Mumia Abu-Jamal and Talk:Diablito: Difference between pages

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'''Mumia Abu-Jamal''' (born Wesley Cook [[April 24]], [[1954]]), a [[journalist]] and [[political activist]], was convicted of the murder of [[police officer]] [[Daniel Faulkner]], which took place on [[December 9]], [[1981]], and was sentenced to [[death sentence|death]]. He has become a ''[[cause célèbre]]'' for many opponents of the [[death penalty]] as well as a focus of attention of many of the death penalty's supporters. Furthermore, many of his supporters claim that his arrest and conviction were politically motivated and that he qualifies as a [[political prisoner]].

In December [[2001]], Abu-Jamal's death sentence (but not his conviction) was overturned by [[Federal District Court]] judge [[William Yohn]]. Both the prosecution and the defense have appealed Yohn's ruling.

==The murder of Daniel Faulkner==

On the morning of December 9, 1981, [[Philadelphia]] police officer Daniel Faulkner was shot and killed during a routine traffic stop of a vehicle driven by [[William Cook]], Abu-Jamal's younger brother.

In the trial the prosecution successfully argued that the following events occured: during the traffic stop, Cook assaulted Faulkner, who in turn attempted to subdue Cook. At this point, Abu-Jamal emerged from a nearby taxi which he was driving and shot Faulkner in the back. Faulkner was able to return fire, seriously wounding Abu-Jamal. Abu-Jamal then advanced on Faulkner, and fired four additional shots at close range, killing the policeman. Abu-Jamal was unable to flee due to his own gunshot wound, and was taken into custody by other police officers, who had been summoned by Faulkner at the time of the traffic stop. Abu-Jamal was taken directly from the scene of the shooting to a hospital, and treated for his injury. Witnesses stated that while he was receiving medical treatment, Mumia Abu-Jamal acknowledged that he shot Daniel Faulkner. {{Citation needed}}

Supporters of Mumia Abu-Jamal point out that this version of events relies on evidence and eyewitnesses that have since been discredited. Three of the prosecution's eyewitnesses (Veronica Jones, William Singletary, and Robert Chobert) have discredited their own testimony stating that they lied about Mumia Abu-Jamal because they were threatened, coerced, or made promises by the police to get them to give false testimony against him.

==Court proceedings and controversies surrounding the 1982 trial==

''See main article:'' [[Trial of Mumia Abu-Jamal]]

The murder of Daniel Faulkner has resulted in a series of legal battles that continue to the present day.

Abu-Jamal was charged with first degree murder. He initially retained the services of criminal defense attorney Anthony Jackson. In May 1982 Abu-Jamal announced that he would represent himself with Jackson continuing to act as his legal advisor. Although the judge initially allowed Abu-Jamal to represent himself, the judge eventually reversed his own decision due to Abu-Jamal's disruptive behavior in the court <ref>[http://www.justice4danielfaulkner.com/Days/6-17-82.html Day 1 Transcript of 1982 trial], from 1.82 for the rest of the day Abu-Jamal repeatedly refused to accept the Court's rulings on points of law and was thus removed from representing himself</ref>, and it was ordered that Anthony Jackson resume his role as Abu-Jamal’s attorney.

The case went to trial in June 1982. The prosecution presented both eyewitness and physical evidence against Abu-Jamal.

There were four eyewitnesses to the shooting: Robert Chobert, a [[taxicab|cab]] driver (who later said that the police coerced him into making his false testimony); Michael Scanlan, a businessman who had been visiting from out of town on the night of the killing; Cynthia White, a [[prostitute]] that was later revealed to be a police informant[[http://www.mumia.nl/TCCDMAJ/cynthia.htm]];, and Albert Magilton, a passerby. All four of these witnesses were on the scene at the time of the shooting, and all of them identified Abu-Jamal as the person who shot Officer Faulkner.

Finally, three additional witnesses, including hospital security guard Priscilla Durham and two members of the Philadelphia Police Department, testified that while Abu-Jamal was being treated for his own gunshot wound, he said that he had shot Daniel Faulkner, and hoped that the officer would die.

Yet, strong evidence refutes the argument that Mumia admitted his own guilt in the hospital.

One of these pieces of evidence is the original police report by Officer Gary Wakshul, who was with Mumia the entire time through his arrest and medical treatment. In Wakshul's official report he stated of the time he spent with Mumia Abu-Jamal, "during this time the Negro male made no comment." Yet Gary Wakshul stated later that he heard Mumia confess that night. Gary Wakshul didn't "remember" this confession until almost three months after Mumia's arrest when prosecutor McGill met with police asking for a confession. Officer Wakshul, a trained police officer, stated that he didn't think the confession was important at the time he wrote his original report.[Source: HBO Special, A Case For Reasonable Doubt]

Judge Albert Sabo did not allow the jury to hear Gary Wakshul's original report.

In court hospital security guard Priscilla Durham testified that she heard Mumia Abu-Jamal yell out as he lay bleeding in the hospital, "I shot the motherfucker and I hope he dies."

Yet on April 24, 2003 the half- brother of Priscilla Durham, Kenneth Pate, submitted a declaration through Mumia’s lawyers in the [[U.S. Court of Appeals]] and in the Third Circuit Court stating, “I read a newspaper article about the Mumia Abu-Jamal case. It said Priscilla Durham had testified at Mumia's trial that when she was working as a security guard at the hospital she heard Mumia say that he had killed the police officer. When I read this I realized it was a different story from what she had told me.” Instead Kenneth Pate asked her, ‘"Did you hear him say that?” [I shot the motherfucker and I hope he dies.] " Priscilla answered, "All I heard him say was: 'Get off me, get off me, they're trying to kill me."

The physical evidence was also damaging for Abu-Jamal. A .38 handgun Abu-Jamal had purchased to defend himself as a cab driver in 1979 was found at the scene, next to Abu-Jamal, containing 5 spent shell casings.[Sources DanielFaulkner.com, Fraternal Order of Police] Ballistics experts never did any tests to see if if the weapon had been recently fired[Source: HBO Special, A Case For Reasonable Doubt]. The coroner who performed the autopsy on Faulkner, Dr. Pual Hoyer, stated in his notes that the bullet he extracted from Faulkner was a .44 caliber, not a .38. However, he later testified that he was he was just making a rough guess based on his own observations, as he was not a firearms expert and had no ballistics training. He also testified that his statement about the bullet's caliber was only written in his personal notes and never ment to be used as an official report. Official ballistics tests done on the fatal bullet verify that Officer Faulkner was killed by a .38 caliber bullet. The fatal .38 slug was a Federal brand Special +P bullet with a hollow base (the hollow base in a +P bullet was distinctive to Federal ammunition at that time), the exact type (+P with a hollow base), brand (Federal), and caliber (.38) of bullet found in Jamal's gun. These experts also testified that the bullet taken from Abu-Jamal had been fired from Officer Faulkner's service weapon. The defense' ballistics expert, George Fassnacht, did not dispute the prosecution's findings.[Source Danielfaulkner.com]

[[Amnesty International]] was not impressed by the physical evidence and included it in their list of trial irregularities stating there was a "lack of adequate ballistic tests to determine whether Abu-Jamal's gun had recently been fired. It was not determined, for instance, whether there was residue on his hands from firing a gun."[[http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/engAMR510202000]] In addition the resources provided to Mumia Abu-Jamal's public defender, Anthony Jackson, were not adequate to retain a ballistics expert to testify at the trial.[Source: HBO Special, A Case For Reasonable Doubt]

William Cook, who might have been expected to testify on his brother's behalf, and who was present at the scene from the beginning, did not testify, nor did Abu-Jamal choose to testify in his own defense.{{fact}}

The jury deliberated for two days before finding Abu-Jamal guilty, and he was subsequently sentenced to death.

It has been contended that there were many irregularities surrounding the trial and conviction of Abu-Jamal, leading many to argue that his conviction was invalid.

[[Image:Free_Mumia.jpg|thumb|200px|right|The case of Mumia Abu-Jamal has attracted a following over the years.]]

==The 2001 appeal==

District Judge William Yohn overturned Mumia Abu-Jamal's death sentence on December 18, 2001 citing irregularities in the original sentencing process.[[http://www.villagevoice.com/news/0151,allah2,30962,5.html]] Mumia Abu-Jamal's defense attorneys, Eliot Grossman and Marlene Kamish, were not happy with the ruling because it denied Mumia Abu-Jamal a new trial based on evidence that they have argued proves that Mumia Abu-Jamal is the victim of a frame-up.[[http://www.mumia2000.org/alerts/legalupdate3-03.html]] The District Attorney's Office did not agree that the death sentence against Mumia Abu-Jamal should be overturned. Both sides appealed the ruling.

==Abu-Jamal’s life since his conviction==

Since his imprisonment, Abu-Jamal has continued his political activism, publishing ''[[Live from Death Row]]'', a book on life inside prisons. He has also completed his [[Bachelor of Arts]] from [[Goddard College]], and earned a [[Master of Arts (postgraduate)|Master of Arts]] from [[California State University, Dominguez Hills]], both by [[distance education]].

Via tape from his cell he has made commencement speeches to graduating classes at [[UC Santa Cruz]], [[Evergreen State College]], [[Antioch College]], and [[Occidental College]], has made frequent commentaries on radio shows, and has been a "guest" on Immortal Technique's albums.

==International response==

A broad international movement supports Mumia Abu-Jamal. In October 2003, Mumia Abu-Jamal was awarded the status of honorary citizen of [[Paris]] in a ceremony attended by former [[Black Panther]] [[Angela Davis]]. The mayor of Paris, [[Bertrand Delanoë]], said in a press release that the award was meant to be a reminder of the continuing fight against the death penalty, which was abolished in [[France]] in 1981. The proposal to make Abu-Jamal an honorary citizen was approved by the city's council in 2001. In 2006, a street was named after Abu-Jamal in the city of St.-Denis, a suburb of Paris.

Additionally, all of the following maintain that the original trial was not conducted in a fair and impartial manner, and demand either a new trial or Mumia Abu-Jamal's immediate release: organizations including [[Amnesty International]], [[Human Rights Watch]], the [[NAACP]], and the [[National Lawyers Guild]]; the [[Japanese Diet]] and the [[European Parliament]]; as well as several national U.S. [[trade union]] federations ([[ILWU]], [[AFSCME]], [[SEIU]], the national postal union) and the 1.8 million member California Labor Federation AFL-CIO; celebrities such as [[Danny Glover]], [[Ossie Davis]], and [[Susan Sarandon]]; world leaders like [[Nelson Mandela]], Danielle Mitterand (former First Lady of France), and [[Fidel Castro]]; the [[Episcopal Church of the United States of America]]; and City Governments such as those of [[San Francisco]], [[Santa Cruz, California]], and [[Detroit]].

==References==

<references/>

*[http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/engAMR510202000 Amnesty International Calls For Retrial of Mumia-Abu Jamal]

*[http://www.iacenter.org/polprisoners/maj_seiu.htm SEIU Votes To Support Mumia Abu-Jamal]

*[http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/45a/508.html SEIU Resolution Supporting Mumia Abu-Jamal]

*HBO Documentary, A Case For Reasonable Doubt (1997)

*[http://www.refuseandresist.org/mumia/art.php?aid=1716 City of San Francisco Resolution Supporting Mumia Abu-Jamal]

*[http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/43b/205.html Fidel Castro's Support For Mumia Abu-Jamal]

*Abu-Jamal, Mumia. ''Live from Death Row''. HarperTrade, 1996. ISBN 0380727668

*Abu-Jamal, Mumia. ''We Want Freedom: A Life in the Black Panther Party''. South End Press, 2004. ISBN 0896087182

*Abu-Jamal, Mumia. ''Death Blossoms: Reflections from a Prisoner of Conscience''. South End Press, 2003. ISBN 0896086992

*Abu-Jamal, Mumia. ''Faith of Our Fathers: An Examination of the Spiritual Life of African and African-American People''. Africa World Press, 2003. ISBN 1592210198

*Abu-Jamal, Mumia. ''All Things Censored''. Seven Stories Press, 2000. ISBN 1583220224

*Amnesty International. ''The Case of Mumia Abu-Jamal: A Life in the Balance (Open Media Pamphlet Series)''. Open Media, 2001. ISBN 158322081X

*Lindorff, David. ''Killing Time''. Common Courage Press, 2002. ISBN 1567512283

*Williams, Daniel R. ''Executing Justice: An Inside Account of the Case of Mumia Abu-Jamal''. St. Martin's Press, 2002. ISBN 0375761241

*[http://www.labournet.net/docks2/9905/mumia1.htm ILWU in the news supporting Mumia Abu-Jamal]

*THE `JUDICIAL DEATH' OF CYNTHIA WHITE By Clark Kissinger[[http://www.mumia.nl/TCCDMAJ/cynthia.htm]]

==External links==

* [http://www.freemumia.com/policecoercion.html "Yet Another Witness Comes Forward and Refutes The Frame-Up Of Mumia Abu-Jamal"]

* [http://www.rotten.com/library/bio/crime/criminals/mumia-abu-jamal/ Mumia-Abu Jamal at the Rotten Library], supporting his conviction

* [http://www.freemumia.com Page of the Free Mumia Abu-Jamal Coalition, NYC].

* [http://www.mumia.org page of the International Concerned Family and Friends of Mumia Abu-Jamal].

* [http://www.freemumia.org a pro-Abu-Jamal activism and advocacy page].

* [http://www.icl-fi.org/english/csdn/oldsite/aff.htm "New Evidence Explodes Frame-up--Free Mumia Now!"

* [http://www.danielfaulkner.com danielfaulkner.com], a web site presenting, among other things, the original trial transcripts, court opinions and related press articles. The site also includes refutations of many defense assertions, some of which are listed above, and articles on the 2001 affirmation of the conviction.

* [http://www.motherjones.com/commentary/columns/2000/02/mumia.html What's Mumia Got to Do With It?] by [[Marc Cooper]], arguing that death penalty opponents need not blindly support the Free Mumia cause.

* [http://www.sff.net/people/tbisson/mumia.html The Case of Mumia Abu Jamal], by Terry Bisson from ''New York Newsday'', 1995.

* [http://www.grandlodgefop.org/faulkner/projamal.html Supporters of Mumia Abu-Jamal] as listed by the Fraternal Order of Police.

* [http://www.justice4danielfaulkner.com/index.html Justice4danielfaulkner.com] Transcripts of Mumia Abu Jamal's 1981 trial.

* [http://www.amnestyusa.org/countries/usa/document.do?id=7FC249A275DAADCA8025687F00428638 Amnesty International on the case of Mumia Abu-Jamal].

* [http://prisonradio.org/mumia.htm Archived files of Mumia Abu Jamal's essays read from death row].

* [http://www.counterpunch.org/lindorff07162004.html The Mumia Case: Support from NAACP, But a Movement in Shambles], article by David Lindorff for ''Counterpunch'', [[July 16]] [[2004]].

* [http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=43&ItemID=8603 On Philadelphia Court Judge Dembe's May 27/June 17, 2005, Decision on Mumia Abu-Jamal], by Michael Schiff

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