A split New Jersey Supreme Court has granted parole to a former militant convicted in the 1973 death of a New Jersey state trooper.
A split New Jersey Supreme Court granted parole Tuesday to a former militant convicted in the 1973 death of a New Jersey state trooper, in a case that has resonated for decades and been a thorny issue in U.S.-Cuba relations.
Acoli’s more-famous co-defendant, Joanne Chesimard, also was convicted and sentenced to a life term but escaped from a New Jersey prison in 1979. Now known as Assata Shakur, she was given asylum in Cuba by then-President Fidel Castro and remains a fugitive. “No member of the Court disputes that Acoli committed a horrific crime,” Justice Barry Albin wrote for the majority. “The issue, however is whether Acoli, after nearly five decades of imprisonment, has satisfied the statutory demands that govern his parole eligibility.”
In a statement, New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy said he was “deeply disappointed” by the ruling. State Attorney General Matthew Platkin said in a statement, “I am grateful to the attorneys in my office who opposed the release of Sundiata Acoli and I am disappointed that he will be released on parole.” The state contended Shakur shot Trooper James Harper, wounding him, then took Foerster’s gun and shot him twice in the head as he lay on the ground. A third person in the car with Acoli and Shakur died from his injuries at the scene. The three were members of a group known as the Black Liberation Army.
“Our only role is to ensure that the Parole Board does not abuse its discretion in making decisions,” Solomon wrote. “In light of the Board’s evident consideration of the record as a whole, we cannot say we are in a better position than the Parole Board to decide Acoli’s fate.”
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