Assata Shakur is an activist and member of the Black Panther Party and Black Liberation Army, for which the FBI hunted and harassed her. She is the godmother of hip hop artist Tupac Shakur.

On May 2, 1973, just after midnight, Shakur and two friends, were stopped on the New Jersey Turnpike for driving with a broken taillight. Zayd Shakur and Trooper Foerester were killed in the ensuing shootout, Assata Shakur and Trooper Harper were injured.

After having her court case delayed repeatedly and someone else convicted of firing the fatal shots - a total of 289 articles were published locally, portraying Shakur as dangerous and mentioning her alleged involvement in the various violent crimes for which she had not been convicted.

Medical evidence demonstrated that Assata was shot with her hands up and that she would have been subsequently unable to fire a weapon. A neurologist testified that the median nerve in Shakur's right arm was severed by the second bullet, making her unable to pull a trigger. They also testified that these injuries were possible only if both arms were raised at the time of being shot. Dr. David Spain, a pathologist, testified that there was "no conceivable way" the first bullet could have hit Shakur's clavicle if her arm was down. Police and FBI crime lab Neutron activation analysis showed no gun powder residue on Shakur's fingers and her fingerprints not on any weapon. Under cross-examination at Shakur's trial, Trooper Harper admitted to having lied in reports and in Grand Jury testimony that he had fired after Shakur drew a 9mm weapon and shot at him first.

Shakur was convicted as an accomplice in the murder of New Jersey State Trooper Werner Foerster but being an accomplice carries an equivalent life sentence in New Jersey. An all white jury convicted, five of which had personal ties to the State Troopers (one girlfriend, two nephews, and two friends). She was sentenced to 26-33 years in state prison for assault and weapons charges which was to be served consecutively with her mandatory life sentence for being an accomplice to murder.

On November 2, 1979 she escaped the Clinton Correctional Facility for Women in New Jersey, after members of the Black Liberation Army conducted an armed action. She fled to Cuba in 1984 where she was granted political asylum, having never received a fair trial. She published "Assata: An Autobiography", which was written in Cuba, in 1987. On May 2, 2005, the 32nd anniversary of the shooting, the FBI classified her as a "domestic terrorist", increasing the reward for assistance in her capture to $1 million.