Biography
Black Kentucky man convicted in 1974 and sentenced to life without parole for the rape of a white woman he says he did not commit; The Black Panther Vol. 14 no.9 (1975) reports the state appeals court overturned the conviction for insufficient evidence and freed him on bond, and that he refused to plea-bargain.
The November 1975 report states that Burnett was convicted in June 1974, sentenced to life without parole and imprisoned at Eddyville. After the Kentucky Court of Appeals reversed the conviction, he was released on bond a few months later. By the report he had actually spent fifteen months behind bars. He rejected a proposed guilty plea for time served. The announced second trial was still prospective.
