Lawyer: Ex-Black Panther Wants U.S. Trial

A former Black Panther Party member accused of shooting a police officer in 1969 and then fleeing to Canada wants to return to the United States to stand trial, his attorney says.

Chicago authorities accuse Joseph Coleman Pannell, now 58, of shooting Officer Terrence Knox after the officer stopped him for questioning outside a store in Chicago's South Side. Pannell was free on bond in that case in 1973 when he fled.

Pannell, who changed his name to Douglas Gary Freeman and was a library research assistant outside Toronto, has waived extradition and will return to Chicago within 30 days, his attorney, Neil Cohen, told the Chicago Sun-Times.

Pannell has been jailed since his 2004 arrest in a suburb of Toronto. A judge in 2005 ordered Pannell returned to Chicago to face trial on charges of attempted murder and aggravated battery. But his lawyers appealed, saying Pannell feared for his life and would not get a fair trial in the U.S.

After the ruling, Pannell's wife and four children stood in protest outside the U.S. Consulate located across the street from the downtown courthouse.

"We all have bleeding hearts right now, but this is not over," said Pannell's wife, Natercia Coelho. "He came here because he feared for his life. What happened to him was wrong in '69, and what happened today is wrong."

In 2006, Canadian Justice Minister Vic Toews denied Pannell's request. Pannell's attorneys mounted a last appeal of Toews' decision.

Knox was on patrol when he approached Pannell, then 19 and away without permission from the Navy, and asked why he was not inside a nearby high school.

Knox said he almost lost his right arm because of the bullet wounds, and his life was saved when a fellow police officer stuck a finger into his arm to stop the bleeding from a torn artery.

Pannell was arrested in 1971, skipped bail, then was re-arrested in 1973 and skipped bail again, according to court records.

Knox, 60, remains angry about the judges who twice freed Pannell on bail in the 1970s.

"My position is the same," said the retired officer, who lives in southwest suburban Orland Park. "I want the court system to do its job. If he is innocent I will shake his hand. If he is guilty, I will slam the door behind him and never look back."

Pannell, who had been fighting extradition, has changed his mind in part because of what he views as a different political climate in the United States, Cohen said.