Philadelphia Daily News = Mumia: The total legal update
Philadelphia Daily News
Posted on Thu, Dec. 07, 2006
Mumia: The total legal update
By DAVE LINDORFF
By DAVE LINDORFF
A QUARTER-century ago, on a cold December morning, police officer Daniel Faulkner was shot and killed during a routine Center City traffic stop.
The brother of the driver he had pulled over, a well-known local radio journalist named Mumia Abu-Jamal, was arrested at the scene. In July 1982, Abu-Jamal was convicted of murder and sentenced to death.
In January, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals is to hear oral arguments from both the Philadelphia D.A. and Abu-Jamal on four issues, one that could send him to his death and three that could lead to a new trial.
The D.A.'s appeal seeks to reverse a 2001 decision by Federal District Judge William Yohn overturning Abu-Jamal's death sentence. Yohn ruled that trial judge Albert Sabo, and the jury sentencing form used then, had led jurors to believe that mitigating circumstances, which could weigh against a death sentence, counted only if all jurors agreed.
In fact, any juror can find mitigation and veto death.
The other three issues all challenge the conviction. Two of the claims, if supported by two of the three appellate judges, could lead to a new trial. The third would likely require a federal court to hold new hearings that would allow Abu-Jamal to introduce newly discovered witnesses, and grill old ones to see if their stories have changed.
A hearing before the Third Circuit was assured in 2001 when Yohn allowed Abu-Jamal to appeal his ruling that there was no compelling evidence of racial bias in jury selection. Certification meant the Third Circuit had to consider the appeal. All other avenues of appeal were denied by Yohn. But in a surprise decision earlier this year, the Third Circuit, after a petition by Abu-Jamal's San Francisco-based attorney Robert Bryan, opened the door to two additional challenges to his conviction.
One of these was the claim that prosecutor Joseph McGill had improperly led jurors to believe they needn't fear a wrongful conviction because their verdict would not be the last word. Instead, McGill assured them, there would be "appeal after appeal" of their verdict, "so that may not be final." (Federal courts have often found unconstitutional such attempts to remove jurors' sense of responsibility.)
In addition, the appeals court decided to consider whether Sabo was biased against the defendant both at trial and during a 1995 post-conviction hearing. A few years back, a court stenographer, Terri Maurer Carter, claimed that in the opening days of Abu-Jamal's trial, she, in the company of Judge Richard Klein (now a state Superior Court judge), had heard Sabo say he would "help them fry the n-----."
IN 2001, COMMON Pleas Judge Pamela Dembe ruled that it wouldn't matter if Sabo had uttered those words "since this was a jury trial," a bizarre ruling since even if jurors render the verdict, judges make critical decisions about evidence, and how trials are run.
And the post-conviction hearing, it is the judge alone who determines whether new evidence is significant, and even what questions witnesses may be asked.
Sabo's one-sidedness at that hearing led the Philadelphia Inquirer to editorialize at the time: "The behavior of the judge in the case was disturbing the first time around - and in hearings last week he did not give the impression... of fair-mindedness. Instead, he gave the impression... of undue haste and hostility toward the defense's case."
The appeals court hearing promises to be explosive, and ensures that this case, which has made Abu-Jamal a world-famous author and political figure, and which has made Officer Faulkner an icon for those who support the death penalty, will continue to be major Philadelphia news for some time yet.
Meanwhile, Abu-Jamal remains where he has been since 1982, in solitary in a small cell on death row, where the D.A. has insisted he stay even in the last five years during which his death sentence has been lifted.
Dave Lindorff is author of "Killing Time: An Investigation into the Death Penalty Case of Mumia Abu-Jamal" (Common Courage Press). His work is available at www.thiscantbehappening.net. He can be reached at dlindorff@yahoo.com.
posted by peaceandjustice2005 at 6:59 AM
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