In the Press...
Star Ledger News Article'N.J. lawmakers launch push for fugitive Chesimard's return from Cuba'
By Jonathan D. Salant of the Star Ledger -
Reps. Chris Smith and Albio Sires began a new effort to push for the return of convicted cop-killer Joanne Chesimard to the U.S., re-introducing legislation to have the government push for the return of fugitives harbored abroad. The bill is named for two New Jersey residents, Walter Patterson and New Jersey State Trooper Werner Foerster, both of whose killers were found and convicted but escaped and are living overseas. Both Smith and Sires (D-8th Dist.) sponsored similar legislation in the last Congress. Under the bill, federal government would have to submit annual reports on the number of fugitives and the efforts being made to bring them back.
Lawmakers push for Chesimard's return U.S. Reps. Chris Smith and Albio Sires would require the government to submit annual reports on what is being done to secure the extradition of fugitives living abroad "These are two of the most egregious cases, but it's clear that there are many others," said Smith (R-4th Dist.). "This bill will give Congress the relevant facts with which to jump-start new approaches to extradition." Chesimard was the first woman named to the FBI's list of most wanted terrorists. She was convicted of killing Foerster after a car carrying her and other members of the Black Liberation Army was stopped on the New Jersey Turnpike in 1973. She lives in Cuba and her continued presence there led to members of the New Jersey congressional delegation objecting to President Barack Obama's efforts to restore relations with the communist island. "It is unconscionable, albeit not surprising, that the Castro regime, suppressors of the freedom-loving people of Cuba, will allow a convicted killer to walk freely and enjoy the liberties it denies its own people," Sires said. Patterson, a World War II veteran, was killed in 1962 at a gas station he co-owned in Wall Township. After his killer, George Wright, escaped from prison, he was one of the Black Liberation Army members who hijacked a Delta Air Lines plane in 1972 and sought asylum in Algeria. He was discovered in Portugal in 2011, though the government there has refused to extradite him.
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