WASHINGTON, 8 January — Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin, 58, was once one of the most recognizable African-Americans of the 1960’s. Known as H. Rap Brown, his former name before he embraced Islam, he was also remembered for his fiery rhetoric, big black Afro and sunglasses.
During that time, Brown had several run-ins with the law, and went into hiding. The FBI put him on their "10 Most Wanted List." In 1971, he was convicted of taking part in a robbery that ended in a shoot-out with New York police.
During five years in prison, he embraced Islam and changed his name to Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin. After leaving prison, he moved to Atlanta, Georgia, and founded a mosque in West End, west of the downtown area. The mosque has about 200 members.
Many neighbors in the community credit Al-Amin with cleaning up the neighborhood, reducing crime and pushing out drugs and prostitution. For the last 20 years, Al-Amin has lived in West End, raising two children with his wife, and avoiding the glare of the media.
But all that changed on March 16, 2000 — and he is now charged for capital murder and yesterday went on trial for his life.
Al-Amin had been charged with driving a stolen vehicle, impersonating a police officer, and driving without proof of insurance. When he failed to show up for a court hearing, two deputies were dispatched to arrest him.
Here the conflicting stories begin. There was a shoot-out outside a small grocery store that Al-Amin owns. The two deputies — both black — were shot and Deputy Ricky Kinchen, 35, later died of his wounds. Deputy Aldranon English survived, but was injured.
Authorities throughout the country then mobilized a manhunt for Al-Amin. In an interview a few days after the shooting, Fulton County Sheriff’s spokesman, Clarence Hubers, said it was clear Al-Amin was the shooter. "A photo line-up was conducted at the hospital with Deputy English — when he was well enough and able to speak — he did clearly identity Mr. Al-Amin out of a photo lineup and identified him as the shooter."
After a four-day search, authorities found Al-Amin in the small town of Whitehall, Alabama, a place where in his days of H. Rap Brown he spent his days registering voters, and in recent years, had considered building a large Muslim complex there.
The FBI, and local police, captured Al-Amin the woods. Nearby they found a handgun and rifle, the same weapons that authorities say were used to shoot the sheriff’s deputies.
Some reports say Al-Amin fired on the authorities as they were trying to arrest him. His attorneys say Al-Amin is innocent. Al-Amin, and his supporters, claim there is a conspiracy against him, and they’ve raised over $100,000 for his defense.
His lawyers say they will challenge every assertion made against him. They say immediately after the shooting, both deputies told the police that they had shot their attacker — yet Al-Amin was found uninjured, and the body armor he was wearing when arrested showed no signs of dents. In addition, Deputy English said his attacker had gray eyes, yet Al-Amin’s eyes are brown. Bullet holes in the vehicles at the scene indicated that the gunman fired from the middle of the street, yet Deputy English said his attacker was on the sidewalk.
Many of his supporters believe that authorities are targeting Al-Amin because of his past, and because he’s a Black Muslim leader. They point to an investigation by the Atlanta Journal Constitution, that shows local police and the FBI have investigated Al-Amin for years, in connection with various crimes.
Al-Amin was once charged with aggravated assault, but the man who accused him later recanted, and said authorities had pressured him to name Al-Amin.
But David Kinchen, brother of the murdered sheriff’s deputy, says all the hype is just an attempt to drawn all the attention away from what actually happened. Several months after the murder, he told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that he and his family want prosecutors to pursue the death penalty.
Judge Stephanie Manis imposed a gag order, preventing attorneys on both sides from speaking about the case.
The trial was originally set to begin in mid-September, but after the terrorist attacks, Al-Amin’s attorneys requested a postponement, saying anti-Muslim sentiment would make it impossible to find an impartial jury. The judge postponed the trial until now, but Al-Amin’s supporters are still concerned.
Security will be tight as the trail gets under way this week. About 1,500 prospective jurors have been summoned, and the case is expected to bring legions of onlookers. Attorneys have prepared a 75-page questionnaire to give potential jurors, asking about religious affiliation, and whether they are familiar with Islam.
Some of the nation’s largest Muslim organizations are on his support committee, and Islam is likely to play a prominent role in the trial.
Jury selection is expected to last a month.
"This trial is a piece of history in the making," said Jim Hickey, a filmmaker from Decatur, Georgia, told yesterday’s Atlanta Journal-Constitution, who said he plans to document the trial. "I don’t know if Jamil is guilty or innocent, but I do know that there has been a history of government surveillance on him. I think it is important for people to witness the trial and make sure it is fair."
