Murder Charges
In 1968, Caroline Olsen, a 27-year-old elementary school teacher, was murdered by gunshot during a robbery on a Santa Monica tennis court. Olsen's husband, Kenneth, who was also shot but survived, identified Pratt as the killer. Julius Butler, a Black Panther and police informant, testified that Pratt had confessed to him, and discussed the murder with him on several occasions. In 1970, Geronimo Ji Jaga was arrested and charged with murder and kidnapping.
His attorney, Johnnie Cochran, argued that the charges should be dropped, alleging that Geronimo Ji Jaga had been 350 miles away on the night of the murder. Journalist and author Jack Olsen reported that FBI "moles" had infiltrated defense sessions and monitored Cochran’s phone calls.
Read more about this topic: Geronimo Pratt
Famous quotes containing the words murder and/or charges:
“It was a hot afternoon and I can still remember the smell of honeysuckle all along the street. How can I have known that murder can sometimes smell like honeysuckle?”
—Billy Wilder (b. 1906)
“I have never injured anybody with a mordant poem; my
verse contains charges against nobody. Ingenuous, I have
shunned wit steeped in venom—not a letter of mine is dipped
in poisonous jest.”
—Ovid (Publius Ovidius Naso)