What follows is a sample letter that you can use as a model when
writing to New York Governor David Patterson in support of Jalil's
application for clemency/commutation of sentence to time served.
The
letter can also be opened as a Word document here.
_______, 2009
Honorable David Paterson
The Governor of the State of New York
Executive Chamber
State Capital
Albany, New York
12224
RE: Application in Behalf of Anthony
Bottom
77A4283 for Clemency/Commutation of Sentence to Time Served and/or
Parole to
Warrant
Governor David Paterson:
Introduction
I respectfully
submit for your review and consideration this Application for
Clemency/Commutation of Sentence to Time Served and/or Parole to
Warrant in
behalf of Anthony Bottom, 77A4283, a NYS prisoner currently held in San
Francisco County Jail on pending charges.
The information presented will allow you to see past “the
serious nature
of the crime” and allow you to assess the blatant reality that Mr.
Bottom has
achieved rehabilitation within the thirty-six (36) years he have been
incarcerated. We also maintain that he
is not a threat to society, and that he would be able to remain at
liberty and
lead a productive life once given the opportunity.
Mr. Bottom
became eligible for parole in 2002, and has appeared before the NYS
Division of
Parole on 3 occasions, 2002, 2004, and 2006.
Each of the parole denials were subject to the previous Pataki
administration policy to deny discretionary parole for prisoners
convicted of a
violent offense. Under the Pataki
administration, parole decisions had become a game of chance, and
Executive Law
§259i (2) (c) (a) (1) had been relegated to interpretation
subverting the
legislative intent of the statute. Mr.
Bottom meets all the requirements to be released on parole pursuant to
the
guidelines of Executive Law §295i (2) (c) and N.Y.C.R.R. 8000.3
(1) (2) and
(3). Furthermore, the U.S. Justice
Department Bureau of Statistics has calculated an established means to
diminish
the probability of persons being release to recommit.
Mr. Bottom fits the criteria of these
statistics indicating that a person who has been in prison over ten
years,
received a college education, participated in rehabilitation, and is
over 35
years in age, with a strong community and family support has less than
3% rate
of recidivism.
I respectfully
submit the following for consideration in regards to Anthony Bottom,
the person
that he is, and has become through thirty-six years of incarceration.
Case Summary
Anthony Bottom
is the oldest of four children born to Richmond
and Billie
Jo Bottom on October 18, 1951, in Oakland,
California. He
was raised in a middle-class family in San Jose,
California. In
elementary school, he received a summer
scholarship for a high school chemistry program. While
in high school, he received a
scholarship for a summer San Jose
State University
math and engineering
program. When arrested on August 28,
1971, he was a high school graduate and working as a social worker with
California Department of Human Resources program. In
the course of growing up, he always had
summer jobs, his first paper route job at age 11. While
in high school, he became active in the
Black Student Union and a student organizer for the NAACP.
After the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther
King, Jr., on April 4, 1968, Anthony Bottom began to look towards the
Black
Panther Party for leadership.
Subsequently, he was recruited into the Party by childhood
friends who
had become BPP members. As a result of
his involvement in the Black Panther Party, he became known to the
police, the
federal government and was subject to COINTELPRO.
Past Criminal
History
Mr.
Bottom served three years
probation for a burglary. On September
19, 1977, Anthony Bottom was parole from San Quentin having served five
years
for a shoot-out that occurred when arrested in California
on August 28, 1971. On March 17, 2004,
the Federal Bureau of Prison discharged Mr. Bottom pursuant to an
application
for nunc pro tunc designation on a 25 year sentence for the robbery of
a
Fidelity Savings and Loan bank.
Instant Offense
Presently,
Anthony Bottom is being held in San Francisco County Jail, on an
extradition
warrant executed on or about April 4, 2007, transferred from Auburn
Correctional Facility in New York
State. His
New York State sentence, and the subject
of this Application is based on a May 1975 commitment of 25 to Life
sentence
for the murders of New York police officers Waverly M. Jones and Joseph
Piagentini on May 21, 1971. He was
convicted in a second trial, the first trial ended in a hung jury
favoring an
acquittal, and Anthony Bottom continues to maintain his innocence. It is understood the parole board must
evaluate an individual that has been convicted as being guilty of the
crimes. However, it is becoming more and
more apparent that there are people who are innocent that have been
convicted
of crimes. As it pertains to former
members of the Black Panther Party who were COINTELPRO targets, many
have read
headlines of exonerations decades after their convictions.
For instance, in California,
Geronimo jija Pratt, who spent 27 years incarcerated before
exoneration, and in
NYS, Dhoruba bin Wahad, who spent 19 years incarcerated before
exoneration, and
who subsequently had been part of the investigation in this case. There is a great possibility the man for
which this application is presented is truly innocent in this case. The case of Anthony Bottom is one of racial
prejudice, and government corruption that was present in the
Nixon-Hoover
era.
At the time of
Anthony Bottom’s arrest, former Director of the FBI, J. Edgar Hoover
implemented a counterintelligence program designed to target the
African-American leaders of the Black Panther Party by infiltrating the
movement. This program known as
COINTELPRO applied tactics such as framing members of the movement for
crimes
they did not commit to remove them from the community.
On May 26,
1971, five days after the murders of Jones and Piagentini, Hoover was
summon to
the White House for a confidential meeting with President Richard Nixon
and
John Erlichman, the Domestic Affairs Advisor, to discuss the unsolved
case. This meeting targeted the Black
Panther Party as suspects in the murder of the two police officers. Appeals and post conviction challenges on this
case has been filed and thus far have been unsuccessful.
Judith M. Rosen, Esq., represented Anthony
Bottom at an evidentiary hearing in 1992, attorney Rosen reported, “At the evidentiary hearing before Judge
Lasker in 1992, which I participated in, it was determined the Chief of
Ballistics of New York City Police Department had committed a grave
error as to
the ballistics evidence that was the foundation of Mr. Bottom’s
conviction. Although this was ruled
harmless error I believe that decision was based more on political than
legal
grounds.”
Prior to the
July 30, 2004 NYS parole hearing, the son of the slain police officer
Waverly
M. Jones, presented a victim impact statement to Richard Dennison,
former
Chairman of NYS Board of Parole. In the
formal interview with Richard Dennison, Waverly Jones, Jr., stated he
did not
believe Anthony Bottom (and co-defendant Herman Bell) were guilty of
the
murders, and if they were, that he and his family had forgave them,
advocating
for their release on parole. The July
2004 parole board ignored the Waverly Jones, Jr., victim impact
statement, of
which was taken on appeal to the NYS
Appellant Court
for the Third Department. Although the
Third Department, on July 1, 2006, did not reverse the parole denial,
the Court
did admonish the NYS Division of Parole for its failure to consider the
victim
impact statement.
Victim Impact
Statement and NYS Appellant Court
Ruling
As
directed by NYS Executive Law
§259(i), a factor that must be considered when evaluating an
individual for
discretionary parole release is the victim impact statement. In this case, victim impact statement was
given in favor of the release of Anthony Bottom. In
the 2004 parole hearing, Mr. Waverly
Jones, Jr., stated in pertinent parts:
“Me, personally, have forgiven these men for the positions
that they
took back then. I personally feel that
when you think of the 60’s you think of a very turbulent time, not only
in NY
but throughout the country and we know historically black people of
course,
have been oppressed… I do not have hatred or revenge or anything for
any of
those individuals. I sincerely feel that
I don’t particularly see them as a danger.
I don’t see them as someone that’s going to come out of prison
and
commit violent crimes or anything of that nature.”
The transcript
continues:
“Let me ask you this question sir.
Will these gentlemen continually be sent to parole every two
years and
continually be denied because of the crime that they committed? It sounds like why even go before the Parole
Board? It sounds like its humiliating to
go before the Parole Board after so many years demonstrating your
viability to
society and then that be completely disregarded if the type of crime
you
committed in the eyes of the Parole Board is too atrocious to be
released
because of the nature of the crime is never going to change.
Dennison: Right.
Jones: Its almost like are
they
going to be every two years at the mercy of the whim of the members of
the
Board if they feel okay you served enough time?
Is that the way they are going to deal with this?
Or should it be that there would be so much
overwhelming outside support from underneath that they are forced to
let them
go because there is so much support for this release that to deny him
would be
like a terrible message to society if there’s so much support in favor
of him
being released? What will it take for
the Parole Board to be moved to release them if the nature of the crime
is
never going to change?
Dennison: I really can’t speak
about them, I can speak about Mr. Bottom, because every case is a
little bit
different… I really can only speak about Mr. Bottom, he has been in
prison a
long time.
Jones: I feel that Herman Bell
and Anthony Bottom were both victims as well of a much larger scheme
which got
them incarcerated to this day, and I feel that there sentence was
twenty-five-to life, and to me they have shown great resilience in
prison, that
their mind is still intact, that their spirit is still eager to do
good, and I
just pray that the Parole Board will look at the context and the time
and send
a message to me of healing. Both black
and white need to heal from that moment in history because its still
affecting
us today, injustices that both suffered.
We are the ones dealing with that today, and I feel that men
like him
who are in that time period and they may have did certain things in
their life
would send a message to me of forgiveness and healing and time to I say
amend
that period in history so that we can both enjoy good perpetuity on
both
sides. I think that keeping them in
prison is only strengthening resentment among grassroots individuals
and is
producing a greater passion in them to pick up a weapon, and I believe
that
keeping them prison in their eyes is almost like there is no justice if
you
will. I just don’t think that’s a good
message to send out, and that’s why I requested to meet with the NYS
Parole
Board.”
In 2004, with
this statement ignored, Anthony Bottom was denied parole.
An appeal proceeded, but the transcript of
the victim impact statement was not available at the time of the
submission of
the Article 7800 in the Supreme Court in Albany. However, it was made available at the time of
the appeal to the NYS Appellant Court
for the Third Department.
In The Matter of Bottom vs. The NYS
Board of Parole, Index No. 98942 (3rd Dept., July 1,
2006),
responding to reading the victim impact statement the Court held:
“Although the adult son of the slain police officer
appeared at a
victim impact meeting concerning petitioner and spoke at length in
favor of his
release, respondent’s subsequent decision makes no mention of that
statement
and neither a transcript of the victim impact statement nor a report
thereon
appears in the administrative record. In
fact, respondent affirmatively cited the negative impact of
petitioner’s
actions upon the victim’s families as one justification for denying him
parole…
Whereas here it is provided with a victim impact statement which
advocates for
the release of the prospective parolee, explicit reference to such an
exceptional submission would facilitate intelligent appellate review.”
Bottom(id).
In the August
1, 2006 NYS parole hearing, again, the Waverly Jones, Jr., victim
impact
statement was ignored, even though Anthony Bottom raised the issue. The parole panel conducting the hearing
refused to discuss the victim impact statement, only inquiring as to
how
Anthony Bottom received a copy of the Waverly Jones, Jr. victim impact
statement. Discretionary release on
parole was summarily denied employing the same reasons for denial as
had been
applied in the two previous parole hearings of 2002 and 2004.
The NYS
Appellant Division for the Third Department held the victim impact
statement
advocating for release must be seriously considered by the Parole Board
or the
decision will be reviewed by the Court.
Unfortunately, as will be shown below, the Court will not review
the
Parole Board’s failure to consider the positive victim impact statement.
Extraordinary
Circumstances for Clemency/Commutation of Sentence
On or about
April 4, 2007, Anthony Bottom was transferred from Auburn Correctional
Facility
pursuant to an extradition warrant to San
Francisco
charged in a felony complaint (not a Grand Jury indictment) with seven
(7)
other named defendants, for conspiracy and murder of a S.F. police
officer on
August 29, 1971. Consequently, because
Mr. Bottom is not in NYS, the appeal of the August 1, 2006, parole
denial has
been deem moot by the NYS Supreme
Court of
Albany County. Furthermore, according to Mr. Terrance X.
Tracy, Counsel of NYS Division of Parole, future parole hearings will
not be
conducted until he is returned to NYS.
While the S.F. felony complaint is base on a 36-year-old crime,
the
matter is not expected to proceed to trial for at least one year. Therefore, Anthony Bottom will not be in NYS
for the scheduled July 2008 parole hearing, and there are no
arrangements to
hold the hearing by teleconference. In
effect, Mr. Bottom has otherwise been made ineligible for parole.
It must be
noted the S.F. felony complaint as written is subject to many defense
challenges. As a result of several
pre-trial motion hearings, the substance of the S.F. felony complaint
has been
found to be inconsistent with the allegations proclaimed in the
original
extradition warrant. For instance, the
prosecution now concede there are no DNA matches to any of the
defendants; the
prosecution do not have the allege murder weapon (the shotgun has been
lost);
latent fingerprint examination on a cigarette lighter found at the
scene has
proved inconclusive, with 4 previous exams (2 by the FBI and 2 by S.F.
forensic
experts) not matching any of the defendants, however, DNA and another
latent
print were found on the cigarette lighter not belonging to any of the
defendants. The offenses charged in the
S.F. felony
complaint allegedly happened on August 29, 1971, but Anthony Bottom was
arrested and in S.F. city jail on August 28, 1971, therefore not a
direct
participant in the alleged crime. As of
this submission 6 of the 8 defendants named in the S.F. felony
complaint has
been released on bail.
It should also be noted that the charge
of
conspiracy has been drop against 5 of the defendants, one of which
conspiracy
was his only charge and has been dismissed from the entire case. Given the fact, six of the eight defendants
named in the S.F. felony complaint has been release on bail, Mr.
Anthony
Bottom, has a liberty interest in having his NYS sentence commuted to
time
served and/or parole to the warrant.
NYS Institutional
Involvement
As
reported at
Mr. Bottom’s previous application for parole, the highlights of his
achievements while incarcerated include:
In
1986, Anthony drafted a legislative bill for New
York State
prisoners to obtain good time off their sentence. The
bill was submitted and introduced into
the New York State Assembly – Committee on Corrections by former
Assemblyman
Arthur O. Eve.
In
1994, while incarcerated at Shawangunk
Correctional Facility, Anthony established the first Men’s Council in
the United States
prison. His efforts were featured on
television in Japan
and written about in the NY Times.
During this period, he also graduated from SUNY – New Paltz with
a B.S.
in Psychology and a B.A. in Sociology.
Instead of resting on his success, he taught African Studies to
a group
of prisoners.
On two occasions, he received commendations
from
prison officials for quelling potential prison riots, one in the mess
hall at
Great Meadow Correctional Facility and another time in the auditorium
at
Greenhaven Correctional Facility.
From 1996 to 1999, Anthony was the office
manager of the prison computer lab at Eastern Correctional Facility. His duties consisted of teaching prisoner's
keyboarding skills and how to use computer software programs. Despite his busy schedule, he found the time
to raise money from inmate accounts to support the charitable
Children’s Funds.
In 1999, in Auburn Correctional Facility,
Anthony established sociology, poetry, and a legal research and
discussion
classes under the auspices of the Lifer’s Committee that he chaired.
Anthony
co-sponsored the Victory Gardens
Project, a program which farmers in Maine grew
tons of
fresh produce for distribution to poor urban communities in New
York,
New Jersey and Boston,
Massachusetts. In
the four years of its existence, the
Project distributed nearly 10,000 pounds of fresh produce in urban
centers.
In
response to the tragedy of September 11,
2001, while in Auburn Correctional Facility, Anthony proposed raising
funds
from inmates to donate to the American Red Cross. Former
Deputy Superintendent of Programs, R.
Nelson acknowledged Anthony’s efforts in a memorandum.
While
in Auburn Correctional Facility he worked
as a Pre-GED Teacher’s Assistant, earned a vocational certificate for
Architectural
Drafting and Anthony has proposed and gained the approval for a Life
Skills
Program for inmates.
Anthony
is a published poet and essayist; his
writings are found in several University sponsored books of
compilations of
prison writers. He also written an
unpublished novel and teleplay.
Parole
Release Plans
In the event
that Anthony Bottom’s Application for Clemency/Commutation of Sentence
is
approve, and he is release on bail pending the resolution of present
charges,
he would live in either Syracuse, New
York
or Austell, Georgia. In Syracuse, he would
apply for the Master’s program at Maxwell
School Syracuse
University,
to obtain a degree in Public Administration and a certificate in Health
Services Management. In Austell,
Georgia, he has an
offer
of employment in the construction field and a home that is to be
provided by
his mother.
Anthony Bottom
has a 36-year-old daughter, two grandchildren and one great grand child. Over the decades of imprisonment, he has
maintained a strong family relationship although they reside in California
and Georgia. Throughout his years of imprisonment, there
have been continuous family visit when they were able, including family
trailer
visits. As an example, in the November
2000, issue of Essence Magazine, Anthony Bottom, his daughter and
granddaughter
were featured in an article titled “Daddy Says,” discussing father and
daughter
relationships. Mr. Bottom will continue
to be involved in community service, particularly in regards to AIDS
education. He once initiated a campaign
to provide school supplies to AIDS orphans in Africa.
Conclusion
It
should be
noted that since his last parole appearance Mr. Bottom has obtained
certificates of appreciation in the field of drafting.
He hopes to use this training in construction
work. In addition, he has participated
in the aggression resolution-training program (ART); complimenting the
certificate’s he already received in aggression management, substance
abuse and
behavior therapeutics. It should also be
noted that Mr. Bottom has not received any serious misbehavior reports
since
his last parole board appearance. It is
my sincere hope that you will see past the political ramifications in
this
case, as Mr. Bottom is deserving commutation of sentence to time served
and/or
parole to the warrant.
In my opinion,
the time is now to correct the wrongs that have been done to Anthony
Bottom by
the administration of this government as a result of COINTELPRO
activities. Although convicted at trial,
he has been robbed of his life solely because of his political beliefs
and his
involvement in the Black Panther Party.
Mr. Bottom has
maintained his innocence for decades throughout his incarceration, but
has
accepted the circumstances and participated in the rehabilitation that
was
provided him by the NYS Department of Corrections.
He has exceeded the guidelines depicted in
NYS Executive Law for parole release considerations.
Mr. Bottom has been an asset and role model
to many of the inmates. He has worked
extensively throughout his incarceration to improve himself, to
establish a
peaceful environment in his otherwise chaotic environment, and to
assist others
in their rehabilitation. Mr. Bottom
deserves his freedom and a chance to be an asset to his community from
outside
the walls of prisons.
Sincerely,
On behalf of Anthony Bottom,
77A4283