U.S. appeals court awards new sentencing hearing for Mumia Abul-Jamal
From the Associated Press:
A U.S. appeals court is awarding death-row activist Mumia Abu-Jamal a new sentencing hearing in the 1981 murder of a Philadelphia police officer.
Tuesday’s ruling is the latest in the former Black Panther’s long-running legal saga.
The 58-year-old Mumia’s first-degree murder conviction stands in the fatal shooting of Officer Daniel Faulkner.
But the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals is upholding its earlier ruling that the death-penalty instructions to the jury were unclear at Mumia’s 1982 trial.
The U.S. Supreme Court last year ordered the court to review that decision.
The three-judge panel is standing by its decision after hearing a new round of legal arguments.
WHYY’s Susan Philips will have the full details for us.
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