Black Panther Party political prisoner, Veronza Bowers Jr., was released after serving 50 years in the inhumane US prison system.
In the 60s Bowers joined the Party, becoming an organzier in Nebraka. He eventually moved to California where he took a leadership position in the Party.
In 1973, Veronza was convicted in the murder of a U.S. Park Ranger on the word of two government informers, both of whom received reduced sentences for other crimes by the Federal prosecutor’s office. There were no eyewitnesses and no evidence independent of these informants to link him to the murder. The informants had all charges against them in this case dropped and one was given $10,000 by the government, according to the prosecutor’s post-sentencing report.
Veronza has consistently proclaimed his innocence in regards to the murder. Even at the expense of having his previous appeals for parole denied—for which an admission of guilt and contrition was virtually required—he insisted on maintaining his innocence.