“In 2015 I chaired a hearing focused on how President Obama 'squandered the opportunity' to demand Chesimard’s extradition to the United States”

Rep. Chris Smith (R-Manchester) reacts to the news of the death of domestic terrorist Joanne Chesimard in Cuba:

Smith said,  “Joanne Chesimard brutally murdered New Jersey State Trooper Foerster on May 3, 1973 after a routine traffic stop on the New Jersey Turnpike and was given immunity from serving her life sentence by Cuba’s dictator Fidel Castro.  The failure to extradite this fugitive domestic terrorist denied justice to Trooper Foerster’s wife and family and to his New Jersey State Police family.”

“Justice was delayed for half a century— now forever denied—by the failure to secure Chesimard’s extradition to serve her life sentence in New Jersey for the murder of Trooper Werner Foerster,” said Smith.

Smith said, “Chesimard is an inexcusable example of allowing a cop killer to remain free from justice and was made worse by the Obama Administration’s foolish and callous decision to normalize relations with the tyrannical and murderous communist regime in Havana without conditions.”

“In 2015 I chaired a hearing focused on how President Obama “squandered the opportunity” to demand Chesimard’s extradition to the United States and to insist on other human rights reforms as a condition of diplomatic normalization. Instead of demanding the release of political prisoners and the extradition of convicted murders such as Chesimard, drug traffickers, and numerous air pirates, the Obama Administration rewarded Communist Cuba and normalized relations.

“Obama’s weak and callous disregard for justice represents one of the greatest failings in the history of the US foreign policy,” Smith continued.

“Christopher Burgos, the president of the State Troopers’ Fraternal Association of New Jersey, submitted a statement for my hearing record (see page 2)  on behalf of our Jersey state troopers that stated, ‘‘We are shocked and very disappointed that returning a convicted killer of a state trooper was not already demanded and accomplished in the context of the steps announced by the White House regarding this despotic dictatorship.’’

In 1977, Chesimard—a known member of the violent Black Liberation Army (BLA)—was found guilty of first-degree murder in Foerster’s death, armed robbery, and other crimes and was sentenced to life in prison.  She was assisted in an orchestrated escape from prison, and lived underground before surfacing in Cuba. Chesimard was on the FBI’s Most Wanted Terrorist List.

Smith pointed out that “Other fugitives from justice still walk free, including those convicted in American Courts such as George Wright who murdered Walter Patterson—a decorated World War II veteran—in Wall, New Jersey in 1962”; Smith continues to push for Wright’s extradition from NATO Ally Portugal to answer for his crimes.

Rep. Smith has held several hearings advocating for the extradition of criminals from allies and adversarial nations alike.

In 2023, Smith introduced the Walter Patterson and Werner Foerster Justice and Extradition Act  to compel the U.S. State Department to prioritize the repatriation of criminals in all diplomatic relations and shine a light on foreign countries who allow fugitives from American justice to walk free.

“The US government must use all tools available to demand the repatriation of criminals, especially those convicted of murder. Joanne Chesimard’s death should not put an end to these efforts but rather incentivize a renewed push to return other fugitives from justice so families may receive the modicum of justice denied to the family of Trooper Warner Foerster and to the law enforcement community,” added Smith.

“The delay of justice must never result in the denial of justice,” Smith said.