Biography
Catawba prisoner at Attica Correctional Facility at the time of the September 1971 uprising. Indicted with John Hill (Dacajeweiah) for the death of officer William Quinn during the prisoner takeover. Convicted of attempted second-degree assault in the 1975 Attica murder trial. Sentenced to up to 2 years on top of his prior sentence. Both his and Hill's convictions remain among the only Attica-uprising prosecutions to result in jail time, despite the state's killing of 39 people during its retaking of the prison.
The March 1973 Attica News roster prints Chuck Pernasilice (Charley Joe) among the uprising prisoner defendants, linked to indictment 1: murder of Officer William Quinn. The table lists maximum statutory exposure, not sentences actually imposed or time served; no custody dates or duration are inferred. Physical page 5 describes renewed denial of bail despite attorney Barbara Handschu presenting more than 500 Syracuse supporters petitions and employment and home assurances. It gives his historical age as twenty-one and his underlying 1968 stolen-motorcycle conviction; neither age nor threatened capital exposure is converted into birth date or actual sentence. It describes short visits, poor food and denial of his guitar in Erie County Jail. Source: https://freedomarchives.org/Documents/Finder/DOC510_scans/Attica/510.Prisons.AtticaNewsVol1No1.pdf#page=6
The 1978 Attica defense booklet identifies him as Charley Joe Pernasilice and records his April 5, 1975 conviction for attempted second-degree assault. The Militant’s April 18 report describes deputies leading him away immediately after the verdict and states that he and John Hill were in the custody of the Erie County sheriff after bail was denied. The defense booklet says he was subsequently released on bail pending appeal and was already outside prison when Governor Hugh Carey pardoned him on December 30, 1976. The pardon was therefore separate from his earlier physical release on bail.
