Biography
Herman Bell is a former Black Panther framed for the murder of a police officer in New York and is serving 25 years to life in prison. Herman Bell was born in Mississippi and moved to Brooklyn, New York as a boy. He was a talented High School football player and won a football scholarship to the University of California in Oakland. While in Oakland, Herman joined the Black Panther Party and became active around human rights issues in the Black community. In 1971, he went underground because of relentless FBI attacks on the Black Panther Party. While underground, Herman joined the Black Liberation Army, and in September of 1973 he was captured and extradited to New York on charges of having killed 2 New York City police officers– a case for which Jalil Muntaquim and Nuh Washington were already serving time. No witnesses were able to put Herman at the scene of the crime. The first trial ended in a hung jury and he was convicted at his second trial and given 25 years to life. Herman is a prison activist and has coached various sports teams inside the prison system. In 1990 he earned his B.S. degree from the State University of New York at New Paltz. Most recently, Herman was indicted as one of the San Francisco 8, 8 former Black Panthers all accused of murdering a police officer in San Francisco in the 1970’s. Herman pled guilty to a smaller offense and was not given any additional time to his sentence.
The May 30, 1975 statement in the July newsletter individually names this prisoner in its contemporary political-prisoner account. The statement documents historical imprisonment rather than a new arrest or a current custody claim. It supplies no new individual discharge or complete sentence duration. Black Community News Letter, volume13, July1975, Awakening of a Dragon, original PDF page 22. Source: https://www.freedomarchives.org/Documents/Finder/DOC32_scans/32.BlackComNewsletter.AwakeningofaDragon.pdf#page=22
The legal-team statement republished in Summer 2009 reports Bell’s June 29, 2009 guilty plea to reduced voluntary manslaughter and an agreement for five years of informal probation with no additional prison time. It says he would return to New York, where he remained imprisoned on his separate 1975 convictions. The California plea is not a new final-release date or another completed prison term. Exact California admission, sentencing-hearing and transfer days are not established here.
The New York Five trial was underway in March 1974
The April 10, 1974 bulletin individually names Herman Bell among the New York Five, with Herman Bell, Anthony Bottoms, Gabriel and Francisco Torres, and Albert Washington. It reports that their trial on the May 21, 1971 police-killing charges began March 11, 1974 after pretrial motions, and was still underway when this issue was prepared. The source’s names and case context correspond to this existing profile; the 1971 date is the alleged offense, not every defendant’s arrest day.
This is a contemporary report of a pending trial, not a report of final conviction, dismissal, admission or discharge. It is kept separate from later trial outcomes and other prosecutions already described here. No new imprisonment interval or counter is inferred from the trial opening or the general appeal for prisoner support.
Friends of Assata Shakur and Sundiata Acoli Bulletin, no. 4, April 10, 1974, original PDF pages 4. Contemporary descriptions are attributed to the bulletin.
Jericho reports providing support to Bell as one of three recently released people, alongside Hayes and Debbie Africa. This is completed freedom by publication, not a pending parole application; no new exact release day is supplied.
The Dragons Fire, National Jericho Movement Newsletter, vol. 6, July–August 2018, PDF page 50.
The reproduced August 22, 2019 appellate report says the officers’ widow lacked standing to challenge Bell’s parole and confirms his release the preceding year. This was a challenge to parole already granted, not a new prison admission or a new August 2019 release.
The appendix names him among prisoners in an alleged February 16, 1975 Rikers Island escape attempt. This confirms historical confinement on that date, not an original admission or final discharge. The account is attributed to the state report; no new conviction or sentence is inferred from the alleged attempt. The earlier Tombs account places the Torres brothers, Washington, Anthony Bottoms and Herman Bell in custody awaiting trial.
Report of the New York State Policy Study Group on Terrorism, November 1985, PDF page 85.
