Assata: An Autobiography

On January 28, 1973, Assata and Kamau were acquitted from the Bronx bank robbery trial. Assata returned to Morristown County Jail to await trial for the New Jersey Turnpike shooting.

When the jury selection process began, most of the potential jurors were white and claimed to not be racist. The defense team asked that the question, “Have you ever read a book called Target Blue?” (120) be included in the jury questioning process as the author, Robert Daley, who once worked with the New York City Police Department, recently published an excerpt of the book in New York magazine. In the book, Daley discusses Assata’s role in the Black Liberation Army in what Assata describes as “a collection of sensationalism, groundless accusations, and outright lies” (120). One of the white male jurors admitted to having a copy of the book and that he had shared it with other jurors. Those jurors were dismissed from the case. After that incident, Assata and her defense team did not feel confident about their prospects with the white jurors in New Jersey.

Assata began to feel unwell and realized she could be pregnant. She tried to receive a pregnancy diagnosis from the prison doctor, but he dismissed her concerns repeatedly.