A third person in the car with Acoli and Shakur died from his injuries at the scene. The state contended Shakur shot Trooper James Harper, wounding him, then took Foerster’s gun and shot him twice in the head as he lay on the ground. According to court documents, Acoli’s gun went off during a struggle with Foerster, who had responded as backup.

“The court said today that the parole board has to follow the rule of law and cannot deny parole unless it can prove that an inmate is a threat to society.”Īcoli was known as Clark Edward Squire in 1973 when the car he was riding in was stopped on the New Jersey Turnpike for a broken tail light. “After 50 years of imprisonment, the Supreme Court has brought an end to a tragic episode from the civil rights era and recognized that we have to be humane in our parole process and not practice vengeance,” Afran said.

State Attorney General Matthew Platkin said in a statement, “I am grateful to the attorneys in my office who opposed the release of Sundiata Acoli and I am disappointed that he will be released on parole.”īruce Afran, an attorney who has argued on Acoli’s behalf for more than a decade, praised the ruling. Phil Murphy said he was “deeply disappointed” by the ruling. “However despised Acoli may be in the eyes of many because of the notoriety of his crime, he too is entitled to the protection of the law - and to the fair and impartial administration of justice,” Albin wrote. “The issue, however is whether Acoli, after nearly five decades of imprisonment, has satisfied the statutory demands that govern his parole eligibility.”Īlbin noted that if the crime had occurred today, Acoli would have been sentenced to life without the possibility of parole, but that New Jersey law at the time allowed for parole. “No member of the Court disputes that Acoli committed a horrific crime,” Justice Barry Albin wrote for the majority. In Tuesday’s 3-2 ruling with Chief Justice Stuart Rabner not participating, the court held that the state parole board didn’t meet its required burden of demonstrating there was a substantial likelihood of Acoli committing another crime.

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