Hi there,

If you think Democracy Now!’s reporting is a critical line of defense against war, climate catastrophe and authoritarianism, please make your donation of $10 or more right now. Today, a generous donor will DOUBLE your donation, which means it’ll go 2x as far to support our independent journalism. Democracy Now! is funded by you, and that’s why we’re counting on your donation to keep us going strong. Please give today. Every dollar makes a difference—in fact, gets doubled! Thank you so much.
-Amy Goodman

Non-commercial news needs your support.

We rely on contributions from you, our viewers and listeners to do our work. If you visit us daily or weekly or even just once a month, now is a great time to make your monthly contribution.

Please do your part today.

Donate

The Call for a Retrial of Elmer “Geronimo Ji-Jaga” Pratt

Listen
Media Options
Listen

Image Credit: Associated Press

We examine the case of Elmer “Geronimo Ji-Jaga” Pratt on the day of a hearing that could determine whether he gets a new trial. In 1968 Caroline Olson was murdered at a tennis court in Santa Monica. Her husband Kenneth identified several suspects from police photographs, and then years later identified Pratt as the murderer. Pratt is a decorated Vietnam war veteran, a UCLA student, and member of the Black Panthers who maintains his innocence. He says his conviction was based on the false testimony of Julius Butler, an FBI informant. We feature a 1982 interview with Pratt from the Pacifica Radio Archive about his time in Vietnam, his return home, attending college, and work in the community and with the Black Panthers. We also speak with former FBI agent Wesley Swearingen, author of ”FBI Secrets: An Agent’s Expose”; Pratt’s sister Jenny Pratt; and Kathleen Cleaver, a law professor and former Panther, about her testimony as an alibi witness at Pratt’s trial.

Related Story

StoryMar 14, 1997Excerpts from Geronimo Ji-Jaga Pratt Hearing for Retrial
The original content of this program is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. Please attribute legal copies of this work to democracynow.org. Some of the work(s) that this program incorporates, however, may be separately licensed. For further information or additional permissions, contact us.

Non-commercial news needs your support

We rely on contributions from our viewers and listeners to do our work.
Please do your part today.
Make a donation
Top