Supreme Court to rule on famed death penalty case (Mumia Abu-Jamal)

[cali]

Jon Hurdle
PHILADELPHIA
Sun Jan 17, 2010 9:09am EST


PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court is expected on Tuesday to issue its latest decision on the fate of Mumia Abu-Jamal, arguably America's most famous death-row inmate, convicted of slaying a Philadelphia policeman, a crime he denies committing.

U.S.

The court is due to rule on an appeal by the Philadelphia district attorney who is seeking to have Abu-Jamal executed and bring an end to a decades-long legal saga the inmate, a former journalist, wrote about while in prison.

Abu-Jamal, now 55, was convicted in 1982 of killing officer Daniel Faulkner on December 9, 1981. He has become an international cause celebre for the anti-death penalty movement whose supporters argue strenuously he did not receive a fair trial.

His backers say he was framed by police, that prosecution witnesses were coerced into false testimony and that ballistics evidence shows Abu-Jamal did not shoot Faulkner but that the murder was committed by another man who fled the scene.

Supporters also claim that Abu-Jamal, who is black, was the victim of a racist and notoriously pro-prosecution trial judge, the now-deceased Albert Sabo, who was overheard to say, "Yeah, and I'm going to help them fry the nigger," according to an affidavit by a court stenographer.

Faulkner's widow, Maureen, and Philadelphia's Fraternal Order of Police oppose any clemency for Abu-Jamal, arguing his conviction has been upheld repeatedly by numerous courts, including the Supreme Court, over three decades.

They note that bullet fragments taken from Faulkner's body match the ammunition from the gun carried by Abu-Jamal who was earning his living as a taxi driver at the time of the killing.

If the Supreme Court rules in his favor, Abu-Jamal would get a new jury trial on the sentencing, but not his conviction.

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http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE60G15920100117

[nofurylike]

1. thank you for posting this, cali! it is so imprtant and the timing is

so sad! in the midst of all happening, may this not slip past us!!!


peace and solidarity

[discocrisco01]

2. Commute The Death Sentence

As a death penalty advocate (I believe in the use of the death penalty for extremely aggravated cases), I would commute this case in a New York Minute if I won Pennsylvania governor. First, the case is aggravated and not exteremly aggravated which draws a life without parole or term of years from 40 to 60 years with no good time.

Second, the case has a material amount of evidence that suggests that he is not guilty of crime. Maybe, not enought to warrant dismissal of the case but enought a warrant a commutation by the governor. Application of death penality where this is a material amount of evidence that suggests a potential dismissal of the case is immoral.

Nadal Hassan needs to die but not this guy. I actually like a lot of his political commentary but I am unsure of whether the guy is innocent of the crime.

[nofurylike]

4. letters to editors from people who otherwise advocate can inform others. i

hope you will take the time to write some.

we are constantly being dismissed as 'just a bunch of abolitionists,' when many are that because of cases like this.

thank you for being willing to examine it all before deciding what you think. many don't.


peace and solidarity

[WhiteTara]

3. good luck Mumia!

I hope for him.

Maybe it will help Leonard as well...edited to add