newjerseynewsroom.com

73-year old Joanne Chesimard accomplice was sentenced in 1974 to life plus 30 years

BY ALICIA CRUZ

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

A Trenton man convicted of the murder of a New Jersey State Trooper has been denied parole ... again Tuesday.

Sundiata Acoli born Clark Edward Squire, now 73, has been serving a life sentence at the Trenton State Prison after he was convicted in the 1974 shooting of New Jersey State Trooper Werner Forster and sentenced to life plus 30 years.

In May 1973, while he, Joanne Chesimard, Zayd Shakur and Assata Shakur (nee Joanne Deborah Byron), all fellow Black Liberation Army members, were driving along the New Jersey Turnpike, they were pulled over by Trooper Werner Forster for a routine traffic stop that evolved into a bloodbath that left Trooper Forster dead and another trooper wounded.

Acoli's recollection of the New Jersey Turnpike incident differs significantly from that of the police and prosecutors. He claims the Jersey State Troopers in fact, ambushed he and fellow revolutionaries, Zayd Shakur, who was killed and Assata Shakur who was wounded, as they returned to New York City from Alabama where they had been performing community services for their political organization.

After the Turnpike shooting, Acoli escaped the scene, but was captured days later.

Chesimard is still one of New Jersey's Most Wanted Fugitives after she staged a daring prison escape in 1979 and fled to Cuba where she currently resides.

Acoli, once a member of the Harlem Black Panther Party, had previously been arrested in 1969 along with 13 others in highly publicized Panther 21 conspiracy case. He was held in jail without bail during that trial before he and his co-defendants were all acquitted.

Since his conviction, Acoli has been transferred between several Federal Penitentiaries beginning in 1979 although he has never been charged with any Federal crimes. He has been ferried between the Federal Prison Camp at Marion, Illinois where he locked in his cell 23 hours a day for eight years, before being sent to the federal penitentiary at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas in 1987.

Acoli's recent parole hearing was not his first. In 1992, he was eligible for parole, but was not permitted to attend the hearing. Acoli had no infractions while in prison and had a clean work history throughout his incarceration. He also had job offers and thousands of letters of support. His parole was denied.

The parole board ordered that Acoli do another 12-years in prison before receiving a new parole hearing. When Acoli went to apply for parole in 2004, he was again denied.

Upon entering the Trenton State Prison, Acoli was assigned to a Management Control Unit where he was only allowed out of his cell for ten minutes a day to shower and twice a week to partake in recreation activities. He remained at the MCU for almost five years.

Acoli, a mathematician and computer analyst has said that harassment from the FBI due to his radical political ties prevented him from obtaining gainful employment before his incarceration.

Acoli, born in Decatur, Texas in 1937, graduated from Prairie View A&M College of Texas in 1956 with a B.S. in mathematics. He worked at several computer firms in New York prior to his conviction for the murder of Trooper Forster.

New Jersey State Parole Board spokesman Neal Buccino said Tuesday the board has not decided when Acoli will be eligible for parole again.