Pratt Files Civil Rights Suit Against LAPD, FBI

Former Black Panther Party leader Elmer “Geronimo” Pratt, whose 1972 murder conviction was overturned a year ago, has filed a federal civil rights suit against the Los Angeles Police Department, the FBI and a key prosecution witness, alleging malicious prosecution.

The suit seeks unspecified damages, “but it will be a large amount,” said Brian Dunn, one of Pratt’s attorneys.

Pratt, 50, was released from prison last June after spending 27 years behind bars for a murder he has steadfastly maintained he did not commit.

He was convicted of the 1968 shooting death of teacher Caroline Olsen and the wounding of her husband during a robbery that netted $18 on a Santa Monica tennis court.

Pratt has insisted since he was charged that he was in Oakland attending Panther meetings when Olsen was killed Dec. 18. M. Wesley Swearingen, a retired FBI agent, has repeatedly said that the bureau knew Pratt was in Oakland then because agents had Pratt under surveillance.

In a sharply worded opinion harshly critical of Los Angeles County prosecutors, Santa Ana Superior Court Judge Everett W. Dickey reversed Pratt’s conviction, ruling that the district attorney’s office had suppressed evidence favorable to Pratt at his 1972 trial--evidence that the judge said could have led to a different verdict.

Pratt’s suit also named prosecution witness Julius C. “Julio” Butler as a defendant, alleging that he acted in concert with law enforcement agencies who knew his testimony that Pratt had confessed to killing Olsen was false, said Dunn.

LAPD and FBI officials could not be reached for comment.