Muntaqim and Albert “Nuh” Washington were arrested and charged with the May 21, 1971 killings of two NYPD officers, P.O. Joseph Piagentini and P.O. Waverly Jones. Muntaqim and Washington were arrested in San Francisco, reportedly with Jones' revolver in their possession. Brothers Francisco and Gabriel Torres were arrested after police were tipped that they had been in contact with Muntaqim and Washington soon after the murders. A few years later in 1973, Herman Bell was arrested for unrelated robberies, but NYPD linked him to a fingerprint reportedly found at the scene. The first trial of the men ended in a hung jury, with the second in 1975 resulting his conviction on two counts of first-degree murder and sentenced to life imprisonment with possible parole after 22 years. The charges against the Torres brothers were thrown out due to lack of evidence, while Muntaqim, Washington and Bell were convicted and sentenced to 25-to-life based on new testimony by Ruben Scott, a
police informant in the Black Panther Party. Muntaqim remained politically active throughout his incarceration, writing theoretical texts as well as organizing with activists both inside and outside prison. While incarcerated, he met fellow Black revolutionaries
Jamil Al-Amin and
Muhammad Ahmad, who inspired him to convert to Islam and take on the name Jalil Abdul Muntaqim. The English translation of Muntaqim is "avenger." He never made a legal name change. He was involved in the National Prisoners Afrikan Studies Project, an organization that
educates inmates on their rights. In 1976, he founded the
National Prisoners Campaign to petition the
United Nations to recognize the existence of
political prisoners in the United States. During his 49 years of incarceration, Muntaqim and other Black Panthers imprisoned as part of Operation NEWKILL were widely described as political prisoners, including by the
National Conference of Black Lawyers, the
National Lawyers Guild, and the
Center for Constitutional Rights. The United States government does not recognize the existence of
political prisoners within its borders.
Legal challenge In 1994, Muntaqim (representing himself) challenged the
disenfranchisement of felons in New York in
Muntaqim v. Coombe, arguing that it disproportionately impacted African Americans and therefore violated Section 2 of the
Voting Rights Act. The case was first dismissed by the United States District Court for the Northern District of New York on the grounds that applying Section 2 (a federal law) to state felon-disenfranchisement law "would upset the sensitive relation between federal and state criminal jurisdiction." They cited then-recent Court precedent which required that laws which sought to change any balance between state and federal governments must explicitly say so in writing. In 2005 the case was argued again in front of the Second Circuit Court of Appeals, which agreed to rehear the case alongside
Hayden v. Pataki via internal poll. The Second Circuit ruled that due to Muntaqim being initially incarcerated in California under different charges, and only later transferred to New York where he has never voted nor had the right to vote at any time, they lacked the jurisdiction to hear the case and must dismiss.
Second conviction In 1999 the investigation into the death of San Francisco police officer John V. Young was re-opened, costing the city over $2 million but eventually leading to charges being filed against eight former BLA members in 2007, including Muntaqim. Members of the
San Francisco Board of Supervisors, who needed to approve the $2 million appropriation for the investigation and legal fees, requested that the charges be dropped against the remaining defendants, citing
the use of torture and denial of
right to counsel in order to obtain confessions. The SF Police Officer Association president at the time, Gary P. Delagnes, responded by stating “Regardless of how this confession was obtained, these seven people murdered a police officer in 1971.” Charges were dropped against six of the eight accused between 2008 and 2011. Muntaqim and Bell offered
pleas in return for greatly reduced sentences (time served plus probation). ==Parole and release==