Assata Shakur

Assata Olugbala Shakur born JoAnne Deborah Byron sometimes referred to by her married surname Chesimard is a former member of the Black Liberation Army who was convicted under New Jerseys aiding and abetting statute of the firstdegree murder of State Trooper Werner Foerster during a shootout on the New Jersey Turnpike in 1973 On November 2 1979 she escaped from prison and in 1984 she surfaced in Cuba where she was granted political asylum