In 1998, New Jersey state troopers sent Pope John Paul II a letter asking him to call for the extradition of former Black Panther Assata Shakur, who was convicted and sentenced to life in prison for the 1973 murder of a New Jersey state trooper. In 1979, she broke out from prison, and now lives in exile in Cuba. In this open letter addressed to the Pope, Assata tells her side of the story. (source)