BATON ROUGE, La., March 18 (UPI) -- Lawyers are seeking the release of two convicts who have spent almost 40 years in solitary in Louisiana's Angola Prison for killing a guard.
Allen Woodfox and Herman "Hooks" Wallace were founders of a Black Panther chapter at the prison, a notoriously violent and segregated place. Their lawyers argued at a hearing Monday that there was no physical evidence linking them to the stabbing of Brent Miller, a 23-year-old white corrections officer who bled to death in a prison dormitory, The (New Orleans) Times-Picayune reported.
Woodfox, Wallace and Robert King became known as the "Angola 3." King, who was convicted of killing another inmate, was released in 2001 after spending 29 years in solitary.
"There were lots and lots of weapons, at least a murder a week -- inmates being murdered," defense attorney Nicholas Trenticosta said. "It was against that backdrop that Albert and Herman formed a Black Panther Party chapter. They were trying to stop the sexual slavery and rampant rage occurring there everyday."
Wallace's conviction was reversed in 2006, but the state is appealing that decision.
