Louisiana can try 'Angola 3' inmate a third time for murder, court rules

[November 10, 2015]  By Mary Wisniewski
 
 (Reuters) - A U.S. federal appeals court reversed a lower court decision and ruled on Monday that Louisiana can try the last of the "Angola Three" inmates a third time for the 1972 murder of a prison guard and keep him in custody.

Albert Woodfox, 68, who has spent more than four decades in solitary confinement, is the last of three black inmates who gained notoriety for long stays in isolation at the Louisiana State Penitentiary in Angola.

The three men said they were targeted for solitary confinement for joining the Black Panther Party and advocating for prison reforms.

Woodfox, initially incarcerated on an armed robbery charge, and a co-defendant, Herman Wallace, maintained their innocence in the slaying of a white prison guard, Brent Miller.

A third Angola Three inmate, Robert King, was accused of killing a fellow inmate. He was released from prison in 2001.

In a 2-1 decision, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that U.S. District Judge James Brady abused his discretion in a June ruling barring Woodfox's retrial, and that the circumstances were not sufficient to merit this "extraordinary remedy."

Woodfox, who has had two convictions overturned, is believed to have spent more time in solitary confinement than nearly any other prisoner in U.S. penal history. He has been confined to a 9-by-6-foot cell (2.7 meters by 1.8 meters) 23 hours each day, according to a dissent by appellate court Judge James Dennis.

Woodfox attorney George Kendall said the defense team was "extremely disappointed" in the decision.

Amnesty International senior campaigner Jasmine Heiss said in a statement that Woodfox "remains trapped in a nightmare."

"It's long past time for the courts and state officials to finally provide some measure of justice and let Woodfox walk free," said Heiss.

Woodfox was indicted a third time in February and ordered held without bail.

Brady ordered Woodfox's release partly because more than 40 years had passed since the crime, which would prejudice Woodfox's ability to present a defense on retrial. Brady also questioned the strength of the evidence against Woodfox.

The appeals court had granted Louisiana's request to block Woodfox's immediate release soon after Brady's decision. Woodfox suffers from heart disease, renal failure and hepatitis C, according to his attorneys.

A spokesman for the state attorney general was not immediately available for comment.

Wallace won his freedom in October 2013 but died of liver cancer three days after being freed.

(Reporting by Mary Wisniewski in Chicago; Additional reporting by Letitia Stein in Tampa; Editing by Sandra Maler and Peter Cooney)

[© 2015 Thomson Reuters. All rights reserved.]

Copyright 2015 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.