Former Panther Leader’s Attorneys Seek New Trial

Attorneys for former Black Panther leader Elmer (Geronimo) Pratt, convicted in 1972 for the Santa Monica tennis court murder of a schoolteacher, argued for a new trial Friday, contending that a key prosecution witness was an FBI informant who perjured himself during Pratt’s trial.

Pratt’s lawyers, including former Republican Rep. Pete McCloskey, told U.S. Magistrate John R. Kronenberg that the alleged informant, Julio Butler, met on 33 occasions with authorities, thus preventing attorney Johnnie Cochran, who defended Pratt for the Dec. 18, 1968, murder of Caroline Olsen, from putting on an adequate defense.

During the trial, Butler denied any involvement with law enforcement officials.

Friday’s session was one of a series aimed at determining the merits of a new trial since Kronenberg convened hearings last January on a habeas corpus petition from Pratt’s attorneys, who contended that their client’s due process rights were violated during his 1972 trial. They filed the petition in federal court after appeals in state courts were rejected.

On Friday, the lawyers insisted that Pratt, who has so far served 14 years at San Quentin state prison, was set up by Los Angeles authorities and the FBI as part of the now-discredited COINTELPRO program, a 15-year, top-secret FBI effort to infiltrate, disrupt and discredit political groups that former FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover thought were dangerous.

“I was deceived,” Cochran argued. “He (Pratt) was deceived. The whole system was deceived by the government . . . .”

Deputy State Atty. Gen. Christine Franklin did not make any reference to Butler in her closing remarks. She insisted that the FBI had met occasionally with local authorities, but denied that there was a conspiracy--as contended by Pratt--by the FBI to frame him.

“There is no evidence of any FBI involvement that led to the conviction of anyone in this case,” she said.

Franklin also denied a defense assertion that the Black Panther headquarters in Los Angeles was bugged.

After the arguments concluded late Friday morning, Kronenberg said he would issue a ruling on a new trial “as rapidly as I can.”