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Monday, October 6th, 2008 at 5:26 pm - by Matt Campbell. Filed under: Courts, Crime.
The U.S. Supreme Court has rejected an appeal by Mumia Abu-Jamal’s lawyers seeking a new trial. Abu-Jamal was convicted in 1981 in the shooting death of Philadelphia police officer Daniel Faulkner. This leaves a federal appeals court ruling upholding Abu-Jamal’s murder conviction in place, but ordering a new sentencing hearing.
Officer Daniel Faulkner was shot to death after pulling over Abu-Jamal’s brother in an overnight traffic stop. Prosecutors say Faulkner, 25, managed to shoot Abu-Jamal during the confrontation. A wounded Abu-Jamal, his own gun lying nearby, was still at the scene when police arrived, and authorities consider the evidence against him overwhelming.
If you’re interested in learning more about Abu-Jamal’s trial, listen back to this Radio Times discussion recorded in December 2007. That’s when we booked two court watchers who vehemently disagree on whether Mumia got a fair trial. The guests were Dave Lindorf who believes Mumia did not get a fair trial and author of Killing Time: An Investigation into the Death Row Case of Mumia Abu-Jamal and from John Hayden who says Mumia did get a fair trial and is the author of Mumia Abu-Jamal: The Patron Saint of American Cop Killers.
Related links:
Radio Times interview with Maureen Faulkner 12/11/07
October 6th, 2008 at 6:15 pm
Just to clarify, today’s US Supreme Court ruling was not actually a rejection of a new trial, but rather of a PCRA hearing that could have led to a new trial. The US Supreme Court rejected Mumia’s PCRA appeal based on the affidavits of Kenneth Pate and Yvette Williams. The appeal had been filed in July, after it was rejected by the PA Supreme Court in Feb, 2008, and in 2005 by Philadelphia judge Pamela Dembe.
This is completely separate from the appeal to the US Supreme Court re. the recent Third Circuit decision that denied a new guilt phase trial. The deadline for Mumia and the DA to appeal this to the US Supreme Court is October 20, unless either side applies for a 60 day extension.
For some background on Kenneth Pate, Yvette Williams, and the larger picture of police misconduct that their affidavits further reveal, check out this link:
http://www.opednews.com/maxwrite/diarypage.php?did=9907
and go to our website, for the latest updates on this.
Also, I’d like to thank Radio Times for citing us on the Dec. 11, 2007 show you had with Maureen Faulkner, which I wrote this article about here, thanking you for including our voice in the discussion:
http://www.opednews.com/maxwrite/diarypage.php?did=5165
October 6th, 2008 at 10:04 pm
Hans thanks for the clarification. I appreciate this. I’ll also add a link to our interview with Maureen.
October 6th, 2008 at 11:08 pm
hans your an asshole! the man murdered somebody… cold blood the facts are there! did somebody use his gun and then leave it next to him? oh i forgot he carried it without bullets! of course this hasnt happened to you so you dont understand! your a huge part of the problem !
it was his gun…eyewitnesses saw him… he is a radical and always was and you just keep assholes like mumia alive instead of dead where they belong…if you free him are you gonna let him stay at your house? you should be ashamed of yourself
October 6th, 2008 at 11:28 pm
Alan, thanks for posting up the Maureen Faulkner interview. Spotlighting the newly discovered crime scene photos on your show, was so important, because the corporate media (with the exception of NBC’s Today Show: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1FsL3rjXpl4) is totally ignoring these photos, which I think give one more reason that Mumia needs a new trial. This media fairness is precisely why public radio is so important. I also enjoyed the debate between Lindorff and Hayden, and I urge your readers to listen to it.
“No Liberal”, I urge you to reconsider your position. Have you ever read the Amnesty Intenational Report?: http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/engAMR510012000
I also recomend the new book written by J. Patrick O’Connor called ‘The Framing of Mumia Abu-Jamal’: http://www.abu-jamal-news.com/article.php?name=vidframe
I am interested to hear what other readers think of these links, which give more background on what supporters of Abu-Jamal are saying. Hopefully, this can be a forum for productive discussion of such a controversial issue.
October 7th, 2008 at 1:16 am
Regarding the headline of this section…just because one is convicted does not automatically mean guilty….as we have seen from many hundreds of overturned verdicts in death penalty and other cases over the years.
Also, Mumia is a journalist, and a human being, not a “cop killer”. A legit term would be “Illegitimately Convicted Journalist”….or at least “Questionably convicted journalist”. Are there un-convicted cop killers out there? Are there cops who are “innocent victim killers”? …i.e., killer cops? Too many, actually. What do Good Cops feel about that? Can they express their feelings w/out fear of retribution?
(Some do…amazingly…despite the fear.)
How many police know the concept of Illegitimate Orders…and how they are NOT to be obeyed? I wonder if those who do are rejected before lunch on the first day of Police Academy.
If most cops got the idea that they primarily work for Corporate Control interests, instead of protecting The People, maybe such cops would think of taking a percent of the action (like from Auto Insurance Corporations, for one) instead of risking their lives and limbs, and families’ welfare, for just Civil Service pay.
Unrelated to Mumia, why DOESN’T the FOP in Philly demand and get compensation for members for their dangerous work essentially enforcing patronage of PRIVATE auto insurance corporations? Do we have any stats on how many police are threatened, injured or killed JUST because of reactions by terrorized drivers taking excessive measures to evade capture?
And, while an officer is making sure someone gave some PRIVATE insurance company a lot of money, what ELSE is going on in the area that needs urgent attention?
PS: How a violent, instantaneous encounter in the street, as was the Faulkner shooting situation, can provide any “cold blooded” ANYTHING is a mystery. “Cold Blooded” means PLANNED…like a set-up sniper thing or whatnot…NOT any street fight. If there was anything “Cold Blooded” it was either or both A) That Officer Faulkner was indeed set up to be deleted because he wasn’t so hot on the police graft etc going on, or B) the framing of Mumia.
The shooting of Officer Faulkner WAS most likely not cold blooded, but very Hot Blooded, done by the passenger in Billy Cook’s car after he saw Faulkner shoot Mumia. Then, later on, the murder of that passenger (a form of Police “Justice”) was as cold blooded as can be.)
What can be MORE cold blooded than the planned and purposeful killing of anyone on death row? Can’t GET more cold blooded than that. It’s not even about blood, but ICE. Not even ice but cold machinery.
Interesting how those who say they hate “cold blooded killings” are the most fervent advocates of just that.
October 7th, 2008 at 9:12 am
FRY HIS BUTT…HE WAS AND IS A STONED COLD MURDERER!!!!
October 7th, 2008 at 11:37 am
im sorry but i cannot change my opinion because i have read the entire trial transcripts! the proof is there!
http://www.justice4danielfaulkner.com/frames.html
and as for fair trial …mumia from the very opening of the trial was detrimental to himself. if pa LAW states you must have a member of the bar ” a real lawyer” as your counsel if you defend yourself… why would he waste so much time insisting that john africa represent him? was that to be some kind of statement? was judge sabo to change the law at his request?
maybe you should spend a month blogging from the passenger seat of a cop car and see the real streets that these officers have to deal with .
not having a deterent just causes more shootings. wouldnt you agree? its kind of out of control.
why has mumia never given a personel account of what happened that night if he is innocent ! ?
in my opinion any one who insists that the man is stone cold innocent has not done the homework and might just be somebody who never could fit in and now uses this to feel as if they finally belong to a community. well unfortunately they have joined the wrong community.
we live in America and because of this we have the right to our own opinion what ever that maybe. Your opinion is that he still needs to be proven innocent and my opinion is that he is guilty!
October 7th, 2008 at 4:31 pm
Dear ‘No Liberal’, I commend you for reading all the transcripts. As someone who has also read them in their entirety, as well as every book and article I could find, I know that is a lot of work. Interestingly, you and I have come to completely opposite conclusions after reading the same text.
Author J. Patrick O’Connor has also read all the transcripts and bases his book almost entirely on them. For folks that have an open-mind and want to learn more (and would rather spend a few hours with a book, than a few months on some dry, boring transcripts), I highly recommend this book, which I spotlight in this article here that I just completed–which also explains some of the tricky “legalese” surrounding this new decision. Go here to this link, for that:
http://abu-jamal-news.com/article?name=hbpcra
Best Regards,
Hans
January 21st, 2009 at 7:41 pm
Some questions about the transcripts; if Hans can explain the following:
1) How is it that Mumia’s gun was on the scene with 5 spent shells, 4 of which were Federal Arms brand .38 and the bullet removed from Officer Faulkner’s brain was a Federal Arms brand .38 +P fired from a weapon with 8 lands and grooves with a right hand twist such as Mumia’s Charter Arms Undercover .38?
2) How would police know what to coerce Chobert and White to say in their initial statement to be consistent with Scanlan’s initial statement, given concurrently in a different area, and Magilton’s and Harkins initial statements given a little later in the day within what is normal for human perception under that situation?
3) Can you name one witness whose story is believed by the defense attorneys that presented them that claimed that they saw the shooting and the person they saw shoot ran away successfully?
4) Why would a privately owned hospital what to frame one of their patients? Since the hospital had Durham’s statement dated as 12/10/1981 either the hospital really had the statement at that time or they are in on some “conspiracy”.
5) How does the picture of Forbes hold both guns by their grip in his left hand prove perjury since he testified to doing exactly that?
N.T. 6/19/82 3.163
“Q. Well, tell us, what did you do?
A. After he took his hands out of his pockets and I looked back to see what my partner was doing, I observed the Charter Arms next to the Defendant. I went over to pick that up, and as I picked that up I saw right off to the left of that was Officer Faulkner’s gun, so I picked that up also and I placed them both in my left hand, and then I walked back over and I held on to William Cook with my right hand to his left arm.
Q. So you had two guns in your left hand, one gun in the right hand?
A. No, I’m sorry, I holstered it by that time.
Q. You”
6) In reference to the photo of the empty spot behind Officer Faulkner’s RPC, why would police not use that space being outside the crime scene yet park vehicles much farther away if the space was not already taken with another vehicle? Why would police prevent Chobert from taking it to the Roundhouse even if it were parked there? And when did Chobert arrive at the Roundhouse in time reference to when that picture was taken?
February 4th, 2009 at 2:21 am
Although i’ve never been a big fan of cops i don’t favor shooting them either. From where i see it Mr. Westley Cook has used the :Black radical journalist” shield way too long.While i would agree blacks often get screwed by the man none of that has squat to do with this case. Westley in a rage upon seeing his brother in trouble pulled his gun and killed a cop.Not only that ,but went back and shot him in the head.Westley like O.J. is a massive waste of the black communities energy for justice.
It would help if we held cops accountable for their actions to the same degree i don’t remember the last time a cop was sent to death row for killing a citizen.
June 22nd, 2010 at 1:54 pm
forensics show that the dead received a bullet from someone lying on the ground and the defendant received a bullet from someone above him,
a horrible situation, for everybody,
makes me want to lock my self up in a cell and never come out.