Biography
Eric Thompson was one of the Attica Brothers — the prisoners the state of New York prosecuted after the September 1971 uprising at Attica Correctional Facility, which was crushed when state forces retook the prison and killed 29 inmates and 10 hostages. He was one of five men the state originally charged with murder in connection with the rebellion. As The Black Panther reported (February 1, 1975), the Attica Brothers' defense, led by William Kunstler and former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark, won a string of pretrial rulings exposing the weakness of the state's cases; most of the 42 indictments against 62 men were ultimately dismissed, and Governor Hugh Carey closed out the prosecutions and granted clemencies in 1976.
Attica Brother charged in connection with the 1971 Attica Prison uprising and the alleged deaths and kidnappings of inmates during the uprising. His prosecution as part of the Attica Brothers case was a focal point of post-Attica political prisoner defense work, including in PFOC Breakthrough magazine. Documented in PFOC Breakthrough magazine. The September 22, 1975 Black Panther, naming him Jomo Joka Omowale, reported that his trial began on September 15 on murder and kidnapping charges. It identified the alleged murder victim as inmate Kenneth Hess and described allegations involving inmates Hess and Barry Schwartz. The paper reported that Judge Ann Mikoll was expected to replace Judge Joseph Mattina for the trial; this prospective assignment does not establish who later entered a judgment.
The March 1973 Attica News roster prints Eric Thompson (Jomo) among the uprising prisoner defendants, linked to indictment 5, 15: 34 first-degree kidnapping counts; coercion and unlawful imprisonment. The table lists maximum statutory exposure, not sentences actually imposed or time served; no custody dates or duration are inferred. Source: https://freedomarchives.org/Documents/Finder/DOC510_scans/Attica/510.Prisons.AtticaNewsVol1No1.pdf#page=6
The newspaper identifies Jomo Joka Omowale as an Attica defendant facing trial on September 15, 1975 after years awaiting trial. This is a development during the existing confinement, not a new admission. The Black Panther, September22,1975, volumeXIVnumber1, original PDF page 10. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/black-panther/14%20no%201%201-28%20sep%2022%201975.pdf#page=10
The September 22, 1975 Black Panther, naming him Jomo Joka Omowale, reported that his trial began on September 15 on murder and kidnapping charges. It identified the alleged murder victim as inmate Kenneth Hess and described allegations involving inmates Hess and Barry Schwartz. The paper reported that Judge Ann Mikoll was expected to replace Judge Joseph Mattina for the trial; this prospective assignment does not establish who later entered a judgment.
The New York State Archives court caption independently identifies Eric Thompson by the alias Jomo Joka Omowale.
The Black Panther’s December 6, 1975 report identifies Eric Thompson as Jomo Joka Omowale and says he pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of coercion. He received a sentence equivalent to time already served, with no additional imprisonment on the Attica charges. The report connected the plea to trial testimony exposing violence by state troopers and prison guards.
The Black Panther, December 6, 1975, volume XIV no.12, PDF page 7; The Black Panther, December 6, 1975, volume XIV no.12, PDF page 24.
Breakthrough identifies Thompson as Jomo Joka Omowale and reports renewed imprisonment and a pending murder trial after the April 1978 Brooklyn confrontation, distinct from his Attica disposition.
