Court nixes ‘Angola 3’ appeal
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A prison inmate who spent 36 years in solitary confinement after his conviction in the fatally stabbing of a prison guard, has suffered another setback in his attempt to get his conviction overturned.
In a 2-1 decision on Monday, the 1st Circuit Court of Appeal denied Angola inmate Herman Wallace’s request to review the ruling of a state district judge who refused to throw out the conviction and life sentence.
Wallace’s attorney, Nicholas Trenticosta, said Tuesday he plans to ask the Louisiana Supreme Court to review Wallace’s case.
“I am absolutely confident the (Louisiana Supreme Court) will rule in our favor and order a reversal of conviction,” he said.
Wallace claims the conviction and life sentence should be set aside because a key witness received a promise of a pardon if he testified against Wallace at trial. Wallace also claims the deal with the former inmate, Hezekiah Brown, who was serving a life sentence, was not disclosed to defense lawyers at trial.
First Circuit Judges Burrell Carter and John Pettigrew denied Wallace’s request, while Judge Duke Welch dissented, saying, “There was a reasonable likelihood” jurors would have reached a different verdict if they had known about the deal with Brown.
Brown, now deceased, testified at trial he was in the dormitory when Wallace and other men attacked the guard.
Wallace, along with prisoner Albert Woodfox and former inmate Robert King, who was released in 2001, are known as the Angola 3 — a trio of inmates who spent decades in solitary confinement.
Wallace and Woodfox, founders of a prison chapter of the Black Panther Party, were convicted of killing correctional officer Brent Miller, 23, during an April 17, 1972, riot. Both men have maintained their innocence.
They spent 36 years in solitary confinement before being placed in a maximum-security dormitory with other inmates in March.
King was placed in isolation after being convicted of killing another inmate. That conviction was overturned in 2001 and he then pleaded guilty to a lesser charge.
The state House Judiciary Committee is expected to hold hearings this month in the convictions of Wallace and Woodfox. Judiciary Chairman Cedric Richmond, D-New Orleans, has said there is a “massive amount of evidence” indicating the men’s innocence in Miller’s stabbing death.
In a 2-1 decision on Monday, the 1st Circuit Court of Appeal denied Angola inmate Herman Wallace’s request to review the ruling of a state district judge who refused to throw out the conviction and life sentence.
Wallace’s attorney, Nicholas Trenticosta, said Tuesday he plans to ask the Louisiana Supreme Court to review Wallace’s case.
“I am absolutely confident the (Louisiana Supreme Court) will rule in our favor and order a reversal of conviction,” he said.
Wallace claims the conviction and life sentence should be set aside because a key witness received a promise of a pardon if he testified against Wallace at trial. Wallace also claims the deal with the former inmate, Hezekiah Brown, who was serving a life sentence, was not disclosed to defense lawyers at trial.
First Circuit Judges Burrell Carter and John Pettigrew denied Wallace’s request, while Judge Duke Welch dissented, saying, “There was a reasonable likelihood” jurors would have reached a different verdict if they had known about the deal with Brown.
Brown, now deceased, testified at trial he was in the dormitory when Wallace and other men attacked the guard.
Wallace, along with prisoner Albert Woodfox and former inmate Robert King, who was released in 2001, are known as the Angola 3 — a trio of inmates who spent decades in solitary confinement.
Wallace and Woodfox, founders of a prison chapter of the Black Panther Party, were convicted of killing correctional officer Brent Miller, 23, during an April 17, 1972, riot. Both men have maintained their innocence.
They spent 36 years in solitary confinement before being placed in a maximum-security dormitory with other inmates in March.
King was placed in isolation after being convicted of killing another inmate. That conviction was overturned in 2001 and he then pleaded guilty to a lesser charge.
The state House Judiciary Committee is expected to hold hearings this month in the convictions of Wallace and Woodfox. Judiciary Chairman Cedric Richmond, D-New Orleans, has said there is a “massive amount of evidence” indicating the men’s innocence in Miller’s stabbing death.
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