther meeting. The key prosecution witness, Julius Butler, testified that Pratt had confessed to him. It was later revealed that Butler was an FBI informant who had denied that fact under oath. Pratt served 27 years in prison, eight of them in solitary confinement, maintaining his innocence throughout. The FBI had targeted Pratt as part of its COINTELPRO program, a secret campaign designed to "neutralize" Black activists. Bureau documents later revealed that FBI agents had followed Pratt constantly and knew he was in Oakland at the time of the murder, not in Los Angeles. Police wiretaps confirmed his presence at the Black Panther meeting 400 miles away. Additionally, Kenneth Olsen, the surviving victim who had identified Pratt in a lineup, had originally chosen another man as the attacker, a fact he denied under oath. On June 10, 1997, a judge vacated Pratt's conviction, finding that the prosecution had concealed evidence that might have influenced the jury's verdict. Pratt was released from prison that year after 27 years of incarceration. In 1999, his longtime friend and attorney Johnnie Cochran filed a federal lawsuit against the FBI and LAPD for malicious prosecution and false imprisonment. The case was settled for $4.5 million, with Los Angeles paying $2.75 million and the U.S. Department of Justice paying $1.75 million. The FBI's payment marked one of the few times in its history that it was forced to admit culpability in a case of false imprisonment. Pratt moved to Tanzania, where he died on June 2, 2011, at age 63.