Woodfox was one of the so-called “Angola 3” – three prisoners initially held in Louisiana’s notorious Angola prison and belonged to the Black Panther movement.
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Defense attorneys have argued recently that since it would be impossible for Woodfox, who turned 69 years old Friday, to receive a fair trial now – in part because all of the pertinent witnesses in the case are dead – he, should be released.
Later while incarcerated in Angola State Penitentiary, the three worked to improve conditions for inmates.
The last inmate of a group known as the “Angola Three” pleaded no contest Friday to manslaughter in the 1972 death of a prison guard and was released after more than four decades in prison, raising a clenched fist as he walked free.
Twice he was tried for the officer’s death but each time Woodfox’s convictions were overturned. On June 8th, 2015, Federal Judge James Brady ordered Albert’s immediate release and barred the State from retrying Albert, an extraordinary ruling that he called “the only just remedy”.
Woodfox, Wallace and Robert King Wilkerson, now known as Robert King, became known as the Angola 3 due to their long stays in solitary confinement, which attracted the notice of groups like Amnesty International.
The same went for Herman Wallace, who was released in 2013 after a judge vacated his murder conviction and sentence.
Woodfox thanked his brother, Michel, and the other two members of the “Angola 3”.
“Tragically most do not leave solitary confinement with this level of support or attention”.
Today’s plea brings closure to the family of Brent Miller, justice for the people of Louisiana, and finality to this decades-long prosecution.
Shortly after 2 p.m., a reporter outside the center posted a video showing Woodfox walking out. He has always maintained his innocence and many believe he was framed for the murder of the guard.
Miller’s relatives said they felt betrayed, adding they did not cooperate in the plea decision and had not personally talked it over with Attorney General Jeff Landry, who took office last month and whose staff has been handling the case. “I try to cope by pacing, or by closing my eyes and rocking myself”, he described in a 2008 document of the anguish of being locked in such a small space day after day to silence him as a member of the Black Panther Party and leader among the inmates at Angola.
“It means simply that (Woodfox) does not contest that the State would present evidence at a new trial from witnesses who said he committed this crime”, lawyer George Kendall says. He received a 42-year sentence for the crimes, but has already served 45 years. Woodfox spent much of his decades in solitary confinement at the prison.
“I fully believe that what happened today was in the best interest of the citizens of the state of Louisiana”.
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The other Angola Three inmates were Robert King, who was released in 2001 after his conviction in the death of a fellow inmate was overturned, and Herman Wallace, who died a free man in October 2013, just days after a judge granted him a new trial in Miller’s death.
