WASHINGTON -- (AP) -- Twenty-five years have passed since New Jersey
             State Trooper Werner Foerster was shot to death. Now the fate of his convicted
             killer could become a key determinant of relations between the United States and
             Cuba.

             Joanne Chesimard is one of about 90 felons who found safe haven in Fidel
             Castro's Cuba, according to lawmakers who want to turn up pressure on Castro
             to send them back.
 

             The lawmakers say the fugitives' return should be a condition of any further
             normalization of U.S.-Cuba relations.

             ``Fidel Castro is protecting a cold-blooded cop killer,'' Rep. Bob Franks, R-N.J.,
             said at a news conference promoting a resolution he has sponsored. ``There can
             and must be no safe haven for Joanne Chesimard and the 90 other convicted
             criminals who have fled to Cuba.''

             Chesimard was convicted in 1977 of killing Foerster and injuring another trooper
             who stopped her and two friends on the New Jersey Turnpike on May 2, 1973.
             Sentenced to life in prison, she made a daring daylight escape from prison in 1979
             when four of her visitors took a guard and a prison driver hostage.

             The Franks resolution is a nonbinding statement calling upon Cuba to return
             Chesimard, 50, and all other fugitives. It says the extradition of fugitives should be
             ``a top priority'' of the U.S. government in its relationship with the Castro
             government.

             Two Miami Republican representatives gave their blessing to Franks' resolution,
             saying it underscores the type of leader Castro is.

             ``It's very important for the American people to understand this is normal behavior
             for Fidel Castro -- to give safe harbor to terrorists, to drug dealers, to cop killers,''
             said Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen.

             Rep. Lincoln Diaz-Balart said the worst criminal living in Cuba ``is Fidel Castro
             himself.''