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Prosecutors seek death penalty against former black militant leader

Prosecutors say they will seek the death penalty against Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin (formerly known as H. Rap Brown) in the March 16 shooting death of an Atlanta sheriff's deputy

May 4, 2000
Web posted at: 6:24 p.m. EDT (2224 GMT)

ATLANTA (CNN) -- Prosecutors said Friday they will seek the death penalty against the former black militant activist Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin, previously known as H. Rap Brown.

Al-Amin, 56, is accused of fatally shooting Fulton County Deputy Ricky Kinchen and wounding Deputy Aldranon English March 16 as they tried to arrest him at his grocery store here. English has identified Al-Amin as the shooter. Al-Amin is being tried in Fulton County Superior Court.

Kinchen's autopsy report shows the officer was hit by at least one .223-caliber rifle round and two kinds of 9 mm ammunition. Authorities have said they found a .223-caliber rifle and a 9mm handgun in the Alabama woods where Al-Amin was arrested.

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Defense attorney Jack Martin has said the report does not prove Al-Amin is the shooter. The two deputies were shot as they were attempting to serve Al-Amin with a warrant for failing to appear in court in January on charges of theft by receiving stolen property and impersonating an officer. Those charges stemmed from an incident last May in which Al-Amin was stopped in an allegedly stolen car and flashed a badge.

Al-Amin was arrested four days later after a shootout with a team of U.S. marshals in Alabama's Lowndes County, west of Montgomery. Authorities said they found Al-Amin hiding in a shed.

Lowndes County Sheriff Willie Vaughner said a handgun and a high-powered .223-caliber Ruger assault rifle were recovered along a county road and turned over to the FBI for testing. The Ruger is the same type of weapon used in the Atlanta shootings.

Judge Stephanie Manis ordered those involved in the case not to speak to the media

Brown converted to Islam and changed his name while serving a five-year prison sentence for a robbery that ended in a shootout with New York Police.

The former minister of justice for the Black Panther Party, and a leader of the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee during the 1960s, once said "Violence is as American as cherry pie."

Defense attorneys describe Al-Amin as a peace-loving Muslim cleric and neighborhood activist who was framed for murder after he angered Atlanta's organized crime bosses and corrupt police officers by trying to stop prostitution in a black community.