It was a good day for cop killers in New Jersey.
In a disgraceful 3-2 vote announced on Tuesday, the New Jersey Supreme Court ordered ex-Black Panther Sundiata Acoli (formerly Clark Edward Squire) released on parole. Acoli was serving a sentence for the slaying of New Jersey State Trooper Werner Foerster nearly fifty years ago (1973). His accomplice – Joanne Chesimard – remains at large in Cuba.
“We are not unmindful of the passions aroused by a sensational case of this nature and the immense pressures that come to bear on dutiful public officials,” wrote far-Left Justice Barry Albin for the slim majority. “[But] even the most scorned member of our society is entitled to be sheltered by the protection of the law, no matter how hard and vengeful the winds of public opinion may blow.”
Two other justices – Justice Fabiana Pierre-Louis and Justice Jose Fuentes (who is temporarily on the court to fill a vacancy) – joined Albin’s opinion.
Two Christie era justices – Lee Solomon and Anne Patterson – dissented from the majority.
Solomon wrote in his dissent that no matter what the facts of the case may be, the state Parole Board that denied Acoli release has the discretion to do so and should not be overruled by a court. At his last hearing, Acoil showed no remorse and instead suggested that Werner may’ve been killed by “friendly fire.”
“Our sole task is to determine whether the Parole Board abused its discretion under a very lenient standard of review,” Solomon countered in his dissent opinion. “We would find that it did not.”
The New Jersey Supreme Court made an outrageous mistake in granting parole to this notorious cop-killer,” said state Senator Steven Oroho (R-24), the GOP’s minority leader. “Sundiata Acoli murdered a New Jersey State Trooper and he should spend the rest of his life in jail, just like today’s law requires.”
