Washington, September 30 (RHC)-- Black Panther Sundiata Acoli has been ordered released on parole by a state appeals court in New Jersey after more than four decades in prison.

Acoli and fellow Black Panther Assata Shakur were both convicted of killing New Jersey State Trooper Werner Foerster in 1973 after being pulled over on the New Jersey Turnpike. The shootout left both the officer and a fellow Black Panther, Zayd Malik Shakur, dead.

Assata Shakur has said she was shot by police with both arms in the air, and then again from the back. She later managed to escape from jail and flee to Cuba. Last year, she became the first woman added to the FBI’s most wanted list.

Sundiata Acoli is now 77 years old. On Monday, the court ordered his release, finding the parole board had "acted arbitrarily and capriciously" when it previously denied him parole.