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Post by Scumhunter on May 2, 2013 8:51:32 GMT -5
 (Above photo credit: CBS New York) Fugitive Profile as of August 30th, 2014 (Based on FBI Most Wanted poster): Aliases: Assata Shakur, Joanne Byron, Barbara Odoms, Joanne Chesterman, Joan Davis, Justine Henderson, Mary Davis, Pat Chesimard, Jo-Ann Chesimard, Joanne Debra Chesimard, Joanne D. Byron, Joanne D. Chesimard, Joanne Davis, Chesimard Joanne, Ches Chesimard, Sister-Love Chesimard, Joann Debra Byron Chesimard, Joanne Deborah Byron Chesimard, Joan Chesimard, Josephine Henderson, Carolyn Johnson, Carol Brown, "Ches" Date(s) of Birth Used: July 16, 1847; August 19, 1952 Place of Birth: New York City, New York Height: 5'7" Weight: 135 to 150 pounds Hair: Black/Gray Eyes: Brown Sex: Female Race: Black Citizenship: American Remarks: She may wear her hair in a variety of styles and dress in African tribal clothing. Chesimard has scars on her chest, abdomen, left shoulder, and left knee TIPS: If you have any information concerning this person, please call the FBI Toll-Free tip line at 1-800-CALL-FBI (1-800-225-5324). You may also contact your local FBI office , or the nearest American Embassy or Consulate. The FBI is offering a reward of up to 1 million dollars for Chesimard's capture. Tips can also be submitted electronically at tips.fbi.gov Joanne Chesimard, better known by her refugee name of Assata Shakur (she is the step-aunt of deceased rapper Tupac Shakur), was profiled on AMW a few times. She is now expected to be added to the FBI's most wanted terrorists list and they are offering a reward of 1 millon dollars. The following is a brief description of her alleged crime from her removed AMW profile I was able to find on web search: “On May 2, 1973, New Jersey State Police Troopers James Harper and Werner Foerster were patrolling the New Jersey Turnpike in the East Brunswick area. They stopped a car with three occupants and began to question them. The female passenger, JoAnne Chesimard, was a member of the Black Liberation Army. She suddenly pulled out a semi-automatic pistol and opened fire. Trooper Foerster was struck twice in the chest and Trooper Harper was hit in the shoulder. Chesimard then picked up Trooper Foerster’s service weapon and shot him twice in the head, execution style, while he lay in the road.” Joanne Chesimard was convicted and sentenced to life in prison. But in 1979, members of the Black Liberation Army broke her out of prison and hid her underground before she was able to flee to Cuba. So with the announcement today apparently comes a renewed hope. This isn't a cold case fugitive where we don't know where they are or whether or debate whether or not they're dead. She's hiding in plain sight in Cuba under political asylum. This renewed hope might come from the fact a Florida couple wanted for kidnapping their two young boys from their grandparents fled to Cuba and were actually extradited back to the U.S. My personal feeling was this was a unique case since children were involved, and I'm not sure Cuba wanted to deal with that. The U.S. did after all send Elian Gonzalez back to Cuba so returning the favor might have been easy in this case. But still the fact that they extradited any fugitive does give reason to be cautiously optimistic, and one has to wonder if the FBI gains any ground from this new effort, what it may mean towards the prospects of catching Victor Gerena. The difference here is Gerena if in Cuba as believed is flying under the radar, while Chesimard/Shakur is treated like a celebrity in Cuba: newyork.cbslocal.com/2013/05/02/fbi-to-add-cop-killer-joanne-chesimard-to-most-wanted-terrorist-list/Admin Note: If you have any news-related updates on this case, please contact us here: amwfans.com/thread/1662/website-contact-form |
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Post by theczar on May 2, 2013 15:17:18 GMT -5
I keep forgetting how old Castro is, and once he's dead, they won't be nearly as hardcore and anti-U.S. as they are now. I truly think we will eventually work something out with Cuba, maybe some sort of treaty or something. After that, people like Chesimard and Gerena will have their days numbered. Although, even today, I sometimes wonder why they bother even protecting them from us. What do they have to offer Cuba?
The only issue I see with Chesimard being extradited is that she has several defenders, including Congresswoman Maxine Waters and several hip-hop artists. They'll make it a huge racial issue. I wonder, if she's captured and extradited in his term, what Obama would say about this?
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Post by Scumhunter on May 2, 2013 18:04:23 GMT -5
I keep forgetting how old Castro is, and once he's dead, they won't be nearly as hardcore and anti-U.S. as they are now. I truly think we will eventually work something out with Cuba, maybe some sort of treaty or something. After that, people like Chesimard and Gerena will have their days numbered. Although, even today, I sometimes wonder why they bother even protecting them from us. What do they have to offer Cuba? The only issue I see with Chesimard being extradited is that she has several defenders, including Congresswoman Maxine Waters and several hip-hop artists. They'll make it a huge racial issue. I wonder, if she's captured and extradited in his term, what Obama would say about this? I assume after the Castro brothers pass away we could work something out. And her having defenders could be a hinderance. The Obama administration got in a lot of trouble when they invited the rapper Common to the White House. He has a song praising her. This is not a judgement on the administration at all, and except for off-topic discussion I feel it's usually inappropriate to discuss religious and/or political beliefs on these boards, just saying he will be in a tough pickle especially considering he's an African-American President. |
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Post by Scumhunter on Dec 30, 2013 20:48:23 GMT -5
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Post by profiler24 on Mar 2, 2014 15:23:07 GMT -5
New Push to Capture Woman in ’73 Killing of State Trooper By CHRISTOPHER MAAG Published: May 2, 2013 The end came suddenly for Werner Foerster, a 34-year-old state trooper executed with his own gun on the New Jersey Turnpike in 1973. For many others — his widow, the State Police and the woman convicted of his murder — the end remains elusive, postponed these 40 years by a fight over what justice really means. New Jersey State Police, via, Associated Press Joanne D. Chesimard lives in Cuba as Assata Shakur. Follow us on Twitter and like us on Facebook for news and conversation. Enlarge This Image Tim Larsen/Associated Press Trooper Werner Foerster Nadav Neuhaus for The New York Times Aaron T. Ford, head of the F.B.I.’s Newark division, speaking on Thursday, the 40th anniversary of Trooper Foerster’s murder. Law enforcement officials advanced their side of that debate on Thursday by placing Joanne D. Chesimard, who was convicted of the murder in 1977, on the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s list of Most Wanted Terrorists. She became the first woman named to the list, and only the second domestic terrorist, the agency said. The reward for Ms. Chesimard’s capture and repatriation from Cuba, where she moved after escaping from prison in 1979, was doubled to $2 million. “I hope that they can get her,” Trooper Foerster’s widow, Rosa, 72, said from her home in Florida. “She’s still there. She has her freedom, and I don’t have my husband. That’s what’s hard about it.” Ms. Chesimard was named to the list because she is “a supreme terror against the government” who continues to give speeches espousing revolution and terrorism against the United States, Aaron T. Ford, agent in charge of the F.B.I.’s Newark division, said at a news conference. “She’s a danger to the American government,” he added. Ms. Chesimard has proclaimed her innocence and called herself the victim of a racist judicial system. Ms. Chesimard was a member of the Black Panther Party whom the police once called the “soul” of the Black Liberation Army. Those organizations were targeted by the F.B.I.’s Counter Intelligence Program, which used legal and illegal surveillance in an attempt to discredit mostly leftist political organizations in the 1960s and early ’70s. On May 2, 1973, Trooper Foerster and another trooper stopped a car for a motor vehicle violation with three people inside, including Ms. Chesimard. The F.B.I. says she fired the first shot, wounding the other trooper. One of Ms. Chesimard’s associates was killed along with Trooper Foerster. Ms. Chesimard’s shoulder was hit during the gunfire, and her defenders say she was merely another victim who could not have fired a weapon because of her wound. “There is no evidence that she in fact either caused the death or was involved in the shooting of the state trooper,” Lennox S. Hinds, 73, a professor of criminal justice at Rutgers who defended Ms. Chesimard in the murder case, said in a telephone interview. Supporters of Ms. Chesimard, who changed her name to Assata Shakur, see the F.B.I.’s putting her on the list as an attempt by law enforcement officials to capitalize on the 40th anniversary of Trooper Foerster’s murder and on the recent horrors committed by domestic terrorism in the Boston Marathon bombings. “The allegation that Ms. Shakur is a terrorist is unfounded,” Professor Hinds said. “The attempt at this point by the New Jersey State Police to characterize her as a terrorist is designed to inflame the public who may be unfamiliar with the facts.” Asked why the State Police was continuing its effort to bring Ms. Chesimard back to prison, Col. Rick Fuentes said: “It closes an open wound. It also sends a message that we will not give up when one of our members dies.” links www.nytimes.com/2013/05/03/nyregion/chesimard-sought-in-new-jersey-turnpike-killing-is-put-on-fbis-most-wanted-list.html?_r=0www.nytimes.com/1998/05/01/nyregion/fugitive-cuba-still-wounds-trenton-chesimard-unrepentant-trooper-s-73-killing.htmlabcnews.go.com/US/joanne-chesimard-woman-fbi-wanted-terrorists-list/story?id=19092683en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assata_Shakurwww.fbi.gov/news/stories/2013/may/joanne-chesimard-first-woman-named-most-wanted-terrorists-list |
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Post by HeadMarshal on Sept 29, 2014 12:59:11 GMT -5
A New Jersey appeals court has ruled that the shooter of State Trooper Werner Forester, Sundiata Acoli should be released on parole, 41 years after the murder. www.northjersey.com/news/n-j-court-reverses-parole-denial-in-73-trooper-killing-1.1098470Thoughts? The reason that the appeals court gave for the decision was that Sundiata had shown steps to rehabilitating himself while in prison. I understand this case is extremely controversial, especially in regards to final trial of Joanne Chesimard but I really don't see why Sundiata should get parole personally for the murder of a police officer. If this was a manslaughter case then I would think differently, especially after more than 40 years, but this was a homicide. |
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Post by Scumhunter on Sept 29, 2014 16:37:57 GMT -5
It's always a tricky situation. There have actually been documented cases of people convicted of murder, released, and they actually turned their life around. Which is great in one way, but in another way you're reminded that the victim didn't get a second chance at life.
As far as I'm concerned, except in extenuating circumstances, you kill somebody, that's it. In the worst cases, not even life in prison is fair enough punishment.
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Post by HeadMarshal on Dec 17, 2014 15:12:32 GMT -5
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Post by Scumhunter on Dec 17, 2014 16:31:41 GMT -5
This also gives us hope for so many other fugitives probably hiding in Cuba as well. I think this is why Victor Gerena wasn't removed, they probably knew this was coming...
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Post by Scumhunter on Dec 22, 2014 18:34:21 GMT -5
Doesn't look good right now. According to Cuba's head of North American Affairs, it has a right to grant asylum to US fugitives, and mentions they stil don't have an extradition treaty. I've read up on this and contrary to popular belief, Cuba has sent back fugitives to the United States. (A New Jersey couple wanted for murder in 2010 in addition to the couple wanted for kidnapping, another case I'm blanking on) However, Chesimard's case, apparently is considered of a political nature which apparently means political asylum. www.northjersey.com/news/cuba-says-it-has-a-right-to-grant-asylum-to-us-fugitives-1.1174401 |
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Post by HeadMarshal on Jan 24, 2015 10:20:02 GMT -5
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Post by Scumhunter on Jan 24, 2015 10:23:35 GMT -5
While I have hope for some fugitives being returned, unfortunately I'm still unsure about Chesimard because of the political aspect to her case. You never know though... if we don't at least get SOME fugitives returned I am wondering what we're getting out of these improved relations.
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Post by HeadMarshal on Feb 5, 2015 17:44:53 GMT -5
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Post by HeadMarshal on Feb 7, 2015 18:57:14 GMT -5
Felt this was interesting, a University school trip to Cuba involved an interview with another fugitive that helped JoAnne Chesimard escape from prison. Nehanda Isoke Abiodun was also wanted for bank robbery and racketeering. You can read her viewpoints in the below article. The one thing she said that I was not aware of and I feel is actually important was the FBI's counter intelligence program framing senior Black Panther member Geronimo Platt. Platt was convicted and served 27 years for a murder based on testimony from a paid FBI informant, he also was 350 miles away from the murder location when it occurred. This doesn't excuse the actions of JoAnne Chesimard, but I'm not denying that the FBI had issues with the Black Panthers that you could argue were unjustified. observer.com/2015/02/why-my-students-and-i-met-with-a-potentially-violent-fugitive-in-cuba/ |
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Post by pakman on Feb 9, 2015 9:32:16 GMT -5
As I've thought more and more about this case, one thought has crossed my mind. What if the U.S. promised Chesimard a new trial if she came back? I know that's highly unlikely (Chris Christie would probably fight against it to no end) and it would cause the victims agony and unnecessary heartache, but think about it - that could be the only way she comes back to face her charges. If I was really desperate to get her back, I might be tempted to offer her that deal.
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