Associated Press
NEW ORLEANS — One of the state prisoners known as the “Angola Three” has won another round in court as he fights charges arising from the 1972 stabbing death of a prison guard.
Albert Woodfox’s conviction in that death had been overturned by a federal district judge. That judge’s decision was upheld in November by the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Now, the appeals court has refused a state request for another hearing on the issue.
The conviction was thrown out because Woodfox’s 1993 indictment was tainted by racial discrimination in the grand jury foreman selection process.
Woodfox and two other state prisoners became known as the Angola Three due to their long stretches in solitary confinement at the Louisiana State Penitentiary in Angola.