NJ trooper's killer named a most wanted terrorist

Posted on Thursday, 05.02.13

NJ trooper's killer named a most wanted terrorist
By DAVID PORTER
Associated Press

NEWARK, N.J. -- The reward for the capture and return of a fugitive
member of a black militant group convicted of murdering a New Jersey
state trooper was doubled to $2 million on Thursday, the 40th
anniversary of the bloody gunbattle.

The FBI also announced it has made Joanne Chesimard, now living in Cuba
as Assata Shakur, the first woman on its list of most wanted terrorists.

"She continues to flaunt her freedom in the face of this horrific
crime," State Police Superintendent Col. Rick Fuentes said at a news
conference Thursday. Fuentes called the case "an open wound" for
troopers in New Jersey and around the country.

The Justice Department has offered a $1 million reward for information
leading to her capture. The additional money is being put up by the
state of New Jersey through civil and criminal forfeiture funds and
won't fall on taxpayers, state Attorney General Jeffrey Chiesa said.

Chesimard, a member of the violent Black Liberation Army, was convicted
of the 1973 murder of state trooper Werner Foerster during a traffic
stop. The BLA was responsible for killing more than a dozen police
officers in the 1970s and '80s, said agent Aaron Ford of the FBI's
Newark division.

According to Fuentes, Foerster and his partner stopped a car carrying
Chesimard and two cohorts on the New Jersey Turnpike for a broken tail
light. When the troopers approached the car, a gunfight ensued and both
troopers were injured. Chesimard then took Foerster's gun and shot him
twice in the head as he lay on the ground.

She was convicted in 1977 but escaped from prison in New Jersey in
November 1979 with the help of accomplices. She spent the next few years
living in safe houses, two of which were in New Jersey and Pennsylvania,
before surfacing in Cuba in 1984, Fuentes said.

In Cuba, Chesimard has continued to espouse her anti-U.S. views in
speeches advocating "revolution and terrorism" and may have connections
to other international terrorist organizations, Ford said.

"She is a domestic terrorist who murdered a law enforcement officer
execution style," he said. "And while we can't right the wrongs of the
past, we can and will continue to pursue justice no matter how long it
takes."

Chesimard is believed to be one of dozens of American fugitives living
in Cuba, many of them one-time members of U.S. militant groups. Cuba
doesn't haven an extradition agreement with the U.S. because of the
chilly relations between the two countries over the last five decades,
but the climate appears to be slowly changing.

In recent years, Cuba has deported some fugitives back to the U.S.,
including one man convicted of mail fraud and another sought on child
pornography charges. This month, the country returned a Florida couple
accused in a custody dispute of kidnapping their two children and
sailing to Cuba.

The Cuban government had no immediate comment on Thursday's
announcement. This week, the State Department said it has no plans to
remove Cuba from a list of state sponsors of terrorism that also
includes Iran, Syria and Sudan. Cuba has denied links to terrorism.

Authorities didn't specify Thursday how they thought the increased
reward would surmount the issues between the two countries, but they
said they hoped the increased attention would help persuade someone to
come forward.

"Our resolve to capture Joanne Chesimard does not diminish with the
passage of time," Chiesa said. "Instead, it grows stronger with the
knowledge that this killer continues to be free. Our hope is the
augmented reward will spur action that will bring Joanne Chesimard back
to face the justice she has evaded for far too long."

http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/05/02/3376139/fbi-in-nj-to-announce-cuba-fugitive.html#storylink=misearch