Menendez: Bring Fugitive to Justice

at 3:13 PM Friday, February 24, 2012
Menendez: Let's Bring Fugitive to Justice

Asks FBI to Add Joanne Chesimard, Killer of NJ State Trooper, to Top Ten, Top 25 Most Wanted Terrorists

Washington – Following a request by the New Jersey State Attorney General and the New Jersey State Police, U.S. Senator Robert Menendez today wrote FBI Director Robert Mueller to express his strong support for adding Joanne Chesimard to both the FBI Top Ten and Top 25 Wanted Terrorists lists, as well as increasing the reward for her capture from $1 million to $5 million. In May of 1973, Chesimard and 2 accomplices executed New Jersey State Trooper Werner Foerster during a routine traffic stop. She was tried, convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment. On November 2, 1979, Chesimard escaped from a New Jersey prison and is currently a fugitive in Cuba.

Full text of the letter follows:

February 22, 2012

Director Robert S. Mueller, III
Federal Bureau of Investigation
J. Edgar Hoover Building
935 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, D.C. 20535

Dear Director Mueller:

I write to request your continued support and commitment in the effort to bring Joanne Chesimard, a.k.a. Assata Shakur, to justice. I strongly support the requests by the New Jersey State Attorney General and the New Jersey State Police to add Joanne Chesimard to the FBI’s Top Ten and the Top 25 Most Wanted Terrorists lists and to increase the reward for her capture from $1 million to $5 million.

As you know, Joanne Chesimard and two accomplices executed New Jersey State Trooper Werner Foerster during a traffic stop in 1973. Chesimard was tried, convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment. On November 2, 1979, Chesimard escaped from a New Jersey prison and is currently a fugitive in Cuba.

Adding Chesimard to your Top Ten list and the Top 25 Most Wanted Terrorists lists would very much aid local New Jersey law enforcement in their efforts to finally bring Joanne Chesimard to justice. Given that law enforcement has worked collaboratively on this effort for nearly 33 years, I feel these final steps are necessary to ensure that Chesimard is captured and returned to the United States to serve her sentence.

Thank you very much for your consideration of my request.

Sincerely,

ROBERT MENENDEZ