Where is Joanne Chesimard now?
Assata Olugbala Shakur is a former member of the Black Liberation Army who is better known by her married name JoAnne Chesimard. She later her name to JoAnne Deborah Byron on July 16, 1947. In the borough of Queens, Flushing, Assata Shakur was born. Three years were spent living in a house with her mother,…
Assata Olugbala Shakur is a former member of the Black Liberation Army who is better known by her married name JoAnne Chesimard. She later her name to JoAnne Deborah Byron on July 16, 1947. In the borough of Queens, Flushing, Assata Shakur was born. Three years were spent living in a house with her mother, a teacher, and her grandparents, retired Lula and Frank Hill. The Shakur family moved to Wilmington, North Carolina, following the divorce of Shakur’s parents in 1950.
Shakur returned to Queens after completing elementary school to live with her mother and stepfather. Her junior high school was Parsons. After converting to Catholicism as a young child, Shakur spent six months in the all-girls Cathedral High School before transferring to a public high school.
Shakur was charged with 10 different felonies in New York and New Jersey between 1973 and 1977, which led to seven distinct court cases. In addition to eight other accusations relating to the Turnpike gunfight, Shakur was accused of two bank robberies, the kidnapping of a Brooklyn heroin dealer, and the attempted murder of two Queens police officers on January 23, 1973.
Two further bank robberies. Three of these instances ended in acquittals. Four of the remaining cases involved a mistrial because of pregnancy, a deadlocked jury, and a conviction. Three charges were acquitted without a trial.
Where is Joanne Chesimard now?
Former Black Liberation Army member Assata Shakur was found guilty in 1977 of murdering a state trooper during a gunfight in New Jersey. She managed to escape from prison in 1979 and travel to Cuba, where she was given political shelter and is still living today.
