Exoneration Applications for Pointer and Sostre Should Remain in Erie County
By James Coughlin Justice for Geraldine and Martin Campaign
Martin Sostre and Geraldine Robinson (not Pointer)
On Thursday September 4th at 2PM a hearing is scheduled in Buffalo determining where exoneration applications for former political prisoners, Geraldine Robinson (now Pointer) and Martin Sostre, will be reviewed. Applications were filed in July 2024 with the Erie County District Attorney Office’s Convictions Integrity Unit. Both were arrested on July 15th, 1967, at 1412 Jefferson, Sostre’s Afro Asian Bookshop, on fabricated drug trafficking, arson, and inciting a riot charges, shortly following Buffalo’s June 1967 rebellion. They were targeted for selling radical literature steeped in the Black liberation tradition and anti-Vietnam war movement, and threatening Buffalo’s racial status quo cultivating a space expanding the political consciousness of Black and white activists. Informant Arto Williams, in 1971 recanted his testimony, revealing he was released from incarceration in exchange for helping “get Sostre.” Each convicted by all-white juries, Pointer’s incarceration for nearly two and a half years, separated her from her five children, while Sostre, was granted clemency after nine years, amid his 31-to-41-year sentence.
Fast forward fifty-eight years later, Erie County DA Michael Keane is attempting to move their exon eration applications to Chautauqua County. An “Application for Disqualification and for the Appointment of a Special District Attorney” filed on March 7, 2025, appointed Chautauqua County DA Jason Schmidt as special prosecutor, but failed to properly inform counsel representing Pointer and Sostre. Keane’s affidavit asserts a “family relative participated in the investigation, execution of search warrants, and ultimate arrest of both defendants” without specifying who said member is. As Pointer, now 81, has stated “I was tried in Erie County, so this case should remain in Erie County.” A special prosecutor within Erie County should be appointed given the original case’s localized impact and ramifications, consider ing these were not transferred despite Pointer and Sostre’s initial attempts to do so. Now, with widespread sup port through the Justice for Geraldine and Martin Campaign, Keane wants to sweep their exonerations under the rug. Erie County was fit to have a jury trial in the aftermath of the 1967 rebel lion, why can it not hear an administrative appeal 60 years later? What message does this send to Pointer or other Black residents seeking justice through the DA’s office or convictions integrity unit?
To support Pointer and Sostre, the Justice for Geraldine and Martin Campaign has engaged numerous ini tiatives to honor their legacies. This summer, we organized a six-week Freedom School teaching and pay ing stipends to twenty youths age 16 through 24 about housing segregation, food apartheid, environmental rac ism, and a bevy of other racial justice issues impacting the East Side. On April 26th, we reclaimed 1412 Jeffer son (corner of Woodlawn) a vacant lot owned by the City of Buffalo since 1998, transforming it into a commu nity garden, with a free little library, community bulletin board, with harvested food donated to nearby community refrigerators. Lastly, we secured funding through Arts Services Inc. of WNY for a Cold Spring mural depicting Pointer and Sostre. Please contact justiceforgandm@gmail.com to learn more about our efforts.