Former Black Panther Sundiata Acoli to be released after half-century in prison

New York, May 11 (RHC)-- Sundiata Acoli — the oldest former member of the Black Panthers still incarcerated — will be released from prison after nearly half a century.  He is 85 years old and suffers from dementia. 

The New Jersey Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled that Acoli is not a risk to public safety. He was convicted of killing a state trooper on the New Jersey Turnpike in 1973. 

Sundiata Acoli has long said police ambushed his car, which was also carrying two fellow members of the Black Liberation Army: Zayd Malik Shakur, who was shot to death, and Assata Shakur, who was wounded and then imprisoned over the incident.  Assata later escaped from prison and fled to Cuba, where she has political asylum.