Biography
Civil rights attorney and December 12th Movement co-founder, charged as a New York 8+ defendant in the October 18, 1984 federal RICO indictment alleging a Black liberation conspiracy to free Sundiata Acoli, commit armed bank expropriations, and bomb federal buildings. Arrested in a predawn FBI/NYPD Joint Terrorism Task Force raid and held without bail in federal custody before being released pending trial in early 1985. Trial began May 13, 1985 before Judge Robert L. Carter in the Southern District of New York; the August 1985 jury acquitted him on every count. He continued practicing reparations law and pan-African human-rights advocacy, serving as legal counsel to the International Association Against Torture and to delegations on the rights of African people before the United Nations Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent.
January 1985 civil-contempt custody
The June 1985 defense publication reports the seven original defendants other than Coltrane Chimurenga remanded January 29, 1985 for refusing physical samples. This distinct civil-contempt detention is recorded separately from the October 1984 arrest and subsequent criminal verdict. Actual January remand discharge remains unknown; no police rearrest or continuous custody through the later trial is inferred. The initial seven are identified from the article's named October arrestees, not from its group-photo caption, which substitutes Jose Rios for Chimurenga.
Source: Death to the Klan, June 1985, printed pages 8-9 (PDF pages 9 and 8). Complete relevant pages and captions visually checked. Existing identified photo retained.
1980s custody-date audit: primary appellate chronology
The appellate opinion dates the original eight defendants arrest and initial detention October 18, 1984; the district-court caption identifies each defendant and Judge Robert L. Carter. Release orders, bond arrangements and actual discharge remain distinct. No exact bail-release date or uninterrupted duration is asserted. 760 F.2d 400; 609 F. Supp. 1066.
