50 years ago murders in commune on Virginia Park?
Does anyone remember the incident when black militants raided the wrong house on Virginia Park and murdered some students or hippies? At least one of them was tried and imprisoned for the tragedy. Once upon a time I was able to locate information regarding this on the web, but am having zero luck now.
pictures
Four Plead In Case Involving Commune Killing
July 8, 1971
Detroit Free Press from Detroit, Michigan · Page 46
“Four Plead In Case Involving Commune Killing Four men charged, with first degree murder in the Easter Sunday slaying of a visitor to a Virginia Park commune pleaded guilty late Wednesday afternoon to reduced charges before Recorder's Court Judge John R. Murphy. The pleas were entered midway during the jury selections for their trial on the recommendation of Assistant Wayne County Prosecutor Richard Monash. RONALD SMITH, 24, pleaded guilty to the second-degree murder of Franklin Abramson of Mesick, Mich. Anthony Norman, 21, Ronald Irwin, 19, and Larry Powell, 19, all of 19334 Griggs, pleaded guilty to armed robbery. The four men are scheduled to be sentenced July 21. They face possible maximum sentences of life imprisonment. The 13 commune residents who witnessed the slaying told police the four men walked through the unlocked front door of the home at 610 Virginia Park about 1:10 a.m., April 15, armed with a rifle, a shotgun, a revolver and what looked like”: That’s all, the story ended in mid-sentence.
July 5, 1989
Detroit Free Press from Detroit, Michigan · Page 24
“Ahmad Abdur-Rahman's only hope is The time has come for Gov. James Blanchard to set Ahmad Abdur-Rahman free. There are cases in which justice transcends the ordinary application of the law, and Abdur-Rahman's is one of them. . Abdur-Rahman is serving a life sentence without parole for first-degree murder. That conjures images of rapist-killers, contract killers, cold-blooded takers of human life for personal gain or gratification, remorseless miscreants beyond any corrective touch. None of these apply to Abdur-Rahman. He has never killed anyone. His sentence was the result of a critical error in judgment on his part when he was 19, of a climate of racial fear and retribution that existed at the time, and of a law that has since been recognized as unfair and consequently changed by the state legislature. Now Abdur-Rahman, formerly known as Ronald Irwin, has spent his entire adulthood 18 of his 38 years in prison. He is considered a model inmate. "At this point in time, we would parole him, except for the life sentence," says William Hudson, chairman of the state parole board. Abdur-Rahman's only hope is having his sentence commuted to make him eligible for parole. Only the governor can give commutations. : During two terms of office, Blanchard has commuted the sentence of but one prisoner, in 1985. In his State of the State message this year, he said he does not intend to release any of the 1,300 prisoners serving life-without-parole sentences, many of whom were convicted not of murder, but of being major drug dealers. There is irony in this. Abdur-Rahman is in prison, not for dealing drugs, but for engaging in vigilantism against them.”
“Only the governor can give commutations. spokesman, says the governor doesn't know of Abdur-Rahman or his case. I hope he will read this, and see his way clear to a second commutation. bdur-Rahman and three other young members of the Black Panther Party raided an old mansion on Virginia Park Avenue in Detroit early on Easter Sunday 1971. Party leaders, some of whom likely were police informants, had led them to believe the place was a heroin den. ' The party considered heroin dealers parasites on the black community. Some of its members, among them Abdur-Rahman, organized into armed squads and invaded dope houses, flushing drugs down toilets and expropriating dealers' money for such community projects as the free breakfast program the Black Panthers ran for poor children. The raids were exceedingly dangerous, and the raiders kept none of the money for themselves. Abdur-Rahman, who held a romantic view of himself as a revolutionist fighting for his people, lived in poverty. The house on Virginia Park was no dope house, but the communal residence of 15 Wayne State university students and other young people. One of the Panthers held a rifle on the assembled occupants while Abdur-Rahman and the others searched the house for money anddrugs. While they searched, a young man named Franklin Abramson, who was among those being guarded, moved to quiet his barking dog. The man with the rifle shoved him with the gun, which discharged, killing Abramson. Abdur-Rahman was on another floor of the house when the gun went off. Thanks to a police informant, the four”: That’s all, it ended in mid-sentence.
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