Father of slain ex-MOVE member files wrongful deat

[Oshun_Auset]

Father of slain ex-MOVE member files wrongful death claim

http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/ny-bc-nj--move-custodyshoot0927sep27,0,5508784.story?coll=ny-ap-regional-wire

September 27, 2004, 7:20 PM EDT


MOUNT HOLLY, N.J. -- Two years after a former member of the Philadelphia separatist group MOVE was found shot to death in his car, the victim's father has filed a wrongful death lawsuit.

John Gilbride Sr. of Herndon, Va., said the lawsuit filed Monday in state Superior Court does not name any specific defendants, but rather maintains his right to sue anyone who may be charged in the Sept. 27, 2002, slaying of John Gilbride Jr. in Maple Shade.

Under a statute of limitations in New Jersey, Monday was the last day Gilbride Sr. could file a wrongful death suit against his son's killer or killers.

Gilbride Jr. and Alberta Africa, the widow of MOVE founder John Africa, had a son together.

In the weeks leading up to Gilbride's death, MOVE protested on the streets of Cherry Hill because a judge had allowed Gilbride to have unsupervised visits with his son. Members of the group said Gilbride was an unfit and abusive father.

Gilbride, 34, was found with multiple gunshot wounds to his head in his car in front of his apartment one week after the protest.

Authorities will not speak about the details of the case and have not named any suspects.

Messages left Monday for a MOVE spokeswoman were not immediately returned. In the past, MOVE has denied any involvement in the slaying.

MOVE, founded in the 1970s, has long advocated resistance to the government, which it claims is racist and oppressive.

In 1978, a Philadelphia police officer was shot to death in a confrontation at MOVE's headquarters. Another clash in 1985 left 11 people dead and 61 homes burned after Philadelphia police dropped a bomb from a helicopter on the group's fortified row house.

[preach]

" Soon there was another trial. The same summer, John Africa and two others were tried on weapons charges from an earlier warrant. The government presented its case which was mostly circumstantial. John Africa paid little attention, sleeping through the testimony and insisting that his advisors neither cross examine nor object. After gently but firmly defying all the court's procedures, he rose to deliver the summation for his defense...............After an an hour he closed with, I just want to say that, I don't have anything against anyone in this courtroom. It isn't the people I'm against, but the idea that controls the people. He sat down. The jury was out for more than four days. The verdict stunned everyone except John Africa who had insisted all along that the truth would set him free.........Mumia who had watched it all, was amazed. Justice had been achieved for the first time in a MOVE case, but only by going outside the system. Calmly but completely,John Africa had turned the courtroom on its head. It was a lesson to be pondered. "

from, on a move The story of Mumia Abu Jamal by Terry Bisson foreword by Chuck D

[gman]

These people REALLY want to pin this thing on MOVE and are quite annoyed that they can't. You can expect them to try more and more. People should be ready to come to MOVE's defense when necessary, and this has nothing to do with whether or not you agree with everything MOVE says/stands for. I have a contact email for Ramona Africa somewhere, I'll have to find it and post it for folks who want to be on a MOVE list serve to keep abreast of these things.
There's a new documentary about MOVE. Check http://www.movefilm.com