Lawyer: Ex-Black Panther Wants U.S. Trial

Joseph Coleman Pannell Fled To Canada In 1969 After Allegedly Shooting A Police Officer

(CBS/AP)  A former Black Panther Party member accused of shooting a police officer in 1969 and then fleeing to Canada wants to return to the United States to stand trial, his attorney says.

Chicago authorities accuse Joseph Coleman Pannell, now 58, of shooting Officer Terrence Knox after the officer stopped him for questioning outside a store in Chicago's South Side. Pannell was free on bond in that case in 1973 when he fled.

Pannell, who changed his name to Douglas Gary Freeman and was a library research assistant outside Toronto, has waived extradition and will return to Chicago within 30 days, his attorney, Neil Cohen, told the Chicago Sun-Times.

Pannell has been jailed since his 2004 arrest in a suburb of Toronto. A judge in 2005 ordered Pannell returned to Chicago to face trial on charges of attempted murder and aggravated battery. But his lawyers appealed, saying Pannell feared for his life and would not get a fair trial in the U.S.

After the ruling, Pannell's wife and four children stood in protest outside the U.S. Consulate located across the street from the downtown courthouse.

"We all have bleeding hearts right now, but this is not over," said Pannell's wife, Natercia Coelho. "He came here because he feared for his life. What happened to him was wrong in '69, and what happened today is wrong."

In 2006, Canadian Justice Minister Vic Toews denied Pannell's request. Pannell's attorneys mounted a last appeal of Toews' decision.

Knox was on patrol when he approached Pannell, then 19 and away without permission from the Navy, and asked why he was not inside a nearby high school.

Knox said he almost lost his right arm because of the bullet wounds, and his life was saved when a fellow police officer stuck a finger into his arm to stop the bleeding from a torn artery.

Pannell was arrested in 1971, skipped bail, then was re-arrested in 1973 and skipped bail again, according to court records.

Knox, 60, remains angry about the judges who twice freed Pannell on bail in the 1970s.

"My position is the same," said the retired officer, who lives in southwest suburban Orland Park. "I want the court system to do its job. If he is innocent I will shake his hand. If he is guilty, I will slam the door behind him and never look back."

Pannell, who had been fighting extradition, has changed his mind in part because of what he views as a different political climate in the United States, Cohen said.

[Krazcarl]

kiethe1....your racism is showing and making you look not that bright like a piece of white trash you dont have to advertise we ALL see it for some reason lately you''ve been little more than a troll mom holding back on your allowance and you have to avenge someone at one time you were kind of funny now your looking like the village idiot.

[keithle1]

"Let''s see..how can I help the black community..hmm..I know, I''ll kill me a poh-leeece officer!"

Every black man in prison is innocent.

[keithle1]

How dare you even think a black man would do such a thing?!

[tbweb]

Tbweb, you''re generally pretty open-minded and able to seen beyond the discourse of this society.

Posted by kailumego1 at 02:32 PM : Jan 25, 2008,,,

My point against the KKK, Black Panthers and Neo-Nazi Skin Heads is that they all have one thing in common, they all have decided to form armed groups and address their issues outside of the normal American process for dispute resolutions. The U.S. has Laws, Courts, elected Representatives and a host of other avenues for Citizens to voice their complaints and have their issues addressed. Creating an agenda of HATE and threatening armed violence if that agenda is not met is un-American and those activities are usually associated with terrorist!

[Krazcarl]

Michelle99...Just a general reference I''ve met a few angels not big friens but they were ok as far as I was concerned. But a white boy from Me. would not be a big hit at a panther party. I was never invited.

[michellem99-2009]

crxmeat is it the hell''s angels..I never met ont but my room mate did. To others there is one race human with many shades of colour.

[Krazcarl]

I always looked at the Black Panthers the same way way I look at a motercycle group that flies colars never hated them but, worked with a fellow once from Texas he claimed in the day at a popular spot for the youg folks there was a lot of nasty goings on. I''ve never met one to my knowledge. I remember the news reports but that was the 60''s we all knew we couldn''t trust the media kinda getting that way again.

[kailumego1]

If the Black Panther Party should be criticize for anything, it should be for it''s se[xist] ideologies, it''s treatment of women, but not for its stance against white vigilante violence and police brutality, because it did exist.

There were a lot of positive aspects of the Black Panther Party, their participation within communities, they were responsible for riding a lot of black communities of "drug houses", drug dealing, etc.

And if you care to do research "black on black crime" was almost unheard of, because of the strong presence of the Black Panther Party, they were vehemently against this type of "self-degradation genocide".

[kailumego1]

tbweb I''ve read a lot of your comments and have agreed with most of them, but not on this one.

The Black Panther Party can not be compared to the KKK, Neo-Nazi Skinhead Movement, or any other White Supremacy group, because they are a by-product of the racists ideologies that had existed during this period.

Tbweb, you''re generally pretty open-minded and able to seen beyond the discourse of this society.

So, consider this, the Black Panther Party, Malcolm X, etc. were tandem to the American Revolutionists, the George Washington, James Madison, Benjamin Franklin, Paul Revere, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, etc.
The forefathers of this country sought to rid themselves and others of colonial oppression and tyranny of the British Crown, of which the struggle wasn''t pretty or "non-violent", but ugly and fierce.

[kailumego1]

It amazes me when so-call intellectuals vehemently castigate and demonize individuals like Malcolm X and the groups like the Black Panthers for taking an aggressive stance against white vigilantly violence, as an act of terrorism, but uphold posthumously the founding leaders of this country that did identical.

Now do you think the British Crown viewed the American colonists as rightful heirs of justice when they violently went against the Parliament?

During this period, the 60''s and 70''s, the police were extremely corrupt, brutal, and violent, they often sided with white extremist groups like the KKK.

So, I''m leery of any police action during this period, because I understand the era and the "collective consciousness" of many whites, including the police.

Also, it amazes me how some white folks, always bring up Martin Luther King''s, an individual many whites couldn''t stand, non-violence movement, as to demonize individuals like Malcolm X for taking a proactive stance against "white tyranny".

But, they, themselves, condone violence, and even greater violence, in reaction to someone or groups, e.g. Muslim extremists groups, commit violent acts against them...

What an oxymoron?

So, I guess it''s not O.K. to defend oneself aggressively and violently against white extremists, but O.K. for white folks to react violently if and when they''re being assaulted, liberties and freedoms being jeopardized, and encroached upon, domestically, foreigners, etc.