Pratt was freed in 1997 when his conviction was vacated due to the prosecution's having withheld exculpatory evidence that tended to prove his innocence.

Pratt later believed this account was an FBI lie, and that Saundra's murder was unrelated to her activities in the Black Panther Party.

[7][8] By January 1970, the Los Angeles FBI office had sought permission from national headquarters for a counterintelligence effort "designed to challenge the legitimacy of the authority exercised" by Pratt in the local Panthers.

Another FBI memo, dated five months later, noted that the Bureau was constantly considering counterintelligence measures designed to neutralize Pratt "as an effective (Panther) functionary.

Julius Butler, a police informant and infiltrator inside the Black Panther Party, testified that Pratt had confessed to him and discussed the murder with him on several occasions.

Journalist and author Jack Olsen reported that FBI "moles" had infiltrated defense sessions and monitored Cochran's phone calls.

Attorney Stuart Hanlon, who had helped represent him in his first trial, and William Paparian worked on the appeals that resulted in Pratt's conviction being vacated.

In an interview with Reuters he recalled being held in solitary confinement in a cell near cult leader Charles Manson, with only big ants to keep him company.

[11] The prosecution had not disclosed the extent to which a key witness against Pratt, Julius Butler, was an informant to the FBI and the Los Angeles Police Department.

[13] In 1998, Pratt's longtime friend and attorney Johnnie Cochran, filed a federal civil lawsuit against the FBI and the LAPD, accusing them of malicious prosecution and false imprisonment.