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Mumia Abu-Jamal

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Mumia Abu-Jamal (born Wesley Cook April 24, 1954), a local 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. 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 occurred: 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, one of them striking Faulkner in the face, 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 claim this version of events relies on evidence and eyewitnesses that have since been discredited. Two of the prosecution's eyewitnesses (Veronica Jones 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. [citation needed]

Jamal himself did not give the police his version of the events initially. But he later gave a sworn statement[1] [2] claiming that he had been sitting in his cab across the street when he heard the sound of gunshots. Upon seeing his brother standing in the street staggering and dizzy, Jamal ran across the street to William Cook and was shot by a uniformed police officer (not Faulkner). He also claimed he was tortured by the police before receiving medical aid.

Court proceedings and controversies surrounding the 1982 trial

See main article: Trial of Mumia Abu-Jamal

The death 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 [1], 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 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[3]; 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, there exists some evidence which apparently runs contradictory 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." Pate reported that this conversation occurred nearly 20 years before the affidavit was filed ("Sometime around the end of 1983 or the beginning of 1984"), while Pate was in the same prison as Abu-Jamal. The affidavit was released during another period in which Pate and Abu-Jamal were housed in the same prison, by which time Durham had died (cf. Trial of Mumia Abu-Jamal).

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. [4] Ballistics experts never did any tests to see if the weapon had been recently fired [Source: HBO Special, A Case For Reasonable Doubt]. The coroner who performed the autopsy on Faulkner, Dr. Paul 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 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 meant 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."[5] In a 1995 PCRA hearing, the ballistics expert for the defense testified that due to Jamal's struggle with the police during his arrest, such a test would have been difficult to accomplish and, due to the gunpowder residue possibly being shaken or rubbed off, would not have been scientifically reliable. [6]

William Cook, who might have been expected to testify on his brother's behalf, and who was present at the scene at the beginning, did not testify, but has stated in a signed affidavit that he is willing to testify and that Mumia Abu-Jamal did not kill Officer Faulkner.[7] Mumia Abu-Jamal also did not testify in his own defense. Mumia Abu-Jamal’s explanation for this can be found in a May 3, 2001 signed affidavit where he states, "At my trial I was denied the right to defend myself I had no confidence in my court-appointed attorney, who never even asked me what happened the night I was shot and the police officer was killed; and I was excluded from at least half the trial. Since I was denied all my rights at my trial I did not testify. I would not be used to make it look like I had a fair trial."[8]

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.

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.[9] 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.[10] 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 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, and has made frequent commentaries on radio shows. In addition he has been a "guest speaker" on Immortal Technique's musical albums. The organization Axis of Justice have interviewed him for their weekly radio show.

International response

A broad international movement supports Mumia Abu-Jamal.[citation needed]

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 by the administration of the city of Saint-Denis, a suburb of Paris, provoking some uproar in the U.S. [11]

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, Snoop Dogg, Ossie Davis, and Susan Sarandon; world leaders like Nelson Mandela, Danielle Mitterrand (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.

2006 developments

In June 2006, two Pensylvannia congressional representatives introduced US House of Representatives House Resolution 407, which threatens to sanction Saint-Denis for the naming of Rue Mumia Abu-Jamal unless the French mayor and city council agreed to reverse their decision. Rue Mumia Abu-Jamal leads to Nelson Mandela stadium.

The State of Pennsylvania filed its appeal seeking to reinstate the order to execute Abu-Jamal. If the appeal is upheld by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell has pledged to sign a (third) 90-day warrant for Abu-Jamal's execution.

References

  1. ^ 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

Music

The political rap/rock band Rage Against The Machine mentioned Abu-Jamal several times in their 1999 album The Battle of Los Angeles. Also, in live concert, frontman Zack de la Rocha would change the lyrics to the song "Freedom" from "Freedom....yeah....Freedom....Yeah, right" to "Freedom, for Mumia!".

Powerviolence band Man is the Bastard also released a split EP with Jamal in 1997.

Anti-Flag's CD, Mobilize, has a track titled Mumia's Song, with the following lyric: "Brick by brick, wall by wall / We're gonna free Mumia Abu-Jamal"

Politically motivated hip hop artist Immortal Technique has also featured Mumia Abu-Jamal on several of his albums.

Jonathan Richman's 2004 release Not So Much to be Loved but to Love features a song called Abu Jamal

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