Elmer Geronimo Pratt
Biography
Geronimo Pratt was a decorated military veteran and a high-ranking member of the Black Panther Party. In 1970 an FBI memo would state that the FBI was constantly looking measures designed to neutralize Pratt. That year Pratt was charged with the murder of an elementary school teacher who was killed in a 1968 robbery based on the testimony of an FBI infiltrator who claimed that Pratt had privately confessed to the killing. Pratt was convicted in 1972 and sentenced to life in prison. In 1997 it was revealed that the FBI had been secretly recording Black Panther meetings in Oakland, including one that occurred at the time of the murder where Pratt was shown to be present 400 miles away from the murder in L.A. at the time it occurred. Pratt appealed on the basis that the prosecution had known about this evidence which proved he was innocent and intentionally withheld it. His conviction was finally vacated and he was released after serving 27 years in prison.
