Tupac Godfather & Former Black Panther Leader Geronimo Pratt Dies at 63

Elmer “Geronimo” Pratt, a former Los Angeles Black Panther leader who was acquitted of murder after spending 27 years in prison, has passed away in Tanzania.

The news of Pratt’s death was confirmed by his attorney Stuart Hanlon, who with Johnnie Cochran successfully fought to have Pratt’s 1972 murder conviction overturned. According to the LA Times, Hanlon received the news from Pratt’s sister, who stated her brother died at home with his wife and child.

Pratt’s conviction was for the 1968 shooting death of school teacher Caroline Olsen, and wounding of her spouse in an apparent robbery attempt. Pratt’s case was championed by celebrities, officials and civil rights activists who believed Pratt’s conviction was due to conspiracies from government agencies such as COINTELPRO.

Before his incarceration, Pratt was a close confidant of New York Black Panther member Afeni Shakur. He would become godfather to her son, Tupac Shakur, who was born in 1971 days before Afeni’s acquittal of plotting terrorist acts as part of the “Panther 21” trial.

Pratt was acquitted in 1997 after it was proven prosecutors deliberately concealed exonerating evidence, such as the fact Pratt was in Oakland when the murder was committed in Santa Monica. He received a settlement of $4.5 million from the city of Los Angeles and the U.S. Department of Justice for false imprisonment.

Pratt remained active with civil rights in his later years, fighting for a retrial for former Black Panther Mumia Abu-Jamal’s 1970 murder conviction.

GERONIMO PRATT & THA OUTLAWZ “IN THE EVENT OF MY DEMISE”

“WHITE MAN’S WORLD”