Biography
Alvin Joyner was a member of the Philadelphia Black liberation group known as the Revolutionaries and a defendant in the prosecution arising from the August 29, 1970 Cobbs Creek confrontation in which police officer Frank Von Colln was killed. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court reversed Joyner’s first conviction because of prosecutorial misconduct. He was tried again in April 1977, convicted, and sentenced to life imprisonment in February 1979. The Prison Activist Resource Center listed him in 2008 as a political prisoner under Pennsylvania prisoner number AF-4296. His custody status after that roster has not been independently established.
Arrest-day source discrepancy
The ABCF Fred Burton leaflet places Robert and Alvin Joyner’s arrests on the day following the August 29, 1970 Cobbs Creek incident, implying August 30. The current Alvin Joyner case records August 29. This secondary defense leaflet is preserved as a conflicting source; the structured date should not be changed without corroboration from the original court or arrest record.
