Chesimard's trooper-killing accomplice denied parole

Chesimard's trooper-killing accomplice denied parole
Published: Wednesday, March 10, 2010
By Trentonian Staff

TRENTON — Down in Cuba yesterday, New Jersey's Most Wanted Fugitive,
Joanne Chesimard, must have cringed in sadness at the news that old
friend Clark Edward Squire — aka Sundiata Acoli — again had been denied
parole.

Chesimard — aka Assata Shakur — remains free in the tropical sunshine.

But her old accomplice isn't, having served 36 long years of a life
sentence in Jersey's cold, gray state prisons, since both were convicted
in the 1973 shootout killing of State Trooper Werner Foerster following
a traffic stop on the New Jersey Turnpike.

The state parole board yesterday gave no indication when Sundiata
Acoli's next parole hearing might be scheduled. He has had three now in
36 years, the last in 2004. But don't hold your breath. Acoli has a history.

He was a member of the Black Liberation Army and the Harlem Black
Panther Party in the 1960s. In 1969 he and 13 others were arrested in
the Panther 21 conspiracy case.

But he was acquitted after two years, only to run into deep trouble in
the 1973 shootout with two troopers at a traffic stop on the turnpike.
Chesimard was convicted of shooting Foerster to death as he lay on the
ground. They both went to prison here, but Chesimard escaped and fled to
Cuba in 1979.

The latest letter from The Sundiata Acoli Freedom Campaign to the New
Jersey Parole Board, posted on his Web site with photographs of him here
in prison and of Chesimard in Cuba, said that Acoli "shot no one but
merely managed to survive, but ... his passenger, Zayd Shakur, and a New
Jersey State Trooper, Werner Foerster, were killed."

The board was told Acoli "expressed remorse for the role he played in
the tragedy that led to the shooting death," and at the seasoned age of
73, he was not a terrorist, not a threat to public safety, and had
served his sentence with dignity.

The letter concluded, "Sundiata has touched so many lives in more ways
than can be expressed in these letters. It is humbling to constantly
meet people who share our love and admiration for him.

"Furthermore, a person should not be characterized by one tragedy or one
moment in life. Our experiences in life go far deeper than one moment,
and Sundiata has much more to offer.

"More than anything, his desire is to return home to watch his
grandchildren grow up. We want this for him, and look forward to his
return to our community."

Not this year. And maybe not in this lifetime.

Chesimard's trooper-killing accomplice denied parole - The Trentonian
News: Serving Trenton and surrounding communities. (trentonian.com) (10
March 2010)
http://www.trentonian.com/articles/2010/03/10/news/doc4b975359e002e134789909.txt