Posted on 05/17/2007 10:28:03 AM PDT by SmithL
PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- Hundreds of supporters of former Black Panther Mumia Abu-Jamal protested outside a federal appeals court Thursday as lawyers challenged his 1982 conviction for the killing of a police officer.
The 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals is weighing three issues in the case: whether the trial judge was racially biased, whether the judge erred in instructing jurors on the death penalty, and whether the prosecution preferred white jurors to black jurors.
Abu-Jamal, 53, wants his conviction overturned. Prosecutors want his death penalty, thrown out in 2001, reinstated.
In court, the appellate judges pressed attorneys on both sides about the question of whether blacks had been intentionally kept off the jury that convicted Abu-Jamal a quarter century ago and sentenced him to death.
Abu-Jamal's attorneys argue that they were, but both sides agree there is no record from the 150-person jury pool to prove it one way or the other.
"I don't know how we could get it," Abu-Jamal attorney Robert R. Bryan told the court.
Philadelphia prosecutors say the evidence against Abu-Jamal is overwhelming.
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
Fry Mumia!
Oh, I thought Hillary Clinton was STILL representing the Black Panthers ???
The police screwed up taking him alive.
Hear, hear!
I certainly don’t agree with the lawyers’ claims on this but I’m sure that there was bias during the trial. I’d expect most sensible people to have a bias against a murderous thug. Why is Abu-Jamal still alive?
Fry them too.
Was he a buddy of Tookie?
His own brother is an eyewitness who has refused to testify for him, and it was the brother being arrested that resulted in Jamal shooting the cop.
Can't think of a stupider case than this one for people to take up a cause.
I can’t believe this scum is still breathing. Or that we’re talking about ANOTHER appeal.
FRY MUMIA!!!
My eyes saw Abu-Jamal, and on the way to my brain it got muddled into Abdul-Jabbar, and I had a WTF? moment.
This murdering POS should have been worm food many, many years ago. With that said, I’ll settle for the fact that he has to look a bars for the rest of his crummy life.
Mumia schmia....
He should still be called Wesley Cook.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.