Posted on 01/28/2008 10:15:46 AM PST by brityank
Ruling near on Abu-Jamal jury
A U.S. court is weighing race and other issues in death sentence.
In the nearly 26 years since his conviction for the murder of Officer Daniel Faulkner, the international tempest over Mumia Abu-Jamal has fixed primarily on this question: Did he do it, or was he framed by Philadelphia police?
Yet inside the chambers of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, Abu-Jamal's innocence or guilt is not the issue. Since May, three judges have been weighing whether to reinstate his death sentence, overturned in 2001. If they do, his last hope will be the U.S. Supreme Court, which hears fewer than 2 percent of all petitions filed each year.
The Third Circuit's decision, expected soon, will be based on knotty constitutional questions relating to the fairness of his 1982 trial in Philadelphia Common Pleas Court and subsequent state appeals:
Were the jury instructions confusing?
Was the trial judge biased in a later hearing?
In addressing the jury, did the prosecutor downplay the likelihood of a capital sentence's ever being carried out?
And - a key contention in Abu-Jamal's appeals - were African Americans purposely excluded from the jury?
He was convicted by 10 white and two black jurors on July 2, 1982. They sentenced him to death the next day.
The subject of racial discrimination in jury selection dominated the spirited oral argument in May between Abu-Jamal's legal team and the Philadelphia District Attorney's Office before the Third Circuit panel.
Defense lawyers contended that, particularly through the mid-1980s, Philadelphia prosecutors routinely excluded black jurors, long viewed as less likely than whites to convict. Prosecutors countered that Joseph McGill, the assistant district attorney who tried the case, had no such bias.
(Excerpt) Read more at philly.com ...
That this dirtbag is still above ground is an abomination.
Our favourite scumbags are trying to free this killer still.
Wouldn’t it be cheaper to start a fund to shank murderers in prison?
is Mike Farrell still marching?
Fry Mumia!
Had Irv Homer ever weighed in on this case? I’ve been away from Philly a long time. After Sammy Aggresta, MOVE I&II, Lynn Abraham, and Fast Eddy I don’t know what to think of the establishment view of justice there?
Maybe he is looking for the real killer.
When I first heard of this case, I lived in Upstate NY, so the only info I got was via the MSM’s and the useful idiots in Hollyweird. Based on prior cases, I too thought that the jury pool was tainted by Black’s exclusions. After moving down to the Philly area, and getting (what I believe is) the true background of this heinous crime — Wesley Cook should have had his anniversary of his death several times by now.
Will they still show up to protest the World Bank, or inveigh against "Global Warming" with their "Free Mumia" signs ... even after he's six feet under?
Last I’d heard from him on the Radio, he too thought Jamal should have been executed.
Given that Pennsylvania has only executed three people since 1976, it’s pretty unlikely that Mumia would ever see the sharp end of a needle, deserving of though he is.
I always found Irv to be an open minded fair individual who was never afraid to take an upopular stand on an issue if he felt his view to be true.
All you need to know about the Philly view of Justice is shown in all it's glory by the Adams/Teamster case, and the absolute miscarriage that Abraham's pushed.
Wasn’t the main witness/witnesses prostitutes who had extensive records who were coerced by police to say things they later recanted? I’m not saying he’s not guilty but I’m saying police conduct in philly has historicaly been over the top and unneccessary. Witness tampering is no exception to the record.
This goes on and on and on and on and the family of that poor cop has to relive this over and over again.
Sometimes I admire Saudi Justice. His head would have been rolling in the sand years ago.
This is a disgrace. These attorneys act as though a courtroom proceeding is a parlour game instead of process to administer justice. The fact that this monster is still breathing is injustice personified.
And don’t forget all the liberal Hollyweird kooks who support this killer.
Amorphous justice is the price of corruption, be it cop killers or political activists beaten within an inch by union members on video tape. We all suffer.
They're already making Jose Padilla the next mascot.
Probably so. I'll bet the Jeffrey Dahmer hit was a private-label job. Someone's family on the outside got a big paycheck.
There are plenty of guys inside whose Momma/Auntie/Sister, etc needs money for an operation or cancer treatment.
Something to be said, too, about China's stance: The Court pronounces, but the prisoner is not told as to when the sentence will be carried out. One morning they come take you to breakfast and then you're toast.
I like that too - for the guilty.
But then part of the fun is always in the anticipation.
Like having death row inmates run around like gerbils in wheel which powers an electric generator to burn the next murder to sit in the electric chair.
Perhaps we should start a website: eShank.com, to link victim's families with cons who need money or favors on the outside.
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