PP Veronza Bowers Updates!!!

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Do we dare to hope?!



Parole Actions By Gonzales, Commission Are Faulted
By Joe Stephens
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, June 6, 2009

A convicted murderer whose parole was rescinded should be released because then-Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales and the U.S. Parole Commission engaged in a string of improper and unlawful actions to keep him behind bars, a federal magistrate has determined.

In a harshly worded opinion on Thursday, U.S. Magistrate Susan S. Cole of Atlanta wrote that the parole commission showed bias in its dealings with Veronza Bowers Jr., a former Black Panther serving a life sentence in connection with the 1973 slaying of a federal park ranger near San Francisco. Gonzales intervened to keep Bowers in prison after a memo from then-Commissioner Deborah Spagnoli, a former White House aide. Cole concluded that the attorney general "had no statutory or regulatory authority" to seek a review of the matter.

"The impartiality of the Commission as a whole was affected by the actions of Commissioner Spagnoli, the Attorney General and others," Cole wrote.

"The taint on the Commission's decision-making could not be eradicated simply by an order from this Court directing the Commission to grant [Bowers] a new parole hearing." As a result, she wrote, the decision to keep Bowers imprisoned "cannot stand."

A federal judge will review Cole's recommendation. A commission spokesman declined to comment. Bowers's attorney, Charles D. Weisselberg, said his client, who has always maintained his innocence, was confident that a court looking closely at his case would rule in his favor. "It was wonderful to hear the excitement in his voice," Weisselberg said.

Irregularities in the Bowers case were the subject of an investigation published last week in The Washington Post. It recounted how the commission granted Bowers parole in 2005 but did not release him after a behind-the-scenes campaign by Spagnoli, who later resigned.

Without the knowledge of other commissioners, The Post reported, Spagnoli wrote a 14-page memo about Bowers to Gonzales's office and had a number of exchanges with senior Justice Department officials. Eight days after the memo, Gonzales took the apparently unprecedented step of asking the commission to "clarify" its "initial decision." The commission then reversed itself.

Spagnoli did not respond to a message left at her home. She told The Post last month that she did nothing improper.

"The decision-making process . . . was rife with impermissible considerations," Cole wrote. She called Spagnoli's memo "a polemic against the decision to parole" that omitted all information favorable to Bowers.

Cole noted that the commission was up for reauthorization at the time and that Gonzales had the power to recommend it be closed.
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via: Freedom Archives
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Local judge says U.S. officials botched parole case
By RHONDA COOK
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Saturday, June 06, 2009

The federal Parole Commission denied clemency to a former Black Panther imprisoned in Atlanta to score political points that would extend the commission’s life, a federal judge said.

U.S. Magistrate Susan Cole also wrote in a final report and recommendation order that U.S. Attorney Alberto Gonzales improperly meddled in the case.

Cole recommended to a federal judge in Atlanta that Veronza Bowers Jr., be paroled immediately, having served more than 34 years of a life sentence for killing a federal park ranger near San Francisco in 1973.

Hearing examiners and commissioners twice agreed Bowers should be paroled the first time in November 2004 but political pressures caused commissioners to reverse themselves, Cole wrote. The magistrate observed that Bowers’ case was the first time the U.S. attorney had asked the commission to review its vote and “render a new decision on whether to grant or deny parole for Bowers.”

Gonzales intervened after receiving a 14-page memo from then-U.S. parole Commissioner Deborah Spagnoli, a former White House aide, asking whether the attorney general should appeal the commission’s decision to parole Bowers.

Cole wrote, however, that Gonzales had no authority to get involved.

“The impartiality of the Commission as a whole was affected by the actions of Commissioner Spagnoli, the Attorney General and others,” Cole wrote. “The taint on the Commission’s decision-making could not be eradicated simply by an order from this Court directing the Commission to grant (Bowers) a new parole hearing.”

Cole determined that the decision to keep Bowers imprisoned “cannot stand.”

Cole’s findings are a recommendation to U.S. District Judge Charles Moye, who is assigned Bowers’ 2008 lawsuit. The case is in the federal court in Georgia’s northern district because Bowers, 63, is incarcerated at the U.S. Penitentiary in Atlanta.

Bowers and two other men were on U.S. Park Service land near San Francisco, with the intention of poaching deer, on April 26, 1974, when park ranger Kenneth Patrick stopped them. Bowers shot and killed the ranger.

Bowers has “steadfastly maintained his innocence” and insisted he was a “political prisoner” prosecuted because of his affiliation with the Black Panthers.

A commission spokesman declined to comment when contacted Friday by the Washington Post. Bowers’ attorney, Charles Weisselberg, told the Post Bowers’ has always maintained his innocence and he is confident the federal court will rule in his favor.

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