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20
years after his conviction, Mumia Abu-Jamal's death penalty
is thrown out.
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Victory or Trickery?
Death Penalty Thrown Out
for Mumia Abu-Jamal
By John Price
SeeingBlack.com Contributing Writer
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about Mumia! Click here.
In a stunning legal twist to the nation's most renowned capital
punishment case, a federal judge has tossed away the death penalty
that had loomed over the head of Mumia Abu-Jamal for nearly 20 years.
The judge ordered on December 18 that Abu-Jamal, an award-winning
journalist and former Black Panther convicted of the 1981 murder
of Philadelphia police officer Daniel Faulkner, must receive a new
sentencing hearing within 180 days or receive life in prison.
Although Judge Yohn rejected considerable evidence that supported
the innocence of Abu-Jamal, who supporters contend was framed in
the 1981 murder, the ruling represents the first crack in the 20-year
case.
In his ruling, the judge denied Abu-Jamal's request for a new trial
and upheld the 1982 conviction on first-degree murder charges, leaving
many supporters perplexed as to whether the ruling was an actual
victory or a political maneuver to dilute the explosive and growing
national and international support that hovers over Abu-Jamal.
The order issued by U.S. District Judge Yohn said that, based on
the trial judge's flawed instructions and the misleading verdict
form, the 12 jurors may have erroneously believed they were required
to agree unanimously on any mitigating circumstance.
"When the jury instructions and verdict sheet employed in Jamal's
case are considered, it becomes apparent that there is reasonable
likelihood that the jury has applied… instruction in a way
that prevents the consideration of relevant evidence," wrote Judge
Yohn in his 272-page ruling.
"Should the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania not have conducted a new
sentencing hearing… the Commonwealth shall sentence petitioner
to life imprisonment," Yohn concluded.
Judge Albert F. Sabo presided over the 1982 trial and sentencing
of Mumia Abu-Jamal. Activists have long criticized Sabo's involvement
with the police and law enforcement community, which raised the
question of whether Sabo was the most suitable choice to oversee
the trial of a defendant accused of killing a police officer.
Sabo was an under sheriff of Philadelphia County for 16 years before
becoming a judge in 1974. His official biography cites him as a
former member of the National Sheriffs Association, "retired Fraternal
Order of Police" and as associated with the Police Chiefs' Association
of South East Pennsylvania.
Supporters of Abu-Jamal have also noted that over a 14-year period,
Sabo presided over trials in which 31 defendants were sentenced
to death, more than any other US judge. Of the 31 condemned defendants,
29 were people of color.
In 1992, the Philadelphia Inquirer reviewed 35 homicide
trials presided over by Judge Sabo and concluded that "through his
comments, his rulings and his instructions to the jury" Sabo "favored
prosecutors". According to the Inquirer report, in one trial,
Sabo even urged the prosecution to introduce evidence because "it
would be helpful to [get] a conviction".
The federal court's decision to strike down the sentencing phase
presided by Sabo was due to his flawed instructions to the jury.
The court's decision drew swift reaction from both sides. Prosecutors,
joined by the Officer Faulkner's widow and members of the Fraternal
Order of Police (FOP), quickly convened a press conference on Tuesday
afternoon and vowed to appeal the ruling to the U.S. 3rd Circuit
Court.
"There's not going to be any hearing, or any other legal proceedings,
except a properly filed appeal," said Lynne Abraham, Philadelphia
District Attorney. "Unless all appeals that we are permitted to
pursue are totally exhausted, only then will we get to the other
issues." Although Abraham favored the federal judge's denial of
a new trial, she called his decision on sentencing "legally flawed."
"I'm angry, outraged, and disgusted," Maureen Faulkner, widow of
the slain police officer, Daniel Faulkner, told CNN on Tuesday night.
"I think Judge Yohn is a sick and twisted person, after sitting
on this case for two years and making this decision just before
Christmas. He wants to play the middle road and try to appease both
sides and it doesn't work."
Yohn's ruling came just nine days after the 20th anniversary of
Faulkner's murder in downtown Philadelphia on Dec. 9, 1981. Maureen
Faulkner, who has worked closely with the FOP in their two-decade
campaign to support the execution of Abu-Jamal, continues to believe
that Abu-Jamal murdered her husband.
Michael G. Lutz, president of the Pennsylvania FOP called the federal
ruling "a disgraceful decision." "The judicial process is our back-up,"
said Lutz candidly. "Police officers need to be able to look over
their shoulders and know that they have the support of the judicial
process. There's absolutely no justice here."
But supporters of Mumia Abu-Jamal, while expressing a sense of
relief and tempered optimism, were quick to note that the court's
ruling did not grant a new trial, and that the new sentencing hearing
could in fact result in the re-issuance of the death penalty.
Abu-Jamal's lawyers and supporters have long insisted that his
1981 trial was marked by police intimidation of witnesses and prosecutorial
misconduct, manufactured "confessions," bias from Judge Sabo, and
incompetent defense representation. Amnesty International, a renowned
human rights organization, has joined the criticism of the 1981
trial.
"Amnesty International remains concerned that the relationship
between the Pennsylvania judiciary and the law enforcement community
at the very least gives rise to the unfortunate impression that
justice is a one-way street leading to Mumia Abu-Jamal's eventual
execution," wrote officials from Amnesty International (AI) in February
2000, following a review of the trial transcripts.
Investigators at the international human rights watchdog reported
"numerous aspects of this case clearly failed to meet minimum international
standards safeguarding the fairness of legal proceedings." The organization
has called for a new trial.
Abu-Jamal, 47, a former president of the Philadelphia Association
of Black Journalists, is internationally recognized as a champion
of the oppressed and an outspoken critic of capitalism, racism,
police brutality and the American criminal justice system.
In the early morning hours of Dec. 9, 1981, Officer Faulkner pulled
over Abu-Jamal's brother at 13th and Locust Street. A scuffle ensued
and Abu-Jamal—a journalist who moonlighted as a cab driver
and who was sitting in his taxi nearby—ran to the scene where
he was shot by the officer. According to the medical examiner's
initial report, Faulkner was shot five times with a .44 caliber
gun.
Although Abu-Jamal had a gun that he was licensed to carry—he
had been robbed shortly before the incident and like many cab drivers
in Philadelphia he carried a gun for protection—his registered
gun was a .38, not a .44. The medical examiner later testified that
the bullet that killed Faulkner could have been fired from a .38.
The police never tested Abu-Jamal's hands at the scene to determine
whether he had recently fired a shot. Nor did they test his weapon
to see if it had recently been fired.
Prosecutors have insisted on Abu-Jamal's guilt, while defense attorneys
claim that the actual shooter fled the scene and have further pointed
to police, judicial and prosecutorial errors and misconduct throughout
the case.
Abu-Jamal's appeals have argued that prosecutors manipulated witnesses
to falsely identify Abu-Jamal as the shooter, that critical evidence
was destroyed or suppressed, and that Blacks were improperly excluded
from the jury. Abu-Jamal's lawyers have also argued that his constitutional
rights were violated at trial because he was denied the right to
represent himself, was barred from the courtroom for nearly half
of the proceedings, and that a FOP-biased judge presided over the
trial.
Supporters have further maintained that Abu-Jamal's prosecution
and conviction were largely an extension of the COINTELPRO campaign
by the FBI in which dozens of Black Panthers were assassinated and
many more were incarcerated on dubious charges. Among them was former
Black Panther Geronimo Pratt, who was finally released in 1997 after
27 years in prison for a crime he did not commit.
In 1995, defense lawyers obtained approximately 700 pages of files
on Abu-Jamal, maintained by the Federal Bureau of Investigation,
via the Freedom of Information Act. The FBI began monitoring Abu-Jamal
in 1969 when he was 15 years old, because of his activism with the
Black Panther Party.
On Tuesday, Abu-Jamal's supporters saw the federal court ruling
as a bittersweet development. "It's certainly good news that Mumia's
death sentence has been thrown out and we have no doubt that this
comes as a result of a worldwide movement to expose the frame-up
of this very brave and effective political activist and writer,"
said Larry Holmes, co-director of the NY-based International Action
Center.
"However, it should be clear that now the government plan is to
keep Mumia locked in a cell for the rest of his natural life. The
freedom movement does not accept this," Holmes added.
"The court system has apparently still refused to listen to tons
and tons of overwhelming evidence proving that he's innocent, including
the startling failure to recognize the confession of the man who
actually killed Officer Faulkner 20 year ago," said Holmes, referring
to Arnold Beverly, who, in a 1999 court affidavit, confessed that
he had been hired by the mob to kill Faulkner because the officer
had interfered with mob payoffs to the police. The courts have refused
to admit the confession as credible.
"It's good that the threat of imminent execution is not hanging
over his head, but people have to be very clear that this ruling
is also an attempt to diffuse the worldwide movement to expose the
frame-up of Mumia and to free Mumia. And we must make certain that
no one falls for it. Not one more minute in prison," Holmes said.
Over the past 20 years, Abu-Jamal has garnered the support of prominent
figures nationally and internationally, including former South African
President Nelson Mandela, actors Danny Glover, Ossie Davis, Whoopi
Goldberg, Chuck D and Dick Gregory.
Political leaders, including Rev. Jesse Jackson, former New York
Mayor David Dinkins and San Francisco Mayor have also rallied behind
death-row inmate. The growing list of international supporters has
included delegates from Japan, Denmark, European parliament, and
France-including Danielle Mitterand, widow of the former president
of France.
"I am at least pleased that the death sentence is put aside," said
David Dinkins, former mayor of New York City. "But I am saddened
to hear that he will not get a new trial because I'm one of the
persons who believes that he never had a fair trial and I think
he's innocent anyway."
"It's like a baited sense of expectation," said Ewuare Osayande,
president of the Black Radical Congress, Philadelphia Chapter. "I'm
not overjoyed, but at the same time I feel better than I did before.
The question becomes: What next? The answer is that we need to continue
fighting for Mumia's release until we gain his freedom."
Osyande said that the ederal court's surprise ruling was a "political
maneuver to diffuse international pressures."
Pam Africa, president of the International Concerned Family and
Friends of Mumia Abu-Jamal (ICFFMAJ), said Tuesday that she simply
did not believe it when she first heard that Abu-Jamal was being
removed from death row. Africa agreed that the ruling was more of
a political ploy.
"Here's the reality," said Africa. "Unless the judge called for
the release of Mumia, then he hasn't done anything fair. What [Judge
Yohn] is simply doing is responding to worldwide pressure. He's
giving the illusion of fairness by calling a new sentencing hearing."
Africa said that the movement to free Mumia Abu-Jamal would continue.
"We're not gonna stop anything until he's free. We will not bargain
with them for life in prison," said Africa. She added that it was
not until the emergence of Beverly's confession that the court suddenly
shifted their direction in the case.
"But we don't want people to be fooled," said Africa, "This is
not a victory. The actual victory will be when Mumia is alive, healthy
and at home."
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-- December 21, 2001
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2001-05 Seeing Black, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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