"I’m an 83-year-old man who was victimized by the criminal justice system."
Those were the words of Muhammad Aziz, right before Chief Administrative Judge Ellen Biben vacated his and Khalil Islam's wrongful convictions for the murder of Malcolm X on Thursday afternoon.
"I regret that this court cannot fully undo the serious miscarriages of justice," Biben said.
The exoneration of Aziz and Islam, who died in 2009, came after the Manhattan District Attorney's office and the Innocence Project embarked on a 22-month investigation of the killing of the influential civil rights leader at the Audubon Ballroom in Harlem on February 21st, 1965. The probe was sparked by the Netflix documentary Who Killed Malcolm X?, based on research from Washington, D.C. tour guide and historian, Abdur-Rahman Muhammad.
Ameen Johnson, center, and Shahid Johnson right, both sons of Khalil Islam, pose for a photo with journalist Abdur-Rahmman Muhammad inside a Manhattan courthouse, in New York
In remarks before the court, Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance apologized profusely for the miscarriage of justice.
"I want to begin by saying directly to Mr. Aziz and his family, to the family of Mr. Islam, and the family of Malcolm X, that I apologize for what were serious, unacceptable violations of the law and the public trust," he said. "I apologize on behalf of our nation's law enforcement for this decades-long injustice, which has eroded public faith in institutions that are designed to guarantee the equal protection of the law. We can’t restore what was taken from these men and their families, but by correcting the record, perhaps we can begin to restore that faith."
Aziz and Islam, both members of the New York branch of the Nation of Islam, and Talmadge Hayer, a member in the New Jersey branch, were convicted of Malcolm X's death in 1966. Even though Hayer testified that took part in the killing and that Aziz and Islam were not involved, both during the 1966 trial and in a 1977 affidavit—and in spite of the fact the men had alibis—the pair were convicted and remained behind bars.
Muhammad Abdul Aziz Norman 3X Butler, 26, suspect in the slaying of black nationalist leader Malcolm X, is escorted by detectives at police headquarters at 240 Centre Street after his arrest, in New York
Khalil Islam Thomas 15X Johnson, center, the third suspect in the slaying of black nationalist leader Malcolm X, is escorted by Detective John Keeley at the West 100th Street police station in New York
Aziz was released on parole in 1985. Islam was released on parole in 1987 and died in 2009. Hayer was released in 2010, after 45 years in prison. On Wednesday, he told the NY Times, from his Sunset Park apartment, "God bless you, they’re exonerated."
Late civil rights lawyer William Kunstler was unsuccessful in appealing Aziz's and Islam's convictions, but he did obtain FBI records through Freedom of Information Act requests.
While no physical evidence remains—including the shotgun used to assassinate Malcolm X—and all NYPD investigators, attorneys, and all eyewitnesses in the case have died, Vance on Thursday described a cover-up that involved the NYPD and FBI, all the way up to J. Edgar Hoover, the FBI's founding director.
"What we have obtained now in this reinvestigation, are numerous materials that my office tragically did not have in 1965 and thus did not turn over to the defense. Most critically, we have obtained dozens and dozens of reports, from the FBI and the NYPD’s Bureau of Special Services and Investigations," he said, according to prepared remarks. "These records include FBI reports of witnesses who failed to identify Mr. Islam and who implicated other suspects. And, significantly, we now have reports revealing that, on orders from Director J. Edgar Hoover himself, the FBI ordered multiple witnesses not to tell police or prosecutors that they were, in fact, FBI informants."
Malcolm X speaks at a news conference in the Hotel Theresa, in New York, May 21,1964
He continued, “Many of those documents were exculpatory. None of them were disclosed to the defense. Without these files, it is clear these men did not receive a fair trial, and their convictions must be vacated. Moreover, under the unique circumstances presented by a 55-year-old case, there can be no retrial on any of the charges contained in the indictment. Therefore, the People believe the indictment against Mr. Aziz and Mr. Islam should be dismissed."
"The damage done to them and their family’s through this wrongful conviction is immeasurable," Barry Scheck, lawyer and co-founder of the Innocence Project, said in court. If that information had been disclosed, he said, "it would have changed the history of the civil rights movement."
He said that law enforcement in a "systematic effort [to] disrupt the Black Power movement."
"The state admitting it is a wrong is an enormous step," Scheck added.
"These were not just innocent mistakes," Vanessa Potkin, director of special litigation at the Innocence Project, said, "They are the result of official misconduct... We need to know how, we need to know why.”
After the court hearing, Shadid Johnson, a son of the late Islam, said he and his family lived in constant fear because the world wrongly thought their dad had killed Malcolm X.
“We both grew up together, looking over each other’s backs, worrying about, “Is someone coming to get us?’” he said.
His brother Ameen Johnson said the exoneration was "bittersweet."
"The fact that my father and my mother are not here alive to see this and to experience the exoneration is painful. Because they suffered a lot," he said. "I believe that their deaths was a direct result of the stress and drama and trauma and post-traumatic stress that this whole situation has caused on them. So I can’t say that I’m completely happy because they’re not here and I think that the effects of it removed them from our lives.”
