Sundiata Acoli, Black Nationalist Who Killed N.J. Trooper in ‘73, Wins Parole

New Jersey’s Supreme Court granted parole on Tuesday to Sundiata Acoli, an 85-year-old former member of the Black Liberation Army who was convicted in the 1973 shooting death of a state trooper, Werner Foerster, in one of the state’s most infamous cases.

Supporters of Mr. Acoli, who had been repeatedly denied parole during his 49 years in prison, had pressed for his release for years.

In a 3-to-2 decision overturning a Parole Board ruling, the court concluded that the board had not proved that Mr. Acoli was likely to commit another crime if released. The Supreme Court noted that Mr. Acoli, who has dementia, planned to live with his daughter and grandchildren, who are residents of Brooklyn.

“We conclude that the board’s finding that there is a substantial likelihood that Acoli will commit a crime if paroled is not supported by substantial credible evidence in the record,” Justice Barry T. Albin wrote for the majority.

“No member of the court disputes that Acoli committed a horrific crime,” he added. “However despised Acoli may be in the eyes of many because of the notoriety of his crime, he too is entitled to the protection of the law — and to the fair and impartial administration of justice.”

The governor, Philip D. Murphy, a Democrat, immediately criticized the decision, as did the state’s acting attorney general, Matthew J. Platkin.

A law passed more than 20 years after Mr. Acoli’s conviction requires anyone convicted of killing an on-duty law enforcement officer to serve a lifetime sentence.

“I profoundly wish this law had been in place when Acoli was sentenced in 1974,” Governor Murphy said in a statement. “Our men and women in uniform are heroes, and anyone who would take the life of an officer on duty should remain behind bars until the end of their life.”

Soffiyah Elijah, a civil rights attorney who advocated for Mr. Acoli, praised the Supreme Court for “correcting the Parole Board’s improper application of the law.”

Ms. Elijah said in a statement: “We appreciate and thank his thousands of supporters from the attorneys, individuals and community organizations to those who submitted amicus briefs on his behalf to champion his freedom; freedom that is rightfully his. We strongly hope that Mr. Acoli’s freedom will bring attention to the thousands of elders like him trapped in the New Jersey prison system.”

On May 2, 1973, Mr. Acoli was driving a white Pontiac on the New Jersey Turnpike with two fellow members of the radical Black Liberation Army, James Costan and Joanne D. Chesimard. A trooper, James Harper, stopped the car at about 1 a.m., having observed a broken taillight.

Trooper Foerster, a married 34-year-old officer who lived in Old Bridge, N.J., arrived on the scene as backup.

Ms. Chesimard, who at the time was a leading figure in the Black Liberation Army, fired the first shot, according to trial testimony, starting a shootout among her, Trooper Harper and Mr. Costan.

During the melee, Mr. Acoli attempted to grab Trooper Foerster’s gun, according to the decision.

“In the course of that physical struggle, Acoli claims that Trooper Harper fired at him, grazing the top of his head and causing him to black out,” the decision stated. “According to Acoli, when he regained consciousness, Trooper Foerster’s body was lying on the ground nearby and Acoli fled with Costan and Chesimard, both severely wounded.”

Mr. Costan eventually died of his injuries.

A jury convicted Mr. Acoli in 1974, and he was sentenced to life in prison. He first became eligible for parole in 1993.

At a parole hearing in June 2016, Mr. Acoli maintained that he was unsure who had fired the bullet that killed Trooper Foerster, but he accepted responsibility and expressed his “deepest remorse, and sincere apology to Trooper Foerster’s family.”

“No one can change the past,” he said, “but anyone can pay the penalty to change themselves. And that’s what I’ve been working on these many years.”

“I’m responsible,” Mr. Acoli added, according to the Supreme Court decision. “I deeply regret his murder, my role in it.”

Joseph J. Russo, the first assistant New Jersey public defender who argued the case on behalf of Mr. Acoli, said the decision showed that the board had ignored “overwhelming evidence that Mr. Acoli is rehabilitated, deeply remorseful and deserving of release.”

“The board ignored favorable evidence including its own expert report, which substantiated that this 85-year-old man is a low risk for committing a crime upon release,” Mr. Russo said.

In 1977 Ms. Chesimard was also convicted of murder, but she escaped from prison two years later during a daring daylight breakout and eventually fled to Cuba, where she has been living as Assata Shakur.

She has repeatedly professed her innocence, and in 2013 became the first woman to be named to the F.B.I.’s list of Most Wanted Terrorists.

“I hope that they can get her,” Trooper Foerster’s widow, Rosa, told The New York Times at the time. “She’s still there. She has her freedom, and I don’t have my husband.”

Mr. Platkin, a Democrat who as attorney general is responsible for all state and local law enforcement officers in New Jersey, said he was disappointed that Mr. Acoli would be freed. Like Mr. Murphy, he noted that if this crime had occurred today, Mr. Acoli would have died in prison.

“Under New Jersey law today, if an individual murders a law enforcement officer on duty, he is never eligible for parole — a decision that reflects the heinous nature of that crime,” he said in a statement.

Two judges, Lee A. Solomon and Anne M. Patterson, dissented from the court’s decision to reverse the 12-member Parole Board, which in 2016 interviewed Mr. Acoli, then 79, for six hours.

“Rather than affording the board the substantial deference to which it is entitled, the majority probes the record for evidence favorable to Acoli,” Justice Solomon wrote.

“We cannot say we are in a better position than the Parole Board to decide Acoli’s fate,” he added.