A federal judge has ruled that the state parole board should not have withheld certain documents when considering the release of two MOVE members involved in a 1978 standoff in which one police officer was killed and several others were injured.
U.S. District Judge Harvey Bartle III of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania agreed with defendants Janine Phillips Africa and Janet Holloway Africa that the parole board violated the women’s due process rights for not allowing victim statements to be reviewed in their request for parole. The women argued the documents were relevant in determining whether the board was swayed by the victims’ stories in denying parole.
