Willie Roger Holder
Biography
Willie Roger Holder was a Black Panther and Vietnam veteran who went AWOL after being seriously wounded by a landmine and then subsequently jailed by the army for marijuana possession. In 1972, he and his accomplice, Catherine Marie Kerkow, hijacked Western Airlines Flight 701, demanding freedom for political prisoner Angela Davis and safe passage to North Vietnam in exchange for the passengers release. They ultimately received $500,000 in ransom and fled to Algeria where they were granted political asylum. Holder and Kerkow were arrested while attempting to enter France and were held for several months before being released. In 1980, a French court convicted Holder for the hijacking and imposed a five-year suspended sentence. In 1986, French authorities deported him to the United States, where he was arrested and prosecuted for the hijacking. He received a four-year prison sentence and was paroled in August 1989. In July 1991, Holder was arrested on parole violation after a police informant claimed he was planning another hijacking. Following his final release from prison in 1992, he spent the remainder of his life working as a day laborer.
Custody precision retained
Contemporary reporting confirms August 1989 parole only at MONTH precision; 1987 is a trial year, not an independently dated sentence. The 1,102-day total calculated from an August 1 placeholder is therefore removed. The separate 1991–1992 custody episode is outside this dated-1980s pass and its final release is not substituted for the earlier parole. Existing portrait retained. Contemporary report.
