Editing H. Rap Brown (section)

==2000 arrest and conviction==
On May 31, 1999, al-Amin was pulled over in [[Marietta, Georgia]] by police officer Johnny Mack for driving a suspected stolen vehicle. During a search, al-Amin was found to have in his pocket a police badge. He also had a bill of sale in his pocket, explaining his possession of the stolen car, and he claimed that he had been issued an honorary police badge by Mayor John Jackson, a statement which Jackson verified. Despite this, al-Amin was charged with speeding, auto theft and [[police impersonation|impersonating a police officer]].<ref name=Siddiqui>{{cite web |url=https://www.jpanafrican.org/docs/vol5no8/5.8RapSheet.pdf |title=Rap Sheet: H. Rap Brown, Civil Rights Revolutionary - Cop Killer/FBI Target? |date=December 2012 |access-date=February 13, 2022}}</ref>

On March 16, 2000, in [[Fulton County, Georgia]], Sheriff's deputies Ricky Kinchen and Aldranon English went to al-Amin's home to execute an [[arrest warrant]] for failing to appear in court over the charges.<ref name="firestone">{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2000/03/21/us/60-s-rights-leader-is-arrested-in-death-of-sheriff-s-deputy.html |title=60's Rights Leader is Arrested in Death of Sheriff's Deputy |newspaper=The New York Times |date=March 21, 2000 |last1=Firestone |first1=David}}</ref> After determining that the home was unoccupied, the deputies drove away and were shortly passed by a black Mercedes headed for the house. Kinchen (the more senior deputy) noted the suspect vehicle, turned the patrol car around, and drove up to the Mercedes, stopping nose to nose. English approached the Mercedes and told the single occupant to show his hands. The occupant opened fire with a [[.223 Remington|.223]] rifle. English ran between the two cars while returning fire from his handgun, and was hit four times. Kinchen was shot with the rifle and a [[9×19mm Parabellum|9&nbsp;mm]] handgun.

The next day, Kinchen died of his wounds at [[Grady Memorial Hospital]]. English survived his wounds. He identified al-Amin as the shooter from six photos he was shown while recovering in the hospital{{citation needed|date=February 2022}} Another source said English identified him shortly before going into surgery for his wounds.

After the shootout, al-Amin fled Atlanta, going to [[White Hall, Alabama]]. He was tracked down by [[United States Marshals Service|U.S. Marshals]] who started with a blood trail at the shooting site, and arrested by law enforcement officers after a four-day manhunt. Al-Amin was wearing [[body armor]] at the time of his arrest. He showed no wounds.<ref name="DemNow"/> Officers found a 9&nbsp;mm handgun near his arrest site. Firearms identification testing showed that this was used to shoot Kinchen and English, but al-Amin's fingerprints were not found on the weapon. Later, al-Amin's black Mercedes was found with bullet holes in it.<ref name="cnn319">{{cite news |url=https://edition.cnn.com/2002/LAW/03/09/al.amin.verdict/index.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070102161636/http://edition.cnn.com/2002/LAW/03/09/al.amin.verdict/index.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=January 2, 2007 |title=Ex-Black Panther convicted of murder |date= March 9, 2002 |publisher=[[CNN]] |accessdate=2022-06-10}}</ref>

His lawyers argued he was innocent of the shooting. Defense attorneys noted that al-Amin's fingerprints were not found on the murder weapon, and he was not wounded in the shooting, as one of the deputies said the shooter was. A trail of blood found at the scene was tested and did not belong to al-Amin or either of the deputies.<ref>{{Cite magazine |url=https://time.com/6111614/h-rap-brown-jamil-al-amin/ |title=The Many Lives of H. Rap Brown |magazine=Time |first=Rembert |last=Browne |date=November 1, 2021 |access-date=January 9, 2022}}</ref> A test by the state concluded that it was animal blood, but these results have been disputed because there was no clear chain of custody to verify the sample and testing process.<ref name=Siddiqui/> Deputy English had said that the killer's eyes were gray, but al-Amin's are brown.<ref name="DemNow">{{cite web |url=https://www.democracynow.org/2002/3/12/muslim_cleric_jamil_al_amin_is |title=Muslim Cleric Jamil Al-Amin Is Convicted of Murder; Prosecutors Urge Jurors to Sentence The Muslim Spiritual Leader to Death |website=[[Democracy Now!]] |date=March 12, 2002 |access-date=November 30, 2016}}</ref>

At al-Amin's trial, prosecutors noted that he had never provided an alibi for his whereabouts at the time of the shootout, nor any explanation for fleeing the state afterward. He also did not explain why the weapons used in the shootout were found near him during his arrest.<ref name="law.com"/>

On March 9, 2002, nearly two years after the shootings, al-Amin was convicted of 13 criminal charges, including Kinchen's murder and aggravated assault in shooting English. Four days later, he was sentenced to life in prison without possibility of parole (LWOP).<ref>{{cite web |title=Deputy Sheriff Ricky Leon Kinchen |publisher=Officer Down Memorial Page |url=http://odmp.org/officer.php?oid=15375 |access-date=January 8, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930014535/http://odmp.org/officer.php?oid=15375 |archive-date=September 30, 2007}}</ref> He was sent to [[Georgia State Prison]], the state's maximum-security facility near [[Reidsville, Georgia]].

Otis Jackson, a man incarcerated for unrelated charges, claimed that he committed the Fulton County shootings, and confessed this two years before al-Amin was convicted of the same crime. The court did not consider Jackson's statement as evidence. Jackson's statements corroborated details from 911 calls following the shooting, including a bleeding man seen limping from the scene: Jackson said he knocked on doors to solicit a ride while suffering from wounds sustained in the firefight with deputies Kinchen and English.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.theroot.com/the-unofficial-gag-order-of-jamil-al-amin-h-rap-brown-1826396693 |title=The Unofficial Gag Order of Jamil Al-Amin (H. Rap Brown): 16 Years in Prison, Still Not Allowed to Speak |first=Obaid H. |last=Siddiqui |work=The Root |date=May 30, 2018 |access-date=November 30, 2018}}</ref> Jackson recanted his statement two days after making it, but later confessed again in a sworn affidavit, stating that he had only recanted after prison guards threatened him for being a "cop killer".<ref name=Siddiqui/> Prosecutors refuted Jackson's testimony, claiming he couldn't have shot the deputies as he was wearing an [[Electronic tagging|ankle tag]] for house confinement that would have shown his location. Al-Amin's lawyers allege that the tag was faulty.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.fox5atlanta.com/news/civil-rights-groups-call-to-reopen-case-of-georgia-deputys-murder.amp |title=Civil rights groups call to reopen case of Georgia deputy's murder |website=Fox 5 Atlanta |first=Aungelique |last=Proctor |date=August 10, 2020 |access-date=August 25, 2021}}</ref>

Al-Amin appealed his conviction on the basis of a racial conspiracy against him, despite both Fulton County deputies being black. In May 2004, the [[Supreme Court of Georgia (U.S. state)|Supreme Court of Georgia]] unanimously ruled to uphold al-Amin's conviction.<ref name="law.com">{{cite web |url=http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1085416923085 |title=Law.com |website=Law.com |access-date=November 30, 2018}}</ref><ref>Hart, Ariel, "Court in Georgia Upholds Former Militant's Conviction", ''The New York Times'', 25 May 2004</ref><ref>{{cite court|litigants=Al-Amin v. State|url=https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=2308943779170313113|vol=597 |reporter=S.E.2d|opinion=332|year=2004|court=Ga.}}</ref>

In August 2007, al-Amin was transferred to federal custody, as Georgia officials decided he was too high-profile for the Georgia prison system to handle. He was first held in a holdover facility in the [[United States Penitentiary, Atlanta|USP Atlanta]]; two weeks later he was moved to a [[Federal Transfer Center, Oklahoma City|federal transfer facility]] in Oklahoma, pending assignment to a federal penitentiary.

On October 21, 2007, al-Amin was transferred to [[ADX Florence]], a [[supermax prison]] in [[Florence, Colorado]].<ref>{{cite news |last=Bluestein |first=Greg |title=1960s Militant Moved to Federal Custody |publisher=[[ABC News (United States)|ABC News]] |date=August 3, 2007 |url=https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=3444097 |access-date=January 18, 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080411234940/https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=3444097 |archive-date=April 11, 2008}}</ref> He has been under an unofficial gag order, prevented from having any interviews with writers, journalists or biographers.<ref name="root">{{cite web |url=https://www.theroot.com/the-unofficial-gag-order-of-jamil-al-amin-h-rap-brown-1826396693 |title=The Unofficial Gag Order of Jamil Al-Amin (H. Rap Brown): 16 Years in Prison, Still Not Allowed to Speak |last=Siddiqui |first=Obaid H. |work=The Root |date=30 May 2018 |access-date=6 February 2022}}</ref>

On July 18, 2014, having been diagnosed with [[multiple myeloma]], al-Amin was transferred to [[Federal Correctional Complex, Butner|Butner Federal Medical Center]] in North Carolina.<ref>[http://sfbayview.com/2014/07/imam-jamil-al-amin-h-rap-brown-transferred-to-butner-federal-medical-center-n-c/ "Imam Jamil Al-Amin (H. Rap Brown) transferred to Butner Federal Medical Center, N.C."], ''San Francisco Bay View'' newspaper, 18 July 2014.</ref> {{As of|March 2018}}, he is incarcerated at the [[United States Penitentiary, Tucson]].<ref name="inmatefinder" />

Al-Amin sought retrial through the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals. Investigative journalist, Hamzah Raza, has written more about Otis Jackson's confession to the deputy shootings in 2000, and said that this evidence should have been considered by the court. It had the potential of exonerating al-Amin.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Raza |first1=Hamzah |title=Potential Retrial In Sight For Imam Jamil Al-Amin (H. Rap Brown) |url=https://muslimmatters.org/2019/05/02/potential-retrial-in-sight-for-imam-jamil-al-amin-h-rap-brown/ |website=MuslimMatters.org |date=May 2, 2019}}</ref> However, the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals rejected his appeal on July 31, 2019.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/court-rules-militant-rap-brown-64679973 |title=Court rules against militant formerly known as H. Rap Brown |website=[[ABC News (United States)|ABC News]]}}</ref>

In April 2020, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal from al-Amin.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://apnews.com/374b6a0d6ccc456d974eadaa8f11ed66 |title=Supreme Court declines H. Rap Brown case |website=[[Associated Press]]|date=April 6, 2020 }}</ref> His family and supporters continue to petition for a new trial.<ref>{{cite web |last=whathappened2rap |title=What Happened 2 Rap |url=https://whathappened2rap.com/ |date=April 6, 2020|access-date=2020-08-03 |website=whathappened2rap |language=en}}</ref>