Abu-Jamal seeks new trial in Phila. officer's slaying

Philadephia Inquirer ^ | 07/08/2008 | Emilie Lounsberry

[Kid Shelleen]

Pennsylvania death-row inmate Mumia Abu-Jamal has asked a federal appeals court to reconsider the decision that denied him a new trial in the 1981 slaying of Philadelphia Police Officer Daniel Faulkner. ***snip***

Abu-Jamal, 54, has been on death row since his 1982 conviction in the killing of Faulkner, who was shot to death near 13th and Locust Streets early in the morning of Dec. 9, 1981

[BenLurkin]

“has been on death row since his 1982 conviction”

26 years is way too long a time for him to be permitted to draw breath.

[blam]

Why not.

It seem these days that Black males have a 'right'(Obligation) to destroy civilization.

[Constitution Day]

Allow me to be the first to say it: FRY MUMIA

[weegee]

He is NOT on death row. His sentence was commuted in 2001.

[Old Teufel Hunden]

This guy is the poster child for why the death penalty is a joke in this country. If we’re not going to do it right, we shouldn’t even have it. Looks to me like only Texas does it correctly. This scumbag shot and wounded an officer, then while the officer was on the ground he walked up to him and killed him execution style. That was 27 years ago and he’s still on this earth. It’s a joke, a sad one...

[skeeter]

Continually appeal until all the witnesses are dead of old age, then challenge the court to prove your guilt. A foolproof strategy.

I don't think its out of line to suggest that the process is broken.

[Malacoda]

His real name is Wesley Cook. Mumia is his "political" name.

Of course, "FRY COOK" isn't nearly as dramatic.

[dighton]

Apparently he still is, according to this and numerous other sources.

[Old Teufel Hunden]

"His sentence was commuted in 2001."

I thought it was overturned on some technicality, but that they could re-present and get it put back on. In any case, it doesn't matter. Whether he's on death row or not he's not going to get charbroiled, gassed, hung, shot or anything else. I doubt he'd even be shanked since the other prisoners probably bow down to him on a regular basis and worship the ground he walks on.

[nickcarraway]

I thought his death sentence was overturned? he hasn’t been on death row for a while?

[Redbob]

Fry that MF NOW!

[ElectricStrawberry]

FRY FRY MUMIA!!!!!!

26 years on death row and counting....

[OCC]

26 years is way too long a time for him to be permitted to draw breath.

Odds are, if he were never caught he would be dead by now from drugs or a bullet from another street punk.

[SECURE AMERICA]

This scumbags upkeep has been paid for by taxpayers for over 26 years since being sentenced to death for his crime. How many different levels of appeals has he already had?
I agree with the libs who say the death penalty does not work. This is a prime example.
No one sentenced to death should be taking up space more then3 years after the original conviction. make all the appeals mandatory and required to be filed and heard in that time period. Get it done and get it over with......

[Constitution Day]

His real name is Wesley Cook. Mumia is his "political" name.
Of course, "FRY COOK" isn't nearly as dramatic.

That is, unless McDonald's starts doing off-Broadway productions.

[ktime]

Mumia Abu-Jamal, his supporters, and lawyers are making a mockery of the US justice system via endless frivolous appeals, IMHO.

Justice delayed is justice denied.

[weegee]

Salon: Making sense of the Mumia Abu-Jamal decision(Dec. 19, 2001)

PHILADELPHIA -- Mumia Abu-Jamal, arguably the world's best-known death-row inmate, has been saved from the gallows, but not from a life in prison.

After mulling the habeas corpus appeal of the incarcerated journalist and former Black Panther for over two years, U.S. District Judge William Yohn on Monday issued a carefully worded decision overturning the penalty-phase verdict of the jury that sentenced Abu-Jamal to death in July 1982 for the slaying of Daniel Faulkner, a white, 25-year-old Philadelphia police officer.

Yohn overturned the death verdict on the narrow grounds that the jury had been wrongly instructed about the rules of mitigating circumstances that might apply to Abu-Jamal.

[snip]

The one remaining avenue left for Abu-Jamal to pursue his claim of innocence would be if a judge in any new penalty-phase hearing permitted him to introduce new witnesses or evidence aimed at mitigating the charge, or raising doubts in the minds of jurors about his guilt -- what is known legally as "residual doubt."

Has he been RE-SENTENCED to death?

[weegee]

If he had been sentenced to life in prison instead of death he’d still be filing all of the same appeals. His defenders claim innocence.

It would still be costing us in court costs and imprisonment.

[Congressman Billybob]

Afternoon, my friend.

Perhaps you remember a rally in Washington where the loopy left had its own demonstration with signs that said, "Free Mumia." We countered with T-shirts made by a Freeper, which said, "Fry Mumia."

The tremendous waste of taxpayer resources on this piece of human slime is absolutely frightening. A good part of that, in this and other cases, is the Death Penalty Project of the ACLU.

The purpose of that Project is to throw sand in the gears of every death penalty case in the nation, regardless of how obviously guilty the defendant is, or how thoroughly his particular crimes warrant the death penalty under the duly-passed laws of the jurisdiction in which he raped, tortured, burned to death or otherwise murdered, one or more law-abiding citizens.

Congressman Billybob

First in the series, "American Government: The Owner's Manual"

[Carley]

Why is this piece of garbage still breathing our air.

[Tijeras_Slim]

His defenders claim innocence.

So did Tookie's... Wonder how that's working out? ;)

[Constitution Day]

Perhaps you remember a rally in Washington where the loopy left had its own demonstration with signs that said, "Free Mumia." We countered with T-shirts made by a Freeper, which said, "Fry Mumia."

I actually have one of those t-shirts. Made by abner, as I recall?

The tremendous waste of taxpayer resources on this piece of human slime is absolutely frightening. A good part of that, in this and other cases, is the Death Penalty Project of the ACLU.

This is just another instance where the ACLU proves itself to be the enemy of most things good and decent in this country.

[wilco200]

Someone needs to ask Obami his position on this thug. Watch him squirm

[Old Mountain man]

Fry Mumia!

[penowa]

What is he worried about? The odds are he will die of old age long before the state executes him. PA has had ONE execution (1995) since the previous one in 1962.

[dighton]

Having looked over a webpage or two, I can state with firm conviction . . . dunno. It’s rather bewildering.

Ping to one familiar with the legal ropes and possibly this case.

[popdonnelly]

How to kill someone and get away with it - claim you’re an angry black radical.

[ILiveInLiberalHell]

I can see it now. President Obama will commute all death sentence, including Mumia’s. Maybe Obama will even give him a pardon.

[wideawake]

Wesley Cook's aka Mumia Abu-Jamal's conviction was not overturned. He is still convicted of first-degree murder.

The penalty hearing in his case was overturned.

This means that at some point a jury could be re-empanelled to decide if he should get life in prison or whether his capital punishment should be reinstated.

[AnAmericanMother]

Thank heavens I never handled a murder case.

Congressman Billybob might be more familiar with this one.

[isrul]

Change you can believe in.

[isrul]

Put him in the skin head area so he can be properly shanked and be done with it.

[andy58-in-nh]

The tremendous waste of taxpayer resources on this piece of human slime is absolutely frightening. A good part of that, in this and other cases, is the Death Penalty Project of the ACLU. The purpose of that Project is to throw sand in the gears of every death penalty case in the nation, regardless of how obviously guilty the defendant is, or how thoroughly his particular crimes warrant the death penalty under the duly-passed laws of the jurisdiction in which he raped, tortured, burned to death or otherwise murdered, one or more law-abiding citizens.

Terrific post. Everyone with a genuine interest in justice - real justice - needs to know about this. As it happens, there is a murder case about to get under way here in Manchester, NH (after two years of delays by... guess who?) involving the murder of a fine young police officer by a career criminal. Guess which side has the bottomless-resource Legal Team and which is scrapping for donations?

[youturn]

I’m currently reading “Murdered by Mumia” by Mauren Faulkner, the policeman’s widow and Michael Smerconish. This woman has worked hard to keep Mumia in prison. After all these years she is at every hearing battling the left’s attempt to get him out. So far she has stopped them but you never know when some sympathetic judge will bend.

He’s always facing courts in Philadelphia and his support is from outside Philadelphia, even across the Atlantic. It just frosts me that without the tenacity of his widow, NPR would still be giving this animal a voice.