Ex-Black Panther’s Bid for New Trial Goes to State High Court

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Michael A. Cowell ruled Wednesday that he does not have jurisdiction to hear Elmer “Geronimo” Pratt’s request for a new murder trial and transferred the former Black Panther Party leader’s petition to the State Supreme Court.

Pratt, 48, has spent nearly 24 years in prison after being convicted of shooting a teacher to death on a Santa Monica tennis court during a 1968 robbery that netted $18.

He has steadfastly maintained that he was in Oakland attending party meetings when the shooting occurred, and a retired FBI agent has said that the bureau knew from its own surveillance that Pratt was in the Bay Area and could not have committed the murder.

Pratt’s lawyers argued Wednesday that Pratt was seeking to present new facts pointing to his innocence and that his conviction was a fundamental miscarriage of justice--circumstances that allow Pratt to seek a hearing in Superior Court.

Prosecutors sought the transfer of Pratt’s request, however, saying state law prohibits the Superior Court from hearing Pratt’s petition--his fifth since his conviction in 1972--since an earlier petition had been denied by an appellate court. Should the Supreme Court decide that Pratt’s request has merit, it could then assign the petition to Superior Court for a hearing.