Ex-Black Panther’s Request for New Trial Challenged
Prosecutors argued in papers filed Tuesday that former Black Panther Party leader Elmer “Geronimo” Pratt’s request for a hearing on a new murder trial is unwarranted.
“Public pressure brought by uninformed citizens, celebrities, politicians and journalists cannot be the basis for an evidentiary hearing when there is no credible or new evidence to support such a hearing,” the prosecutors wrote.
The argument is contained in a 113-page legal brief filed with Superior Court Judge Michael Cowell.
Pratt was convicted in 1972 of the 1968 shooting death of Caroline Olsen on a Santa Monica tennis court. The woman was killed during a robbery that netted $18.
Pratt’s efforts to get a new trial have been rebuffed four times.
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