Council Approves $2.75 Million as Payment to Pratt

A divided Los Angeles City Council on Friday narrowly approved spending $2.75 million to settle the city’s portion of Elmer “Geronimo” Pratt’s false imprisonment suit.

Some council members argued before the 8-6 vote that the payout was too low for the former Black Panther Party leader, who spent 27 years in prison for a murder he insists he did not commit. Others complained that the settlement was excessive.

“I could not find myself awarding $2 million to an individual who through his entire life has advocated for the violent overthrow of the United States government,” said Councilman Rudy Svorinich, a candidate for the Assembly. “I don’t think he should get anything.”

Councilwoman Rita Walters disagreed.

“I just felt that this was a very small settlement, given his 27 years of incarceration,” Walters said. “What price do you put on a man’s life and all the foregone opportunities? It’s mind-boggling.”

The $2.75 million is the city’s portion of a $4.5-million settlement approved by a federal judge in April. The FBI is paying the other part.

Pratt’s 1972 conviction in the killing of Caroline Olsen and the serious wounding of her husband, Kenneth, was overturned in 1997. In reversing the conviction, Orange County Superior Court Judge Everett W. Dickey ruled that prosecutors at Pratt’s murder trial had concealed evidence that could have led to acquittal.

In February 1999, a three-judge California Court of Appeal panel unanimously affirmed Dickey’s decision.

Pratt, 53, always has maintained that he is not guilty and that the Los Angeles Police Department and the FBI framed him. He argued that he was at a Black Panther Party meeting in Oakland the day two armed men assaulted the Olsens.

Pratt’s lawyer, Johnnie L. Cochran Jr., said he was pleased with the council’s decision.

“This is a measure of justice for a true American hero who was framed by his government,” Cochran said.

Although Cochran said he would like to have gotten more money for Pratt, taking the matter to trial would have only prolonged the issue.

“After 27 years, it’s time,” Cochran said.

Casting the eight votes needed to approve the settlement were Hal Bernson, Laura Chick, Mike Feuer, Ruth Galanter, Mike Hernandez, Cindy Miscikowski, Nick Pacheco and Alex Padilla.

“I thought it was a fair settlement,” Feuer said. “It’s time for both the city and Mr. Pratt to close this chapter.”

Voting against the settlement were Walters, Jackie Goldberg, Nate Holden, Svorinich, Mark Ridley-Thomas and Joel Wachs.

Like Svorinich, Wachs questioned whether the settlement was excessive.

“I was not prepared to give that amount of money,” said Wachs, a mayoral candidate. “That decision is best left for the courts to decide.”