Geronimo Pratt

It was a real thrill to read “Judge Reverses Conviction of Geronimo Pratt” (May 30). I felt a little of what attorney Stuart Hanlon must have experienced when he heard the news after devoting 24 years of his life to this case for free. Hanlon and [lay minister] Jim McCloskey deserve our deepest respect for continuing to believe that justice might one day be done in this case. I think Judge Everett Dickey was brave to issue this ruling after so many judges had been disqualified in a case that involves what looks like a real conspiracy by the district attorney’s office.

Elmer “Geronimo” Pratt’s 25 years in prison are a real example of what can result from racist institutions in this society.

DAWN SHARP

Claremont

* Geronimo Pratt is the Nelson Mandela of the United States: a political prisoner unjustly confined for 27 years.

M.L. GOODMAN

Santa Ana

* Thank you for your June 2 editorial calling for the district attorney to dismiss the Pratt case. I have doubted this case ever since Pratt was first arrested.

Is it any wonder that to many minorities “justice” seems to mean “just us” to the white establishment? If you want to understand how O.J. Simpson got away with murder, look no farther than this case.

ALEX MAGDALENO

Camarillo

* Why is it that, as I read about the Timothy McVeigh verdict (June 3), I keep thinking of Pratt?

GLENN C. COLE

Bakersfield