crospump.blogg.se

Journalist and author Jack Olsen reported that FBI "moles" had infiltrated defense sessions and monitored Cochran's phone calls. He claimed that Pratt had been 350 miles away on the night of the murder.

His attorney, Johnnie Cochran, argued that the charges should be dropped. In 1970, Pratt was arrested and charged with murder and kidnapping. Julius Butler, a police informant and infiltrator inside the Black Panther Party, testified that Pratt had confessed to him and discussed the murder with him on several occasions. Olsen's husband, Kenneth, who was also shot but survived, identified Pratt as the killer in an eyewitness line-up. In 1968, Caroline Olsen, a 27-year-old elementary school teacher, was murdered by gunshot during a robbery on a Santa Monica tennis court. Another FBI memo, dated five months later, noted that the Bureau was constantly considering counterintelligence measures designed to neutralize Pratt "as an effective (Panther) functionary." Murder charges īy January 1970, the Los Angeles FBI office had sought permission from national headquarters for a counterintelligence effort "designed to challenge the legitimacy of the authority exercised" by Pratt in the local Panthers. Pratt later believed this account was an FBI lie, and that Saundra's murder was unrelated to her activities in the Black Panther Party. The murder was attributed at the time to a BPP schism between supporters of Huey Newton and those of Eldridge Cleaver Pratt and his wife belonged to the Cleaver faction. In 1971, his wife Saundra was killed when she was 8 months pregnant and her body was left in a ditch. He took the name " Geronimo," after a prominent Apache chief and leader of resistance to US domination, and "Ji-Jaga," after a Central African tribe. He rose to become Deputy Minister of Defense of the local organization, after Bunchy Carter and John Huggins were killed by COINTELPRO infiltrators in the Us Organization. When Pratt joined the Black Panthers, his years in the army proved useful.

Pratt became politically active and was recruited into the Black Panthers by Bunchy Carter and John Huggins. He later moved to Los Angeles.Īfter leaving the Army, Pratt studied political science at UCLA, using a grant provided by the GI Bill. He was highly decorated, earning two Bronze Stars, a Silver Star, and two Purple Hearts. He served two combat tours as a soldier in the Vietnam War, reaching the rank of sergeant. Pratt was a star quarterback at Sumpter Williams High School. Early years and military service Įlmer Pratt was born in Morgan City, Louisiana, where his father was in the scrap metal business. He died of a heart attack in Tanzania, on June 3, 2011. Pratt was also the godfather of the late rapper Tupac Shakur. He worked as a human rights activist until the time of his death. Pratt was freed in 1997 when his conviction was vacated due to the prosecution's having withheld exculpatory evidence that tended to prove his innocence. The Federal Bureau of Investigation targeted Pratt in a COINTELPRO operation in the early 1970s, intended to "neutralize Pratt as an effective BPP functionary." Pratt was tried and convicted in 1972 for the 1968 murder of Caroline Olsen he served 27 years in prison, eight of which were in solitary confinement. He moved to Los Angeles, where he studied at UCLA under the GI Bill and joined the Black Panther Party. Born in Louisiana, he served two tours in Vietnam, receiving several decorations. UCLA, Sumpter Williams High School ( Morgan City, Louisiana)ĭeputy Minister of Defense of the Southern California Chapter of the Black Panther PartyĮlmer "Geronimo" Pratt (Septem– June 2, 2011), also known as Geronimo Ji-Jaga and Geronimo Ji-Jaga Pratt, was a decorated military veteran and a high-ranking member of the Black Panther Party in the United States in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Pratt's body was cremated and scattered somewhere in Tanzania.