More on Herman Wallace's quest for new trial

http://www.katc.com/Global/story.asp?S=5430094

La. prosecutors oppose new murder trial for Angola inmate, ex-Black Panther

ANGOLA, La. -- A former Black Panther convicted of killing a Louisiana prison guard in the 1970s deserves a new murder trial because prosecutors withheld key evidence that could have won him an acquittal, his lawyer argued in a prison courtroom on Tuesday.

Herman Wallace has spent most of the past three decades in solitary confinement at the state's top-security prison after his conviction in the 1972 stabbing death of guard Brent Miller. His lawyer argued that, before the trial, the warden had essentially bribed a witness into fingering Wallace as one of the killers _ and prosecutors knowingly kept the deal secret."Jurors would have dismissed (the witness') testimony as hogwash" if they had known about the alleged deal, lawyer Nick Trentecosta said.Prosecutors, fighting Wallace's efforts at a new trial, said no proof exists of that deal _ an alleged promise from the warden to help the witness get a pardon and eventual release from prison. The warden and the witness are dead, and prosecutor Dale Lee argued that the idea of a deal between the two is based on speculation."I haven't seen anything to say that there was a promise given," Lee said. "There's nobody here to disprove what actually happened in 1972 _ they're all dead."Presiding over the hearing was a court commissioner, Rachel Morgan, who said she will issue a recommendation to the trial judge, probably within a month, on whether Wallace should get a new trial. District Court Judge Michael Irwin could accept or reject her recommendation, or order another evidentiary hearing in his courtroom, she said.Wallace, Albert Woodfox and Robert Wilkerson are known as the Angola Three, considered by prisoners' rights groups to be wrongly held in solitary confinement because of their political activity with the now-defunct Black Panthers. Demonstrators gathered outside the prison gates with a banner that read: "Free the Angola 3" and referred to Wallace as a political prisoner.Wallace, Wilkerson and Woodfox have a pending lawsuit against the state, arguing that their decades of solitary amount to cruel and unusual punishment, in violation of the federal constitution. Wilkerson was released in 2001 after a judge overturned his murder conviction. Woodfox, convicted in Miller's death, remains in Angola.Prison officials have said Wallace and Woodfox are in solitary because they would be endangered if returned to the general prison population.Hezekiah Brown, the witness who testified against Wallace and Woodfox, was at Angola on a rape conviction at the time of Miller's killing.After Wallace's conviction, Brown received a weekly carton of cigarettes from prison authorities, what Trentecosta said was part of the payoff for testifying against Wallace. The cigarettes amounted to valuable currency _ "a prison pension" _ that Brown could spend on gambling, alcohol, drugs or sex, Trentecosta said.After Wallace's trial, Brown was also given a plum assignment: transferal to a house on the prison grounds where he helped take care of the penitentiary's bloodhounds. Brown had his own room and a television set, a former guard, Bobby Ovileaux, testified. Ovileaux said he personally delivered the weekly cigarette carton to Brown and sometimes gave him more when he ran out, on orders from prison authorities.Lee said the prison was right to segregate Brown from the general prison population because he would be in danger of being attacked or killed by other inmates, angry that he had testified against a fellow prisoner. Lee noted that Brown was known to have nightmares.Lee said the prison was obligated to protect a prisoner from violence if he agrees to endanger himself by testifying against a fellow inmate."That's a commitment that I think a prison has an obligation to fulfill," he said.Brown was released in 1986, when then-Gov. Edwin Edwards commuted his sentence on the advice of the Pardon Board.Trentecosta produced several documents from then-Warden C. Murray Henderson in which Henderson referred to commitments and promises he had made to help Brown get a pardon. Henderson also testified in court that he had agreed before the trial to help Brown get a pardon.Lee argued that evidence of the warden's help with the Pardon Board was vague and could have stemmed from other agreements he had made with Brown.Wallace became involved with the Black Panthers while in the city jail in New Orleans, awaiting trial for armed robbery. He was convicted of the bank robbery and sent to Angola, where he helped form a branch of the Panthers.Morgan rejected Trentecosta's attempt to call a high-profile witness, Wilbert Rideau, a former Angola death row inmate who is known around Louisiana for his journalism while behind bars.Rideau had no direct knowledge of Wallace's case or Miller's killing. His only relevant expertise, Morgan said, was the conditions at Angola in the 1970s, when it was known to be among the most violent lockups in the nation. Morgan told Rideau to step down from the witness chair, saying she was familiar with Angola's history.