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Albert Woodfox, who has spent more that 40 years
in solitary confinement in Louisiana prisons, was cautiously optimistic when
a federal judge ordered his release earlier this week, his attorney said. On
Friday (June 12), that caution was validated.
The Fifth Circuit U.S.
Court of Appeals issued a decision Friday to continue to block the release
of Woodfox, who is under a third indictment for the 1972 murder of a prison
guard, while the court considers an appeal filed by Louisiana Attorney
General Buddy Caldwell. The ruling meant Woodfox would not be released
Friday (June 12), which had been a possibility.
The Fifth Circuit
earlier this week granted Caldwell a temporary, emergency stay, blocking
Woodfox's release after U.S. District Judge James Brady ruled Monday (June
8) that not only should Woodfox be freed, but that he should not be tried a
third time for the 43-year-old prison murder.
The temporary stay
expiring at 1 p.m. Friday was enacted for the purpose of allowing Woodfox's
attorneys to argue for his unconditional release.
Woodfox, 68, has
been held in closed-cell restriction, the state says, because of two
convictions for the murder of Brent Miller, the 23-year-old slain guard.
Woodfox and another inmate, the late Herman Wallace, were both accused in
the murder at Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola. Courts overturned both
of Woodfox's convictions, but a West Feliciana Parish grand jury in February
indicted him for a third time in the decades-old case.
Despite the
problems with the state's case against Woodfox, if he is forced to stand
trial again it would be more than just a setback, his attorney Carine
Williams said. It took 20 years to litigate the first conviction. And after
the second indictment was secured in 1993, it took more than five years to
get to trial. Woodfox's age and illnesses mean the clock is ticking.
"Albert doesn't have that kind of time," she said Friday.
Wallace's
convictions were also eventually overturned, and he was freed from custody
in October 2013, days before he died of liver cancer.
About a dozen
family members of Miller, who was reportedly stabbed 38 times, stood outside
the West Feliciana Detention Center when news came down that the appeal
process will continue. Stan Miller, Brent Miller's then-younger brother, now
62 years old, said he and his family were "feeling great" following the
court's decision not to release Woodfox. "Maybe we can get some closure," he
said.
"Whenever you murder somebody or do something wrong, you pay
the price," Miller's sister, Wanda Callender, told the Associated Press
outside the detention center. "Two juries said he was guilty... I would love
for him to stay in prison the rest of his life."
Miller's widow
Teenie Rogers, who has publicly expressed doubt about Woodfox's guilt, was
not at the facility Friday. She issued issued a statement Thursday (June 11)
calling for his release.
"Loving Brent doesn't mean we have to
ignore the truth and the evidence," the statement says.
Williams, who
was with her client at the St. Francisville facility when the ruling was
issued, said she and Woodfox were disappointed that his potential release
has been stalled, yet again. Accustomed to appeals and retrials of his case
stretching across decades, Woodfox knew he might not walk free Friday.
However, she said, "of course he was hopeful."
A joint statement
issued by Williams and Woodfox's other attorney George Kendall said they're
confident the Fifth Circuit "will ultimately find that the district court's
ruling is sound, well-reasoned, and based on well-established law."
In Brady's ruling, he lists five "exceptional circumstances" in Woodfox's
case that prompted him to grant the New Orleans native unconditional
release, thereby barring a third trial.
The five factors include
Woodfox's poor health and age; the federal court's "lack of confidence in
the State to provide a fair third trial"; the fact that a number of
witnesses are dead; prejudice shown toward Woodfox through 40 years of
solitary confinement; and the state's failure to secure a valid conviction
after two trials.
"This is the rare, exceptional instance in which
it is appropriate for the federal court to step in and prevent the state
from attempting to mount an unfair trial," Woodfox's lawyers' statement
continued. "Furthermore, there is no penological justification for the harsh
conditions under which Mr. Woodfox has been held for over four decades."
Williams and Kendall practice with the pro bono arm of Squire Patton
Boggs, an international law firm. They are based in New York City and became
connected with Woodfox's case around 2008, through the American Civil
Liberties Union.
News of Brady's ruling made headlines around the
world -- many reporting that Woodfox has been in solitary confinement
possibly longer than any U.S. prisoner.
The case has also attracted
attention as a cause for human rights groups such as Amnesty International,
which has publicly called for Woodfox's release and decried his solitary
confinement.
Woodfox is also the last remaining incarcerated member
of the Angola 3. The designation stems from what the group's supporters
believe are wrongful convictions for prison murders in which Woodfox,
Wallace and another prisoner, Robert King, were implicated for the purpose
of silencing their activism.
The International Coalition to Free the
Angola 3 believes the men essentially became political prisoners for
organizing an official Black Panther Party chapter inside the prison, which
led hunger strikes and other demonstrations opposing inhumane prison
conditions. Those conditions, in the early 1970s, included continued
segregation, corruption and "systematic prison rape," Pegram has said.
The three-judge panel indicated the appeal will receive an expedited
status. Oral arguments are scheduled for Aug. 31, and a different
three-judge panel will likely hear the case.
Meanwhile, Woodfox is
still being held in what Williams considers solitary confinement, she said.
He's allowed only one hour a day outdoors -- and only on certain days of the
week. West Feliciana Parish Detention Center spokeswoman Erin Foster said,
though, that Woodfox is being treated the same way as all of the other
pretrial inmates. "There's nothing different for him, specifically," she
said.
Williams said Woodfox is alone in his cell, which is outfitted
with solid walls, a steel door and one small window overlooking the yard. He
has access to a TV and shower in his cell. Foster could not confirm how many
hours Woodfox is allowed of out his cell, and a message left for West
Feliciana Parish Detention Center Warden Randall Holden was not returned.
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