by Walidah Imarisha
Mumia Abu-Jamal, award winning journalist, activist, organizer, "voice of the voiceless" and resident of Pennsylvania's death row, was denied his appeal to the Third Circuit Court of Appeals to receive a new trial. They did uphold the decision to give him life without parole instead of the death penalty, which the state will probably appeal.
They waited almost an entire year to hand down that verdict, I remember the big protest we had outside the court the day the hearing happened (a hearing Mumia was supposed to be allowed to appear at personally, until the last minute when they wouldn't let him come. It would have been his first in person court appears in over a decade).
The case of Mumia is so important to justice, to the state of things, and to me personally. My first protest I ever went to, at the age of 15 in Eugene, Oregon, was a Free Mumia protest. It was such a small protest now that I have been at gatherings with hundreds of thousands. But at the time it seemed massive.
The flyer had said to gather at the entrance to the University of Oregon. Unfamiliar with activist time, I had shown up about 20 minutes early, and had seen no one. I worried if I'd gotten the location wrong, if it had been cancelled, if it was really going to happen.
I had just begun my foray into political education, thanks to an internship I stumbled onto at a local social justice organization. My time in the office set in a creaky old building with pipes that rattled set the stage for the rest of my life. It was sitting in the frayed worn couches near the bay window that I first heard the words communism and socialism as more than just some dangerous evil that would devour me if it wanted. While typing up stories for the newsletter at the antiquated box of a computer, talk of the Zapatistas, political prisoners, Sandinistas, Central America, Cuba, apartheid, Assata Shakur, Malcolm X all swirled around me. I didn't know what the hell these people were talking about. But I knew they were individuals I already respected, who knew so much about things I had never dreamed existed. I knew I had to educate myself.
I asked my mentor, a young white man who wore cardigan sweaters and converse and looked more at home in a 50s car hop poster than organizing in support of farmworkers, timidly one day if he could recommend some books for me to read. He reached up without hesitation and handed me a small black book, with a dreadlocked man staring solemnly out of the cover. "You should really check this out, I think you might find some good stuff in here."
I started Mumia's Live From Death Row on the long bus ride home (I actually lived in another city, Springfield, so I had to transfer three times to get home). I stayed up until 3 in the morning, neglecting school work and my favorite show on tv, to finish the book. Mumia's words were elegant, poetic, searing and undeniable. He wrote about live on death row, vinettes about the people there with him, the supposed scum of the earth, he wrote them as humans, beautiful flawed tragic humans. He wrote about the larger prison industrial complex, wrote about why prisons exist and who benefits from them, not in safety but in real material dollars. And whose flesh is sold to make those dollars, poor and black and brown and illiterate and mentally delayed and never had a chance and nobody never listened to their voice. His book was not about him, he was the eyes, the ears, the nose, the mouth and the heart that drew it all together, linked connections I had never imagined, showed me the web of oppression that threaded through my entire life, tangling me without my realizing it. And he showed me how to begin to hack away at those threads. I believed and believe with all my heart Mumia when he says he's innocent. But his book and his commitment showed me that that is not the biggest question. The biggest question is who is guilty of what crimes, and why are those guilty of the worst atrocities against humanity rarely ever brought to justice?
Back at the gate to the University of Oregon, I looked up as about 10 young white people, some dreadlocked with patch work pants, a couple in all black with patches on their ripped up hoodies, came towards me, carrying signs that said "Free Mumia" and "Free All Political Prisoners". One young woman came up to me and asked, "Are you here for the Mumia protest?" I was so happy, I nodded my head vigorously. "Great," she said, handing me a sign, "We're almost ready to start."
In about 10 minutes, the group of 30 to 40 folks assembled set off down the street, marching through the business district around the University. I had never been in a crowd of people chanting and banging drums, yelling slogans, stopping traffic. I felt strong, and unstoppable. This is the power that people in the dilapadated office had talked about, the power that can stand up to bullets and batons and tanks and dictators and empires. The power of the people.
Someone pushed play on a boombox they had brought, and Mumia's rich voice, tempered with honey and with steel, burst from the speakers, rained down on the boutiques and pizza shops and on me. I had never heard Mumia's voice before. Listening to him read one of his commentaries he had written in prison, I knew why they didn't play Mumia's voice, why they were scared to let this radio journalist's voice free from the cage. You could not listen to Mumia's voice and not be moved by the power, the rationality and most of all the humanity in it. You could never believe this man was the rabid loose cannon crazy person they tried to paint him as. You couldn't hear Mumia's voice and not want to join in the fight to free him, and the fight to make sure there would be no more Mumia's on death rows ever again.
As he closed out his commentary, "Live from death row, this is Mumia Abu-Jamal," I hoisted my Free Mumia NOW sign as high as I could, and yelled with all my might with the dozens of throats around me, "Brick by brick, wall by wall we're going to free Mumia Abu-Jamal."
I screamed the same chant 13 years later, in front of the Third Circuit Court of Appeals last May as they heard evidence to decide Mumia's fate. What they don't understand, and what we have to, is that is is not their decision. The decision, as always, rests with the people, who have the real power. I still believe wholeheartedly in the chant, and I know you do too. Now is the time to make our voices and our determination heard.
Sunday, April 13, 2008
Donate To Help Free Mumia Now!
From International Concerned Family and Friends of Mumia Abu-Jamal:
We are in desperate need of funds. Much of the intense work being done now is being funded from our own pockets. Every little bit helps. We could use copy cards for stores like Kinko's, Staples, Office Max, etc. or even better, people who can make copies out of their offices or homes. We could use volunteers to help publicize and do outreach for April 19. There is some way each person can contribute and now is the time to extend that effort!
We are also creating PSAs to air on Philadelphia radio stations this coming week leading up to April 19. We need to raise $1,000 to cover the costs. PLEASE help us reach this goal so we can get out the word on Mumia's struggle!
We are in desperate need of funds. Much of the intense work being done now is being funded from our own pockets. Every little bit helps. We could use copy cards for stores like Kinko's, Staples, Office Max, etc. or even better, people who can make copies out of their offices or homes. We could use volunteers to help publicize and do outreach for April 19. There is some way each person can contribute and now is the time to extend that effort!
We are also creating PSAs to air on Philadelphia radio stations this coming week leading up to April 19. We need to raise $1,000 to cover the costs. PLEASE help us reach this goal so we can get out the word on Mumia's struggle!
Statement from the Free Mumia Coalition - All Out To Philly April 19!
No Justice, No Peace!
As we chanted "The People United Will Never Be Defeated" as loudly as we could, it was clear to anyone listening that the battle for Mumia Abu-Jamal's freedom will not be denied, despite a disappointing decision by the Third Circuit Court of Appeals. People from varying backgrounds and political stripes were united behind one issue: the liberation of an innocent Black man on Pennsylvania's death row. By a two-to-one majority, the court ruled that Mumia was not entitled to a new trial because it wasn't clear what the racial makeup in the jury pool was – therefore, how can you definitively prove that Mumia's rights were violated by a biased jury.
Our "Day After" rally in Harlem was a targeted strategy to inform the community about the cold-blooded nature of the criminal injustice system – something Harlem residents and the rest of Black and Brown residents and progressive whites already know too well. The court, in its infinite wisdom, thought all Mumia Abu-Jamal deserved, after spending 26 years on death row in solitary confinement, was the possibility of a resentencing hearing that would leave him with either life in prison or execution by lethal injection. One thing is clear: this ruling will not stand, and the judicial system will have to deal with the public that is none too happy about this ruling. As Mumia always says, "There is no power like the power of the people."
Over 200 people came out to express their outrage over this decision. Three weeks following the Harlem rally, on April 19, there will be thousands more who will take it to the streets of Philadelphia and make it clear to the powers that be – that they had better rethink their position or the whole world will know about their dirty little secret. People will not stand by and let them murder the "voice of the voiceless" — or keep an innocent man behind bars for the rest of his life. While the mainstream media is focusing on the horserace that's being played out by "tweedle dee and tweedle dum "—excuse me, the Democratic Primaries and who's leading in the polls – it's about time we give them something else to write about that is a little more relevant to the times we're living in. The criminal injustice system is raining hard in Black and Brown urban centers of America, and it's time we make them own up to it.
Both Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama endorse capital punishment, even though they know the system is imperfect and it doesn't deter violent crime. Let's see where they stand on Mumia Abu-Jamal, who has not had a violent past; in fact, it's quite the opposite, as you already know. It's not too late to force them to do right by Mumia and all the other political prisoners rotting in prison, where they shouldn't have been in the first place. Further, if we give up, how will we ever demand from our children what we can't do for ourselves.
Make it your business to join us in Philly on Saturday, April 19, 11 AM, in front of the Federal Court House, 6th and Market Streets. Buses leave New York City at 8:00 AM in front of the General Post Office, 33rd and 8th Avenue, across from Madison Square Garden. Roundtrip tickets are $21. If you're not able to make it, send someone in your place or make a contribution that would allow someone to come who cannot afford to pay. This is a grassroots movement, so if you have a little extra cash, we could surely use it right about now. Make out your check or money order to FMAJ/IFCO and send it to Free Mumia Coalition NYC, P.O. Box 16, College Station, New York, NY 10030. Our website is www.freemumia.com and it's updated frequently.
-The Free Mumia Abu-Jamal Coalition (NYC)
As we chanted "The People United Will Never Be Defeated" as loudly as we could, it was clear to anyone listening that the battle for Mumia Abu-Jamal's freedom will not be denied, despite a disappointing decision by the Third Circuit Court of Appeals. People from varying backgrounds and political stripes were united behind one issue: the liberation of an innocent Black man on Pennsylvania's death row. By a two-to-one majority, the court ruled that Mumia was not entitled to a new trial because it wasn't clear what the racial makeup in the jury pool was – therefore, how can you definitively prove that Mumia's rights were violated by a biased jury.
Our "Day After" rally in Harlem was a targeted strategy to inform the community about the cold-blooded nature of the criminal injustice system – something Harlem residents and the rest of Black and Brown residents and progressive whites already know too well. The court, in its infinite wisdom, thought all Mumia Abu-Jamal deserved, after spending 26 years on death row in solitary confinement, was the possibility of a resentencing hearing that would leave him with either life in prison or execution by lethal injection. One thing is clear: this ruling will not stand, and the judicial system will have to deal with the public that is none too happy about this ruling. As Mumia always says, "There is no power like the power of the people."
Over 200 people came out to express their outrage over this decision. Three weeks following the Harlem rally, on April 19, there will be thousands more who will take it to the streets of Philadelphia and make it clear to the powers that be – that they had better rethink their position or the whole world will know about their dirty little secret. People will not stand by and let them murder the "voice of the voiceless" — or keep an innocent man behind bars for the rest of his life. While the mainstream media is focusing on the horserace that's being played out by "tweedle dee and tweedle dum "—excuse me, the Democratic Primaries and who's leading in the polls – it's about time we give them something else to write about that is a little more relevant to the times we're living in. The criminal injustice system is raining hard in Black and Brown urban centers of America, and it's time we make them own up to it.
Both Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama endorse capital punishment, even though they know the system is imperfect and it doesn't deter violent crime. Let's see where they stand on Mumia Abu-Jamal, who has not had a violent past; in fact, it's quite the opposite, as you already know. It's not too late to force them to do right by Mumia and all the other political prisoners rotting in prison, where they shouldn't have been in the first place. Further, if we give up, how will we ever demand from our children what we can't do for ourselves.
Make it your business to join us in Philly on Saturday, April 19, 11 AM, in front of the Federal Court House, 6th and Market Streets. Buses leave New York City at 8:00 AM in front of the General Post Office, 33rd and 8th Avenue, across from Madison Square Garden. Roundtrip tickets are $21. If you're not able to make it, send someone in your place or make a contribution that would allow someone to come who cannot afford to pay. This is a grassroots movement, so if you have a little extra cash, we could surely use it right about now. Make out your check or money order to FMAJ/IFCO and send it to Free Mumia Coalition NYC, P.O. Box 16, College Station, New York, NY 10030. Our website is www.freemumia.com and it's updated frequently.
-The Free Mumia Abu-Jamal Coalition (NYC)
Put Pressure On Officials To Respond To Denial Of New Trial
From ICFFMAJ:
We are asking Mumia supporters to PLEASE CALL THESE NUMBERS and write the Congressional Black Caucus as to why they are not responding to the Third Circuit's recent denial of a new trial for Mumia.
We are asking people to ask them why they are not calling press conferences or making a collective or individual ccomment about the recent court decision
Call the CBC, the National Caucus of Black Legislators and the National NAACP, which passed a resolution supporting Mumia in 2004.
Thes organizations should be coming to Mumia's support at this time!
-----------------
Rep Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick
Chairwoman, Congressional Black Caucus
202 225 5006
Dr Joe Leonord
Executive Director, Congressional Black Caucus
202 225 4356
National NAACP
410 580 5777
We are asking Mumia supporters to PLEASE CALL THESE NUMBERS and write the Congressional Black Caucus as to why they are not responding to the Third Circuit's recent denial of a new trial for Mumia.
We are asking people to ask them why they are not calling press conferences or making a collective or individual ccomment about the recent court decision
Call the CBC, the National Caucus of Black Legislators and the National NAACP, which passed a resolution supporting Mumia in 2004.
Thes organizations should be coming to Mumia's support at this time!
-----------------
Rep Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick
Chairwoman, Congressional Black Caucus
202 225 5006
Dr Joe Leonord
Executive Director, Congressional Black Caucus
202 225 4356
National NAACP
410 580 5777
All Out For April 19! Buy Bus Tickets NOW
The worldwide movement to free Mumia Abu-Jamal is in emergency mode. Since the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia last week rejected Mumia's appeal for a new trial, his only legal options are death by lethal injection or life behind the wall without parole. No way!
Mumia has always said it will be the power of the people that will force the courts to release him. Get yourself and everyone you know to Philly on Saturday, April 19th. This is the week of the Presidential Primary and the entire city will be all revved-up politically and more open to anger over such a blatant disrespect of an innocent man's rights.
We will provide group transportation. Mail your check made out to FMAJC for $19 per ticket right away to
FMAJC
P.O. Box 16
College Station, New York, NY 10030
Include your address (please write clearly and include a good contact phone number) and we will mail you back your ticket.
Mumia's future is in the hands of we, the people!
Mumia has always said it will be the power of the people that will force the courts to release him. Get yourself and everyone you know to Philly on Saturday, April 19th. This is the week of the Presidential Primary and the entire city will be all revved-up politically and more open to anger over such a blatant disrespect of an innocent man's rights.
We will provide group transportation. Mail your check made out to FMAJC for $19 per ticket right away to
FMAJC
P.O. Box 16
College Station, New York, NY 10030
Include your address (please write clearly and include a good contact phone number) and we will mail you back your ticket.
Mumia's future is in the hands of we, the people!
STATEMENT FROM PAM AFRICA
Coordinator of the International Concerned Family and Friends of Mumia Abu-Jamal
(March 29, 2008):
Last week's court decision was not a victory. While we obviously prefer to have Mumia alive, instead of executed, life in prison without parole is an unacceptable sentence for an innocent man that was convicted with a blatantly unfair trial. Further, there is still no guarantee that he will not be executed. Also, even if the overturning of the death penalty is eventually finalized, there is no guarantee that he will be moved into the general prison population, because the government has always found ways to make "exceptions" for political prisoners like Mumia.
Once again the courts have held Mumia's case to different standards than other cases. At the 1982 trial Prosecutor McGill used 10 of his 15 peremptory strikes to remove otherwise acceptable black jurors, yet the court ruled that there was not even the appearance of discrimination against just one of these black jurors!
Judge Thomas Ambro has noted this blatant double-standard with the court's rejection of the "Batson" claim regarding racist jury selection, and he states in his dissenting opinion that the court's ruling "goes against the grain of our prior actions…I see no reason why we should not afford Abu-Jamal the courtesy of our precedents."
We have absolutely no faith in the judicial system, but if Mumia does have a court proceeding, we will continue to mobilize to pack the courtroom and the streets in support of Mumia, just like we have always done whenever there was a courtroom proceeding for Mumia, whether he was present or not. However, we know that if Mumia gets justice, it will not come from the courts, but only from the pressure generated by the people.
Therefore, we will take to the streets with a mass-demonstration in Philadelphia on April 19 demanding Mumia's release based on the evidence of both innocence and judicial misconduct from the City of Philadelphia all the way up to the federal level. In response to the recent court decision, numerous demonstrations have already been organized internationally and inside the US. On April 19, with the media spotlight on Pennsylvania's Presidential Primary Election, supporters from around the world will gather in Philadelphia to take a constitutional stand and show our outrage with this unjust court decision.
(March 29, 2008):
Last week's court decision was not a victory. While we obviously prefer to have Mumia alive, instead of executed, life in prison without parole is an unacceptable sentence for an innocent man that was convicted with a blatantly unfair trial. Further, there is still no guarantee that he will not be executed. Also, even if the overturning of the death penalty is eventually finalized, there is no guarantee that he will be moved into the general prison population, because the government has always found ways to make "exceptions" for political prisoners like Mumia.
Once again the courts have held Mumia's case to different standards than other cases. At the 1982 trial Prosecutor McGill used 10 of his 15 peremptory strikes to remove otherwise acceptable black jurors, yet the court ruled that there was not even the appearance of discrimination against just one of these black jurors!
Judge Thomas Ambro has noted this blatant double-standard with the court's rejection of the "Batson" claim regarding racist jury selection, and he states in his dissenting opinion that the court's ruling "goes against the grain of our prior actions…I see no reason why we should not afford Abu-Jamal the courtesy of our precedents."
We have absolutely no faith in the judicial system, but if Mumia does have a court proceeding, we will continue to mobilize to pack the courtroom and the streets in support of Mumia, just like we have always done whenever there was a courtroom proceeding for Mumia, whether he was present or not. However, we know that if Mumia gets justice, it will not come from the courts, but only from the pressure generated by the people.
Therefore, we will take to the streets with a mass-demonstration in Philadelphia on April 19 demanding Mumia's release based on the evidence of both innocence and judicial misconduct from the City of Philadelphia all the way up to the federal level. In response to the recent court decision, numerous demonstrations have already been organized internationally and inside the US. On April 19, with the media spotlight on Pennsylvania's Presidential Primary Election, supporters from around the world will gather in Philadelphia to take a constitutional stand and show our outrage with this unjust court decision.
Friday, March 28, 2008
From Philly.com: No death for Mumia Abu-Jamal? At least for now
http://www.philly.com/philly/hp/news_update/17047631.html
By Emilie Lounsberry
INQUIRER STAFF WRITER
In a major victory for world-famous death-row inmate Mumia Abu-Jamal, a federal appeals court today refused to reinstate his death sentence for the 1981 murder of Philadelphia Police Officer Daniel Faulkner.
A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit ruled that Abu-Jamal must be sentenced to life in prison or get a chance with a new Philadelphia jury, which would decide only whether he should get life in prison or be sentenced - again - to death.
The judges left intact his first-degree murder conviction, rejecting Abu-Jamal's claim that he deserves an entirely new trial and a chance to prove his innocence.
Abu-Jamal, who has written books and given taped speeches from death row, was convicted in 1982 by a Philadelphia jury of killing Faulkner, who was shot to death near 13th and Locust Streets in the early morning hours of Dec. 9, 1981.
The Third Circuit upheld, in all respects, the 2001 decision by U.S. District Judge William H. Yohn Jr., who rejected all but one of Abu-Jamal's legal claims, but threw out the jury's death sentence.
Yohn ruled that the jury in Abu-Jamal's 1982 trial may have mistakenly believed it had to agree unanimously on any "mitigating" circumstances -- factors that might have persuaded jurors to decide on a life sentence instead of death.
The appeals court affirmed that decision, and said that the state has six months to hold a new sentencing hearing for Abu-Jamal, or he must be sentenced to life in prison.
"The jury instructions and the verdict form created a reasonable likelihood that the jury believed it was precluded from finding a mitigating circumstance that had not been unanimously agreed upon," wrote Chief Judge Anthony J. Scirica in the 77-page opinion.
Judge Thomas L. Ambro wrote that he would have gone further than his two colleagues, and granted a hearing on Abu-Jamal's contention that the prosecution unfairly excluded blacks from his jury in violation of a 1986 U.S. Supreme Court case, Batson v. Kentucky.
"To move past the prima facie case is not to throw open the jailhouse doors and overturn Abu-Jamal's conviction," wrote Ambro. "It is merely to take the next step in deciding whether race was impermissibly considered during jury selection."
Abu-Jamal's lawyer, Robert R. Bryan of San Francisco, said yesterday that he was pleased that the death sentence was not reinstated, as prosecutors had wanted. But he expressed disappointment that only Ambro had wanted to grant relief on the claim that blacks were intentionally excluded from the jury.
"I am not happy that two of the three judges turned a deaf ear to the racism that permeated this case," said Bryan, who said he was "heartened and thrilled" by Ambro's dissent on that issue.
There was no immediate response from the Philadelphia District Attorney's Office. A spokeswoman said she expected District Attorney Lynne Abraham to hold a news conference later today.
Other Abu-Jamal supporters were unhappy with the ruling. They said rallies were being planned for as early as tomorrow outside federal courthouses in Philadelphia, New York and San Francisco.
"This was no victory, in any sense of the word," said Pam Africa, a member of the radical group MOVE.
"Today's decision is a travesty of justice," said Jeff Mackler, of Mobilization to Free Mumia Abu-Jamal. He said he had been hoping that the Third Circuit would order an entirely new trial based on the claim about racial discrimination in jury selection.
Mackler said he anticipates worldwide reaction to the disappointing decision. "Tomorrow is just an initial reaction," he said.
An appeal is virtually certain.
Either side could ask the panel to reconsider the decision, ask the entire Third Circuit to consider the case, or eventually ask the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene.
By Emilie Lounsberry
INQUIRER STAFF WRITER
In a major victory for world-famous death-row inmate Mumia Abu-Jamal, a federal appeals court today refused to reinstate his death sentence for the 1981 murder of Philadelphia Police Officer Daniel Faulkner.
A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit ruled that Abu-Jamal must be sentenced to life in prison or get a chance with a new Philadelphia jury, which would decide only whether he should get life in prison or be sentenced - again - to death.
The judges left intact his first-degree murder conviction, rejecting Abu-Jamal's claim that he deserves an entirely new trial and a chance to prove his innocence.
Abu-Jamal, who has written books and given taped speeches from death row, was convicted in 1982 by a Philadelphia jury of killing Faulkner, who was shot to death near 13th and Locust Streets in the early morning hours of Dec. 9, 1981.
The Third Circuit upheld, in all respects, the 2001 decision by U.S. District Judge William H. Yohn Jr., who rejected all but one of Abu-Jamal's legal claims, but threw out the jury's death sentence.
Yohn ruled that the jury in Abu-Jamal's 1982 trial may have mistakenly believed it had to agree unanimously on any "mitigating" circumstances -- factors that might have persuaded jurors to decide on a life sentence instead of death.
The appeals court affirmed that decision, and said that the state has six months to hold a new sentencing hearing for Abu-Jamal, or he must be sentenced to life in prison.
"The jury instructions and the verdict form created a reasonable likelihood that the jury believed it was precluded from finding a mitigating circumstance that had not been unanimously agreed upon," wrote Chief Judge Anthony J. Scirica in the 77-page opinion.
Judge Thomas L. Ambro wrote that he would have gone further than his two colleagues, and granted a hearing on Abu-Jamal's contention that the prosecution unfairly excluded blacks from his jury in violation of a 1986 U.S. Supreme Court case, Batson v. Kentucky.
"To move past the prima facie case is not to throw open the jailhouse doors and overturn Abu-Jamal's conviction," wrote Ambro. "It is merely to take the next step in deciding whether race was impermissibly considered during jury selection."
Abu-Jamal's lawyer, Robert R. Bryan of San Francisco, said yesterday that he was pleased that the death sentence was not reinstated, as prosecutors had wanted. But he expressed disappointment that only Ambro had wanted to grant relief on the claim that blacks were intentionally excluded from the jury.
"I am not happy that two of the three judges turned a deaf ear to the racism that permeated this case," said Bryan, who said he was "heartened and thrilled" by Ambro's dissent on that issue.
There was no immediate response from the Philadelphia District Attorney's Office. A spokeswoman said she expected District Attorney Lynne Abraham to hold a news conference later today.
Other Abu-Jamal supporters were unhappy with the ruling. They said rallies were being planned for as early as tomorrow outside federal courthouses in Philadelphia, New York and San Francisco.
"This was no victory, in any sense of the word," said Pam Africa, a member of the radical group MOVE.
"Today's decision is a travesty of justice," said Jeff Mackler, of Mobilization to Free Mumia Abu-Jamal. He said he had been hoping that the Third Circuit would order an entirely new trial based on the claim about racial discrimination in jury selection.
Mackler said he anticipates worldwide reaction to the disappointing decision. "Tomorrow is just an initial reaction," he said.
An appeal is virtually certain.
Either side could ask the panel to reconsider the decision, ask the entire Third Circuit to consider the case, or eventually ask the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene.
NEW TRIAL DENIED FOR MUMIA, SENTENCING HEARING GRANTED, MASS RALLY IN NYC!
THE THIRD CIRCUIT COURT OF APPEALS HAS RULED AGAINST A NEW TRIAL FOR MUMIA ABU-JAMAL. THEY HAVE CALLED FOR A SENTENCING HEARING WHICH CAN RESULT IN EITHER AN EXECUTION OR LIFE IN PRISON WITHOUT PAROLE.
DAY AFTER PLANS ARE IN EFFECT
WE WILL BE PROTESTING THIS DEVESTATING DECISION IMMEDIATLY!
TODAY (FRIDAY) 3/28
NEW YORK CITY
ADAM CLAYTON POWELL STATE OFFICE BUILDING
(125th STREET AND ADAM CLAYTON POWELL JR BLVD)
5PM
AT 7:15PM THERE WILL BE AN ORGANIZING MEETING AT SAINT MARY'S CHURCH ON 126 STREET BETWEEN OLD BROADWAY AND AMSTERDAM
THERE WILL BE A MASSIVE PROTEST IN PHILADELPHIA ON APRIL 26
MORE INFORMATION WILL BE POSTED PROMPTLY!
SPREAD FAR AND WIDE!
MOBILIZE FOR MUMIA'S LIFE!
FREE MUMIA ABU-JAMAL AND ALL POLITICAL PRISONERS!
DAY AFTER PLANS ARE IN EFFECT
WE WILL BE PROTESTING THIS DEVESTATING DECISION IMMEDIATLY!
TODAY (FRIDAY) 3/28
NEW YORK CITY
ADAM CLAYTON POWELL STATE OFFICE BUILDING
(125th STREET AND ADAM CLAYTON POWELL JR BLVD)
5PM
AT 7:15PM THERE WILL BE AN ORGANIZING MEETING AT SAINT MARY'S CHURCH ON 126 STREET BETWEEN OLD BROADWAY AND AMSTERDAM
THERE WILL BE A MASSIVE PROTEST IN PHILADELPHIA ON APRIL 26
MORE INFORMATION WILL BE POSTED PROMPTLY!
SPREAD FAR AND WIDE!
MOBILIZE FOR MUMIA'S LIFE!
FREE MUMIA ABU-JAMAL AND ALL POLITICAL PRISONERS!
Monday, March 10, 2008
Mumia Abu-Jamal - Legal Update
Dear Friends:
This is an update on the case of my client, Mumia Abu-Jamal, who has been on Pennsylvania's death row for over a quarter of a century.
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, Philadelphia: We continue to await the decision of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. I am in contact with the court, and will alert everyone immediately upon the issuance of a ruling. Oral argument was on May 17, 2007, thus people ask why the court is taking so long. This is a highly complex case involving issues of great constitutional significance and a voluminous amount of material. In three decades of successfully defending people in numerous murder cases involving the death penalty, I have not seen one more complicated.
It is impossible to know how the federal court will rule, but the briefing and arguments could not have gone better even though there have been problems due to mistakes by prior counsel. If the federal court follows the mandate of the U.S. Constitution, the decision should be favorable. However, Mumia's remains in jeopardy because courts are so unpredictable.
The pending issues, as set out in our federal briefing, are:
a. Whether Mr. Abu-Jamal was denied the right to due process of law and a fair trial under the Fifth, Sixth and Fourteenth Amendments because of the prosecutor's "appeal-after-appeal" argument which encouraged the jury to disregard the presumption of innocence and reasonable doubt, and err on the side of guilt.
b. Whether the prosecution's use of peremptory challenges to exclude African Americans from sitting on the jury violated Mr. Abu-Jamal's rights to due process and equal protection of the law under the Sixth and Fourteenth Amendments, and contravened Batson v. Kentucky, 476 U.S. 79 (1986).
c. Whether the verdict form and jury instructions that resulted in the death penalty deprived Mr. Abu-Jamal of rights guaranteed by the Eight and Fourteenth Amendments to due process of law, equal protection of the law, and not to be subjected to cruel and unusual punishment, and violated Mills v. Maryland, 486 U.S. 367 (1988), since the judge precluded the
jurors from considering any mitigating evidence unless they all agreed on the existence of a particular circumstance.
d. Whether Mr. Abu-Jamal was denied due process and equal protection of the law under the Sixth and Fourteenth Amendments during post-conviction hearings as the result of the bias and racism of Judge Albert F. Sabo which included the comment that he was "going to help'em fry the n----r." There are many scenarios of how the federal court might rule. Among these are: (1) grant an entirely new jury trial; (2) order a new jury trial limited to the issue of life or death; (3) remand the case back to the U.S. District Court for further proceedings; or (4) deny everything, thereby leaving the death judgment intact.
Pennsylvania Supreme Court: For over two years we have been litigating issues in the Pennsylvania Supreme Court regarding the prosecution falsely manipulating eyewitness testimony and fabricating evidence. Recently the court denied relief. (Commonwealth v. Abu-Jamal, ___ A.2d ___, 2008 WL 434567 (Pa. Feb. 19, 2008).) Mumia and I talked just after the ruling on
February 19, and I then issued the following public statement:
"Mumia and I had a long conference this afternoon, shortly after the Pennsylvania Supreme Court made its ruling. We were not surprised since that court has a history of not addressing the racism and fraud that has dominated the prosecution since its inception over a quarter of a century ago. By dismissing the appeal on procedural grounds, the court avoided dealing with the compelling facts establishing that the prosecution of my client was based upon lies, half-truths, and bigotry. It is sad that the state court used possible mistakes of the previous lawyers in the case as an excuse to dodge the truth.
This state ruling has no bearing on the proceedings pending in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. If the federal decision is favorable, then the Pennsylvania Supreme Court judgment will be moot. Otherwise, I plan to seek relief in the U.S. Supreme Court. I will not rest until Mumia is free."
Germany: On January 12, 2008, I spoke on behalf of Mumia at the annual Rosa Luxemburg Conference in Berlin. As I concluded, the thousands in attendance gave a long and enthusiastic ovation. It was a nice tribute to my client who has become a symbol in the international struggle against the death penalty and human-rights abuses. Mumia asks that I convey his gratitude to the many good people in Germany who work so tirelessly for justice. These include especially his longtime German publisher and confidant Jurgen Heiser, the human-rights attorney Eberhard Schultz, Sabine Schubert, Petra Siemering, Victor Grossman, George and Doris Pumphrey, the distinguished actor Rolf Becker, the renowned Berlin filmmaker Thomas Giefer, the prominent writer Sabine Kebir, and German PEN.
France: Professor Claude Guillaumaud-Pujol has written an excellent book, Mumia Abu-Jamal, un homme libre dans le couloir de la mort, which was published late last year. It has Mumia's endorsement, and has sold well. Claude has donated the proceeds from her book to help the defense of Mumia in our struggle for his freedom. The author represents the highest
standard in the movement for she is totally committed to justice and the freedom of Mumia, and does not seek to exploit my client. Mumia expresses his gratitude to Claude, Jacky Hortaut, Mireille Mendes-France, Jacques Lederer, the Collectif Unitaire National de Soutien à Mumia Abu-Jamal, Senator Nicole Borvo Cohen-Seat, the Paris Bar, and the many others in France who have done so much.
England: Mumia asked that I also thank Niki Adams, the legendary Selma James, and their colleagues at the Legal Action for Women, London, for their ongoing work on behalf of justice not only in England but throughout the world. I am particularly indebted for their extraordinary commitment that has resulted in programs on Mumia in the Inns of Court and other British venues, a petition for justice and a new trial signed by over 100 prominent lawyers there, and drawning public attention to the injustice in this case. And, of course, the efforts of Ian Mcdonald QC, Garden Court North Chambers, an outstanding barrister and friend, have been significant.
In Prison My Whole Life, British film: The new documentary film on Mumia, In Prison My Whole Life, has been shown at a number of prestigious film festivals, e.g., International Film Festival & Forum on Human Rights, Geneva, Switzerland; Sundance Film Festival; Belfast Film Festival; London Film Festival; Rome Film Festival; Copenhagen International Film Festival; Dublin International Film Festival. It was also recently screened by members of the House of Commons, London. Mumia and I are grateful to Colin and Livia Firth, and their associates, for having the courage to make this extraordinary film. They have my full support and that of my client, for this worthwhile film which deals with the larger issues of the death penalty, racism and injustice.
Donations in the United States for Mumia's Legal Defense: With Mumia's authorization, a process exists which guarantees that U.S. donations go only to the legal defense, and are tax-deductible. Checks should be made payable to the National Lawyers Guild Foundation (indicate "Mumia" on the bottom left), and mailed to:
Committee To Save Mumia Abu-Jamal
P.O. Box 2012
New York, NY 10159-2012
Conclusion: The issues in this case concern the right to a fair trial, the struggle against the death penalty, and the political repression of a courageous writer and journalist. My goal is to win a new and fair trial for Mumia, and a jury acquittal upon his retrial. I want him to go home to his family. Nevertheless, Mumia is in great danger, for if all is lost he will be executed. We must never forget that racism, fraud, and politics are threads that have run through this case since the beginning and continue today.
Your interest is appreciated.
Cordially yours,
Robert R. Bryan
Law Offices of Robert R. Bryan
2088 Union Street, Suite 4
San Francisco, California 94123-4117
Lead counsel for Mumia Abu-Jamal
This is an update on the case of my client, Mumia Abu-Jamal, who has been on Pennsylvania's death row for over a quarter of a century.
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, Philadelphia: We continue to await the decision of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. I am in contact with the court, and will alert everyone immediately upon the issuance of a ruling. Oral argument was on May 17, 2007, thus people ask why the court is taking so long. This is a highly complex case involving issues of great constitutional significance and a voluminous amount of material. In three decades of successfully defending people in numerous murder cases involving the death penalty, I have not seen one more complicated.
It is impossible to know how the federal court will rule, but the briefing and arguments could not have gone better even though there have been problems due to mistakes by prior counsel. If the federal court follows the mandate of the U.S. Constitution, the decision should be favorable. However, Mumia's remains in jeopardy because courts are so unpredictable.
The pending issues, as set out in our federal briefing, are:
a. Whether Mr. Abu-Jamal was denied the right to due process of law and a fair trial under the Fifth, Sixth and Fourteenth Amendments because of the prosecutor's "appeal-after-appeal" argument which encouraged the jury to disregard the presumption of innocence and reasonable doubt, and err on the side of guilt.
b. Whether the prosecution's use of peremptory challenges to exclude African Americans from sitting on the jury violated Mr. Abu-Jamal's rights to due process and equal protection of the law under the Sixth and Fourteenth Amendments, and contravened Batson v. Kentucky, 476 U.S. 79 (1986).
c. Whether the verdict form and jury instructions that resulted in the death penalty deprived Mr. Abu-Jamal of rights guaranteed by the Eight and Fourteenth Amendments to due process of law, equal protection of the law, and not to be subjected to cruel and unusual punishment, and violated Mills v. Maryland, 486 U.S. 367 (1988), since the judge precluded the
jurors from considering any mitigating evidence unless they all agreed on the existence of a particular circumstance.
d. Whether Mr. Abu-Jamal was denied due process and equal protection of the law under the Sixth and Fourteenth Amendments during post-conviction hearings as the result of the bias and racism of Judge Albert F. Sabo which included the comment that he was "going to help'em fry the n----r." There are many scenarios of how the federal court might rule. Among these are: (1) grant an entirely new jury trial; (2) order a new jury trial limited to the issue of life or death; (3) remand the case back to the U.S. District Court for further proceedings; or (4) deny everything, thereby leaving the death judgment intact.
Pennsylvania Supreme Court: For over two years we have been litigating issues in the Pennsylvania Supreme Court regarding the prosecution falsely manipulating eyewitness testimony and fabricating evidence. Recently the court denied relief. (Commonwealth v. Abu-Jamal, ___ A.2d ___, 2008 WL 434567 (Pa. Feb. 19, 2008).) Mumia and I talked just after the ruling on
February 19, and I then issued the following public statement:
"Mumia and I had a long conference this afternoon, shortly after the Pennsylvania Supreme Court made its ruling. We were not surprised since that court has a history of not addressing the racism and fraud that has dominated the prosecution since its inception over a quarter of a century ago. By dismissing the appeal on procedural grounds, the court avoided dealing with the compelling facts establishing that the prosecution of my client was based upon lies, half-truths, and bigotry. It is sad that the state court used possible mistakes of the previous lawyers in the case as an excuse to dodge the truth.
This state ruling has no bearing on the proceedings pending in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. If the federal decision is favorable, then the Pennsylvania Supreme Court judgment will be moot. Otherwise, I plan to seek relief in the U.S. Supreme Court. I will not rest until Mumia is free."
Germany: On January 12, 2008, I spoke on behalf of Mumia at the annual Rosa Luxemburg Conference in Berlin. As I concluded, the thousands in attendance gave a long and enthusiastic ovation. It was a nice tribute to my client who has become a symbol in the international struggle against the death penalty and human-rights abuses. Mumia asks that I convey his gratitude to the many good people in Germany who work so tirelessly for justice. These include especially his longtime German publisher and confidant Jurgen Heiser, the human-rights attorney Eberhard Schultz, Sabine Schubert, Petra Siemering, Victor Grossman, George and Doris Pumphrey, the distinguished actor Rolf Becker, the renowned Berlin filmmaker Thomas Giefer, the prominent writer Sabine Kebir, and German PEN.
France: Professor Claude Guillaumaud-Pujol has written an excellent book, Mumia Abu-Jamal, un homme libre dans le couloir de la mort, which was published late last year. It has Mumia's endorsement, and has sold well. Claude has donated the proceeds from her book to help the defense of Mumia in our struggle for his freedom. The author represents the highest
standard in the movement for she is totally committed to justice and the freedom of Mumia, and does not seek to exploit my client. Mumia expresses his gratitude to Claude, Jacky Hortaut, Mireille Mendes-France, Jacques Lederer, the Collectif Unitaire National de Soutien à Mumia Abu-Jamal, Senator Nicole Borvo Cohen-Seat, the Paris Bar, and the many others in France who have done so much.
England: Mumia asked that I also thank Niki Adams, the legendary Selma James, and their colleagues at the Legal Action for Women, London, for their ongoing work on behalf of justice not only in England but throughout the world. I am particularly indebted for their extraordinary commitment that has resulted in programs on Mumia in the Inns of Court and other British venues, a petition for justice and a new trial signed by over 100 prominent lawyers there, and drawning public attention to the injustice in this case. And, of course, the efforts of Ian Mcdonald QC, Garden Court North Chambers, an outstanding barrister and friend, have been significant.
In Prison My Whole Life, British film: The new documentary film on Mumia, In Prison My Whole Life, has been shown at a number of prestigious film festivals, e.g., International Film Festival & Forum on Human Rights, Geneva, Switzerland; Sundance Film Festival; Belfast Film Festival; London Film Festival; Rome Film Festival; Copenhagen International Film Festival; Dublin International Film Festival. It was also recently screened by members of the House of Commons, London. Mumia and I are grateful to Colin and Livia Firth, and their associates, for having the courage to make this extraordinary film. They have my full support and that of my client, for this worthwhile film which deals with the larger issues of the death penalty, racism and injustice.
Donations in the United States for Mumia's Legal Defense: With Mumia's authorization, a process exists which guarantees that U.S. donations go only to the legal defense, and are tax-deductible. Checks should be made payable to the National Lawyers Guild Foundation (indicate "Mumia" on the bottom left), and mailed to:
Committee To Save Mumia Abu-Jamal
P.O. Box 2012
New York, NY 10159-2012
Conclusion: The issues in this case concern the right to a fair trial, the struggle against the death penalty, and the political repression of a courageous writer and journalist. My goal is to win a new and fair trial for Mumia, and a jury acquittal upon his retrial. I want him to go home to his family. Nevertheless, Mumia is in great danger, for if all is lost he will be executed. We must never forget that racism, fraud, and politics are threads that have run through this case since the beginning and continue today.
Your interest is appreciated.
Cordially yours,
Robert R. Bryan
Law Offices of Robert R. Bryan
2088 Union Street, Suite 4
San Francisco, California 94123-4117
Lead counsel for Mumia Abu-Jamal
MOVE members due for parole hearing
By Emilie Lounsberry
Inquirer Staff Writer
Seven MOVE members who have been behind bars since 1978 for their part in the shoot-out that killed Philadelphia Police Officer James Ramp and injured seven others are up for parole soon - amid a swell of opposition from police and prosecutors.
The seven are scheduled for parole interviews in April, and it will then be up to the state Board of Probation and Parole to decide whether they would be able to walk out of prison. Five of nine votes would be required for parole to be granted.
"I don't think they should ever get out," said Thomas Hesson, 69, a retired police officer who was shot in the chest in the Aug. 8, 1978, confrontation. His wounds, he added, nearly cost him his life and ruined his career.
The Philadelphia District Attorney's Office also has weighed in, urging the board to require the defendants to serve the maximum of their 30- to 100-year prison terms.
"They got 30 to 100 for a reason," Deputy District Attorney John Delaney said yesterday.
He said he wrote a letter to the board asking in the "strongest possible terms" that parole be denied.
The seven were among nine MOVE members convicted in a 19-week trial in 1980 that, at the time, was the longest and most expensive in Pennsylvania history. An eighth defendant will be eligible for parole next year and a ninth died in prison.
All nine were found guilty of third-degree murder in the shooting death of Ramp, and the attempted murders of the others shot and injured that day, when police tried to evict 12 adults and 11 children from their headquarters at 33d and Pearl Streets in Powelton Village.
Prosecutors contended there was no doubt the fatal shot came from inside the MOVE house because a ballistics match between a weapon found in the house and bullet fragments in Ramp's body proved that the rifle killed him.
As Common Pleas Judge Edwin S. Malmed sentenced them, the defendants shouted obscenities at him.
The seven with scheduled parole interviews in April are: Delbert Orr Africa, Edward Goodman Africa, William Phillips Africa, Michael Davis Africa, Janet Hollaway Africa, Jeanene Phillips Africa and Debbie Sims Africa. Charles Sims Africa probably will have an interview in November; his minimum date is in February 2009.
They are held in state prisons across Pennsylvania, including Graterford and Dallas.
The 1978 confrontation was a pivotal moment in the city's torturous history with the radical group and ultimately set the stage for another disastrous event - the May 1985 conflagration that killed 11 MOVE members, including five children, and destroyed 62 houses along Osage Avenue. The 11 were killed after police dropped an incendiary device on the MOVE compound and decided to let it burn.
If released, some of the defendants might have some money waiting for them.
In 1990, the city agreed to pay $2.5 million to end a lawsuit brought by parents of the five children who died in the May 13, 1985, siege - including Delbert Orr Africa and Janet Holloway Africa for the death of their daughter, Delisha, 12; and William Phillips Africa and Jeanene Phillips Africa for the death of their son, Philip Delmar, 12.
Offenders are usually interviewed for parole consideration three months before they reach their minimum sentence. Parole can be granted at any time between the minimum and the maximum sentence. Over the course of the last year, the board granted parole in 61 percent of the cases it considered.
MOVE - which started out as a back-to-nature organization but which is known more for generating support for people it believes have become political prisoners - is not an acronym, and all members use the surname Africa.
Members of the group have long railed against the conviction of the nine, saying that prosecutors were never able to prove who fired the fatal shot.
MOVE member Ramona Africa said yesterday that she hoped the parole board doesn't force them to serve their maximums.
"There's no reason at all for them not to be paroled," said Africa, who served her maximum prison sentence related to charges filed after the 1985 MOVE bombing.
"We have no confidence in this system," she said. "Of course they want to come home. They've been away from their family for 30 years. But we never expect anything right from this system."
Paul Hetznecker, the lawyer who represented the MOVE members for years, said he hoped they would be paroled.
"It would be outrageous not to be released after all these years," Hetznecker said, adding that there was a "lack of evidence presented during the trial," especially about the three female defendants, who he said were in the basement trying to protect children during the confrontation.
But the city's law enforcement community hopes all the defendants will remain behind bars.
Michael G. Lutz, vice president of Lodge 5 of the Philadelphia Fraternal Order of Police, wrote a letter to the board urging that parole be rejected.
In the letter, Lutz evoked the memory of Ramp and also cited the three other officers who were shot and injured.
"May the courage of these officers never become a faded memory of the past, nor may the courage of Police Officer James Ramp be forever sealed in the silence of death," he wrote in the letter, which is on the FOP Web site.
Hesson, the retired officer wounded in the encounter that killed Ramp, said that even so many years later, the events remain unforgettable. "It never leaves your mind," he said.
See more photos from the first MOVE confrontation at http://go.philly.com/move
Contact staff writer Emilie Lounsberry at 215-854-4828 or elounsberry@phillynews.com.
Inquirer Staff Writer
Seven MOVE members who have been behind bars since 1978 for their part in the shoot-out that killed Philadelphia Police Officer James Ramp and injured seven others are up for parole soon - amid a swell of opposition from police and prosecutors.
The seven are scheduled for parole interviews in April, and it will then be up to the state Board of Probation and Parole to decide whether they would be able to walk out of prison. Five of nine votes would be required for parole to be granted.
"I don't think they should ever get out," said Thomas Hesson, 69, a retired police officer who was shot in the chest in the Aug. 8, 1978, confrontation. His wounds, he added, nearly cost him his life and ruined his career.
The Philadelphia District Attorney's Office also has weighed in, urging the board to require the defendants to serve the maximum of their 30- to 100-year prison terms.
"They got 30 to 100 for a reason," Deputy District Attorney John Delaney said yesterday.
He said he wrote a letter to the board asking in the "strongest possible terms" that parole be denied.
The seven were among nine MOVE members convicted in a 19-week trial in 1980 that, at the time, was the longest and most expensive in Pennsylvania history. An eighth defendant will be eligible for parole next year and a ninth died in prison.
All nine were found guilty of third-degree murder in the shooting death of Ramp, and the attempted murders of the others shot and injured that day, when police tried to evict 12 adults and 11 children from their headquarters at 33d and Pearl Streets in Powelton Village.
Prosecutors contended there was no doubt the fatal shot came from inside the MOVE house because a ballistics match between a weapon found in the house and bullet fragments in Ramp's body proved that the rifle killed him.
As Common Pleas Judge Edwin S. Malmed sentenced them, the defendants shouted obscenities at him.
The seven with scheduled parole interviews in April are: Delbert Orr Africa, Edward Goodman Africa, William Phillips Africa, Michael Davis Africa, Janet Hollaway Africa, Jeanene Phillips Africa and Debbie Sims Africa. Charles Sims Africa probably will have an interview in November; his minimum date is in February 2009.
They are held in state prisons across Pennsylvania, including Graterford and Dallas.
The 1978 confrontation was a pivotal moment in the city's torturous history with the radical group and ultimately set the stage for another disastrous event - the May 1985 conflagration that killed 11 MOVE members, including five children, and destroyed 62 houses along Osage Avenue. The 11 were killed after police dropped an incendiary device on the MOVE compound and decided to let it burn.
If released, some of the defendants might have some money waiting for them.
In 1990, the city agreed to pay $2.5 million to end a lawsuit brought by parents of the five children who died in the May 13, 1985, siege - including Delbert Orr Africa and Janet Holloway Africa for the death of their daughter, Delisha, 12; and William Phillips Africa and Jeanene Phillips Africa for the death of their son, Philip Delmar, 12.
Offenders are usually interviewed for parole consideration three months before they reach their minimum sentence. Parole can be granted at any time between the minimum and the maximum sentence. Over the course of the last year, the board granted parole in 61 percent of the cases it considered.
MOVE - which started out as a back-to-nature organization but which is known more for generating support for people it believes have become political prisoners - is not an acronym, and all members use the surname Africa.
Members of the group have long railed against the conviction of the nine, saying that prosecutors were never able to prove who fired the fatal shot.
MOVE member Ramona Africa said yesterday that she hoped the parole board doesn't force them to serve their maximums.
"There's no reason at all for them not to be paroled," said Africa, who served her maximum prison sentence related to charges filed after the 1985 MOVE bombing.
"We have no confidence in this system," she said. "Of course they want to come home. They've been away from their family for 30 years. But we never expect anything right from this system."
Paul Hetznecker, the lawyer who represented the MOVE members for years, said he hoped they would be paroled.
"It would be outrageous not to be released after all these years," Hetznecker said, adding that there was a "lack of evidence presented during the trial," especially about the three female defendants, who he said were in the basement trying to protect children during the confrontation.
But the city's law enforcement community hopes all the defendants will remain behind bars.
Michael G. Lutz, vice president of Lodge 5 of the Philadelphia Fraternal Order of Police, wrote a letter to the board urging that parole be rejected.
In the letter, Lutz evoked the memory of Ramp and also cited the three other officers who were shot and injured.
"May the courage of these officers never become a faded memory of the past, nor may the courage of Police Officer James Ramp be forever sealed in the silence of death," he wrote in the letter, which is on the FOP Web site.
Hesson, the retired officer wounded in the encounter that killed Ramp, said that even so many years later, the events remain unforgettable. "It never leaves your mind," he said.
See more photos from the first MOVE confrontation at http://go.philly.com/move
Contact staff writer Emilie Lounsberry at 215-854-4828 or elounsberry@phillynews.com.
Friday, March 07, 2008
Call, Sign Petition, and Write a Letter for The MOVE 9!
From MOVE 9 Parole Website
SIGN THE PETITION / DOWNLOAD SAMPLE LETTER
Almost 30 years after their 1978 imprisonment, the eight remaining "MOVE 9" prisoners are now eligible for parole. April hearings are scheduled for Chuck, Debbie, Delbert, Eddie, Janet, Janine, Mike, and Phil Africa. In early April, they will be interviewed on an individual basis, and ultimately a majority 5/9 vote among the nine Parole Board Members will be needed for each prisoner's release on parole.
At this urgent time, MOVE is asking for support by writing letters, making telephone calls (717-787-5699), and signing the online petition that will be delivered to the Board later this month.
Along with Chairman Catherine C. McVey, the other eight Parole Board Members are Charles Fox, Michael L. Green, Jeffrey R. Imboden, Matthew T. Mangino, Benjamin A. Martinez, Gerard N. Massaro, Judy Viglione, Lloyd A. White.
It is best for individuals to personally send a letter to Chairman McVey, and if folks have the resources, to also send a copy to each of the other eight board members, at the same address.
[name of Board member]
Pennsylvania Board of Probation and Parole
1101 South Front Street, Suite #5100
Harrisburg, PA 17104-2517
(717) 787-5699
WEBSITE
However, if individuals lack the resources, the letter can be sent to:
Journalists for Mumia Abu-Jamal
PO Box 30770
Philadelphia, PA, 19104
We will then send a copy of your letter to all Board Members and also each of the eight MOVE prisoners (so they can present the support letters to their interviewers).
These next few weeks are crucial. Please spread the word and help in any way you can!
For the latest news about the MOVE 9 Parole campaign, please visit:
move9parole.blogspot.com
onamove.com
Abu-Jamal-News.com
Below is a sample letter for writing the Parole Board. Feel free to personalize your letter, but please keep it polite and respectful.
SAMPLE LETTER(download as word file):
Regarding: 2008 Parole of Eight Prisoners:
Debbie Sims Africa #006307, Janet Holloway Africa #006308, Janine Phillips Africa #006309, Michael Davis Africa #AM-4973, Charles Sims Africa #AM-4975, William Phillips Africa #AM-4984, Delbert Orr Africa #AM-4985, and Edward Goodman Africa #AM-4974
Catherine C. McVey
Pennsylvania Board of Probation and Parole
1101 South Front Street, Suite #5100
Harrisburg, PA 17104-2517
Dear Mrs. McVey,
Please parole Chuck, Debbie, Delbert, Eddie, Janet, Janine, Mike, and Phil Africa this year. They have not caused any major disciplinary problems during the past three decades. They have spent most of their lives in prison; please allow them to be a part of, and contribute to, society as free citizens.
There are many around the world, who have different reasons for supporting parole for these eight prisoners.
--The sentencing judge stated publicly that he did not have the faintest idea who shot the one bullet that killed Officer Ramp. Nine people cannot fire one bullet.
--Many supporters of parole feel that Officer Ramp was actually shot by police "friendly fire," because it would have been ballistically impossible for MOVE to have shot Ramp, who was across the street from MOVE's house. These supporters believe that because of MOVE's position in the basement, bullets coming from there would have had an upward trajectory, yet the medical examiner testified that the bullet entered Ramp's "chest from in front and coursed horizontally without deviation up or down." Even the authenticity of official ballistics are in dispute. At a pre-trial hearing, in open court, the Judge allowed the prosecutor to literally use a pencil and eraser to change the medical examiner's report to conform with the medical examiner's testimony about the bullet's trajectory.
This theory about the bullet's trajectory could have been tested, but MOVE's house was illegally demolished (a Philadelphia judge had already signed an order barring the city from destroying the house) that very day, and police did nothing to preserve the crime scene, inscribe chalk marks, or measure ballistics angles. In a preliminary hearing on a Motion to Dismiss, MOVE unsuccessfully argued that destroying their home had prevented them from proving that it was physically impossible for MOVE to have shot Ramp.
--Yet, other supporters of parole cite the average 10-15 year sentence given for third-degree murder. MOVE prisoners have now served 2-3 times this sentence. Isn't 30 years enough? Merle Africa, who has died in prison, and these surviving eight have already paid a terrible price for what happened on that day.
Lastly, I am concerned about optional stipulations that the Parole Board may require, which I feel are unfair, and which many legal scholars feel is a violation of First-Amendment rights. In the past, as a condition for parole, MOVE prisoners have unfairly been required to renounce MOVE and their deeply held religious beliefs. I am also concerned about two other possible stipulations.
First is the "taking responsibility" stipulation, which basically asks a prisoner to admit guilt in order to be granted parole. These eight MOVE prisoners have always maintained their innocence, so it is unfair to require this of them.
Second is the "serious nature of offense" stipulation. MOVE spokesperson Ramona Africa feels that this is illegal "because the judge took this into consideration and when the sentence was issued, it meant that barring any misconduct, problems, new charges, etc. this prisoner was to be released on their minimum. To deny that is basically a re-sentence."
Please do not require these optional stipulations.
I do ask that you please grant parole to these eight prisoners so that, after 30 years, they can go home to their families.
Respectfully,
( YOUR SIGNATURE )
Your Name
Your Name
Your Address
SIGN THE PETITION / DOWNLOAD SAMPLE LETTER
Almost 30 years after their 1978 imprisonment, the eight remaining "MOVE 9" prisoners are now eligible for parole. April hearings are scheduled for Chuck, Debbie, Delbert, Eddie, Janet, Janine, Mike, and Phil Africa. In early April, they will be interviewed on an individual basis, and ultimately a majority 5/9 vote among the nine Parole Board Members will be needed for each prisoner's release on parole.
At this urgent time, MOVE is asking for support by writing letters, making telephone calls (717-787-5699), and signing the online petition that will be delivered to the Board later this month.
Along with Chairman Catherine C. McVey, the other eight Parole Board Members are Charles Fox, Michael L. Green, Jeffrey R. Imboden, Matthew T. Mangino, Benjamin A. Martinez, Gerard N. Massaro, Judy Viglione, Lloyd A. White.
It is best for individuals to personally send a letter to Chairman McVey, and if folks have the resources, to also send a copy to each of the other eight board members, at the same address.
[name of Board member]
Pennsylvania Board of Probation and Parole
1101 South Front Street, Suite #5100
Harrisburg, PA 17104-2517
(717) 787-5699
WEBSITE
However, if individuals lack the resources, the letter can be sent to:
Journalists for Mumia Abu-Jamal
PO Box 30770
Philadelphia, PA, 19104
We will then send a copy of your letter to all Board Members and also each of the eight MOVE prisoners (so they can present the support letters to their interviewers).
These next few weeks are crucial. Please spread the word and help in any way you can!
For the latest news about the MOVE 9 Parole campaign, please visit:
move9parole.blogspot.com
onamove.com
Abu-Jamal-News.com
Below is a sample letter for writing the Parole Board. Feel free to personalize your letter, but please keep it polite and respectful.
SAMPLE LETTER(download as word file):
Regarding: 2008 Parole of Eight Prisoners:
Debbie Sims Africa #006307, Janet Holloway Africa #006308, Janine Phillips Africa #006309, Michael Davis Africa #AM-4973, Charles Sims Africa #AM-4975, William Phillips Africa #AM-4984, Delbert Orr Africa #AM-4985, and Edward Goodman Africa #AM-4974
Catherine C. McVey
Pennsylvania Board of Probation and Parole
1101 South Front Street, Suite #5100
Harrisburg, PA 17104-2517
Dear Mrs. McVey,
Please parole Chuck, Debbie, Delbert, Eddie, Janet, Janine, Mike, and Phil Africa this year. They have not caused any major disciplinary problems during the past three decades. They have spent most of their lives in prison; please allow them to be a part of, and contribute to, society as free citizens.
There are many around the world, who have different reasons for supporting parole for these eight prisoners.
--The sentencing judge stated publicly that he did not have the faintest idea who shot the one bullet that killed Officer Ramp. Nine people cannot fire one bullet.
--Many supporters of parole feel that Officer Ramp was actually shot by police "friendly fire," because it would have been ballistically impossible for MOVE to have shot Ramp, who was across the street from MOVE's house. These supporters believe that because of MOVE's position in the basement, bullets coming from there would have had an upward trajectory, yet the medical examiner testified that the bullet entered Ramp's "chest from in front and coursed horizontally without deviation up or down." Even the authenticity of official ballistics are in dispute. At a pre-trial hearing, in open court, the Judge allowed the prosecutor to literally use a pencil and eraser to change the medical examiner's report to conform with the medical examiner's testimony about the bullet's trajectory.
This theory about the bullet's trajectory could have been tested, but MOVE's house was illegally demolished (a Philadelphia judge had already signed an order barring the city from destroying the house) that very day, and police did nothing to preserve the crime scene, inscribe chalk marks, or measure ballistics angles. In a preliminary hearing on a Motion to Dismiss, MOVE unsuccessfully argued that destroying their home had prevented them from proving that it was physically impossible for MOVE to have shot Ramp.
--Yet, other supporters of parole cite the average 10-15 year sentence given for third-degree murder. MOVE prisoners have now served 2-3 times this sentence. Isn't 30 years enough? Merle Africa, who has died in prison, and these surviving eight have already paid a terrible price for what happened on that day.
Lastly, I am concerned about optional stipulations that the Parole Board may require, which I feel are unfair, and which many legal scholars feel is a violation of First-Amendment rights. In the past, as a condition for parole, MOVE prisoners have unfairly been required to renounce MOVE and their deeply held religious beliefs. I am also concerned about two other possible stipulations.
First is the "taking responsibility" stipulation, which basically asks a prisoner to admit guilt in order to be granted parole. These eight MOVE prisoners have always maintained their innocence, so it is unfair to require this of them.
Second is the "serious nature of offense" stipulation. MOVE spokesperson Ramona Africa feels that this is illegal "because the judge took this into consideration and when the sentence was issued, it meant that barring any misconduct, problems, new charges, etc. this prisoner was to be released on their minimum. To deny that is basically a re-sentence."
Please do not require these optional stipulations.
I do ask that you please grant parole to these eight prisoners so that, after 30 years, they can go home to their families.
Respectfully,
( YOUR SIGNATURE )
Your Name
Your Name
Your Address
Thursday, March 06, 2008
MOVE members due for parole hearing
By Emilie Lounsberry, Inquirer Staff Writer
http://www.philly.com/philly/hp/news_update/20080228_MOVE_members_due_for_parole_hearing.html
Seven MOVE members who have been behind bars since 1978 for their part in the shoot-out that killed Philadelphia Police Officer James Ramp and injured seven others are up for parole soon - amid a swell of opposition from police and prosecutors.
The seven are scheduled for parole interviews in April, and it will then be up to the state Board of Probation and Parole to decide whether they would be able to walk out of prison. Five of nine votes would be required for parole to be granted.
"I don't think they should ever get out," said Thomas Hesson, 69, a retired police officer who was shot in the chest in the Aug. 8, 1978, confrontation. His wounds, he added, nearly cost him his life and ruined his career.
The Philadelphia District Attorney's Office also has weighed in, urging the board to require the defendants to serve the maximum of their 30- to 100-year prison terms.
"They got 30 to 100 for a reason," Deputy District Attorney John Delaney said yesterday.
He said he wrote a letter to the board asking in the "strongest possible terms" that parole be denied.
The seven were among nine MOVE members convicted in a 19-week trial in 1980 that, at the time, was the longest and most expensive in Pennsylvania history. An eighth defendant will be eligible for parole next year and a ninth died in prison.
All nine were found guilty of third-degree murder in the shooting death of Ramp, and the attempted murders of the others shot and injured that day, when police tried to evict 12 adults and 11 children from their headquarters at 33d and Pearl Streets in Powelton Village.
Prosecutors contended there was no doubt the fatal shot came from inside the MOVE house because a ballistics match between a weapon found in the house and bullet fragments in Ramp's body proved that the rifle killed him.
As Common Pleas Judge Edwin S. Malmed sentenced them, the defendants shouted obscenities at him.
The seven with scheduled parole interviews in April are: Delbert Orr Africa, Edward Goodman Africa, William Phillips Africa, Michael Davis Africa, Janet Hollaway Africa, Jeanene Phillips Africa and Debbie Sims Africa. Charles Sims Africa probably will have an interview in November; his minimum date is in February 2009.
They are held in state prisons across Pennsylvania, including Graterford and Dallas.
The 1978 confrontation was a pivotal moment in the city's torturous history with the radical group and ultimately set the stage for another disastrous event - the May 1985 conflagration that killed 11 MOVE members, including five children, and destroyed 62 houses along Osage Avenue. The 11 were killed after police dropped an incendiary device on the MOVE compound and decided to let it burn.
If released, some of the defendants might have some money waiting for them.
In 1990, the city agreed to pay $2.5 million to end a lawsuit brought by parents of the five children who died in the May 13, 1985, siege - including Delbert Orr Africa and Janet Holloway Africa for the death of their daughter, Delisha, 12; and William Phillips Africa and Jeanene Phillips Africa for the death of their son, Philip Delmar, 12.
Offenders are usually interviewed for parole consideration three months before they reach their minimum sentence. Parole can be granted at any time between the minimum and the maximum sentence. Over the course of the last year, the board granted parole in 61 percent of the cases it considered.
MOVE - which started out as a back-to-nature organization but which is known more for generating support for people it believes have become political prisoners - is not an acronym, and all members use the surname Africa.
Members of the group have long railed against the conviction of the nine, saying that prosecutors were never able to prove who fired the fatal shot.
MOVE member Ramona Africa said yesterday that she hoped the parole board doesn't force them to serve their maximums.
"There's no reason at all for them not to be paroled," said Africa, who served her maximum prison sentence related to charges filed after the 1985 MOVE bombing.
"We have no confidence in this system," she said. "Of course they want to come home. They've been away from their family for 30 years. But we never expect anything right from this system."
Paul Hetznecker, the lawyer who represented the MOVE members for years, said he hoped they would be paroled.
"It would be outrageous not to be released after all these years," Hetznecker said, adding that there was a "lack of evidence presented during the trial," especially about the three female defendants, who he said were in the basement trying to protect children during the confrontation.
But the city's law enforcement community hopes all the defendants will remain behind bars.
Michael G. Lutz, vice president of Lodge 5 of the Philadelphia Fraternal Order of Police, wrote a letter to the board urging that parole be rejected.
In the letter, Lutz evoked the memory of Ramp and also cited the three other officers who were shot and injured.
"May the courage of these officers never become a faded memory of the past, nor may the courage of Police Officer James Ramp be forever sealed in the silence of death," he wrote in the letter, which is on the FOP Web site.
Hesson, the retired officer wounded in the encounter that killed Ramp, said that even so many years later, the events remain unforgettable. "It never leaves your mind," he said.
See more photos from the first MOVE confrontation at http://go.philly.com/move
Contact staff writer Emilie Lounsberry at 215-854-4828 or elounsberry@phillynews.com.
http://www.philly.com/philly/hp/news_update/20080228_MOVE_members_due_for_parole_hearing.html
Seven MOVE members who have been behind bars since 1978 for their part in the shoot-out that killed Philadelphia Police Officer James Ramp and injured seven others are up for parole soon - amid a swell of opposition from police and prosecutors.
The seven are scheduled for parole interviews in April, and it will then be up to the state Board of Probation and Parole to decide whether they would be able to walk out of prison. Five of nine votes would be required for parole to be granted.
"I don't think they should ever get out," said Thomas Hesson, 69, a retired police officer who was shot in the chest in the Aug. 8, 1978, confrontation. His wounds, he added, nearly cost him his life and ruined his career.
The Philadelphia District Attorney's Office also has weighed in, urging the board to require the defendants to serve the maximum of their 30- to 100-year prison terms.
"They got 30 to 100 for a reason," Deputy District Attorney John Delaney said yesterday.
He said he wrote a letter to the board asking in the "strongest possible terms" that parole be denied.
The seven were among nine MOVE members convicted in a 19-week trial in 1980 that, at the time, was the longest and most expensive in Pennsylvania history. An eighth defendant will be eligible for parole next year and a ninth died in prison.
All nine were found guilty of third-degree murder in the shooting death of Ramp, and the attempted murders of the others shot and injured that day, when police tried to evict 12 adults and 11 children from their headquarters at 33d and Pearl Streets in Powelton Village.
Prosecutors contended there was no doubt the fatal shot came from inside the MOVE house because a ballistics match between a weapon found in the house and bullet fragments in Ramp's body proved that the rifle killed him.
As Common Pleas Judge Edwin S. Malmed sentenced them, the defendants shouted obscenities at him.
The seven with scheduled parole interviews in April are: Delbert Orr Africa, Edward Goodman Africa, William Phillips Africa, Michael Davis Africa, Janet Hollaway Africa, Jeanene Phillips Africa and Debbie Sims Africa. Charles Sims Africa probably will have an interview in November; his minimum date is in February 2009.
They are held in state prisons across Pennsylvania, including Graterford and Dallas.
The 1978 confrontation was a pivotal moment in the city's torturous history with the radical group and ultimately set the stage for another disastrous event - the May 1985 conflagration that killed 11 MOVE members, including five children, and destroyed 62 houses along Osage Avenue. The 11 were killed after police dropped an incendiary device on the MOVE compound and decided to let it burn.
If released, some of the defendants might have some money waiting for them.
In 1990, the city agreed to pay $2.5 million to end a lawsuit brought by parents of the five children who died in the May 13, 1985, siege - including Delbert Orr Africa and Janet Holloway Africa for the death of their daughter, Delisha, 12; and William Phillips Africa and Jeanene Phillips Africa for the death of their son, Philip Delmar, 12.
Offenders are usually interviewed for parole consideration three months before they reach their minimum sentence. Parole can be granted at any time between the minimum and the maximum sentence. Over the course of the last year, the board granted parole in 61 percent of the cases it considered.
MOVE - which started out as a back-to-nature organization but which is known more for generating support for people it believes have become political prisoners - is not an acronym, and all members use the surname Africa.
Members of the group have long railed against the conviction of the nine, saying that prosecutors were never able to prove who fired the fatal shot.
MOVE member Ramona Africa said yesterday that she hoped the parole board doesn't force them to serve their maximums.
"There's no reason at all for them not to be paroled," said Africa, who served her maximum prison sentence related to charges filed after the 1985 MOVE bombing.
"We have no confidence in this system," she said. "Of course they want to come home. They've been away from their family for 30 years. But we never expect anything right from this system."
Paul Hetznecker, the lawyer who represented the MOVE members for years, said he hoped they would be paroled.
"It would be outrageous not to be released after all these years," Hetznecker said, adding that there was a "lack of evidence presented during the trial," especially about the three female defendants, who he said were in the basement trying to protect children during the confrontation.
But the city's law enforcement community hopes all the defendants will remain behind bars.
Michael G. Lutz, vice president of Lodge 5 of the Philadelphia Fraternal Order of Police, wrote a letter to the board urging that parole be rejected.
In the letter, Lutz evoked the memory of Ramp and also cited the three other officers who were shot and injured.
"May the courage of these officers never become a faded memory of the past, nor may the courage of Police Officer James Ramp be forever sealed in the silence of death," he wrote in the letter, which is on the FOP Web site.
Hesson, the retired officer wounded in the encounter that killed Ramp, said that even so many years later, the events remain unforgettable. "It never leaves your mind," he said.
See more photos from the first MOVE confrontation at http://go.philly.com/move
Contact staff writer Emilie Lounsberry at 215-854-4828 or elounsberry@phillynews.com.
Text of PA Court Decision Available
From International Concerned Family and Friends of Mumia Abu Jamal:
NOTE - We neglected to send out the actual text of the recent decision made by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court rejecting Mumia's appeal to consider new evidence, discovered after the trial, challenging the testimony of key prosecution witnesses, and thus the validity of the entire trial. As we informed you earlier, the filing was rejected as "untimely". The entire document is available to download at:
http://www.freemumia.com/pdfs/Pennsylvania%20SC%20Feb%2019,%202008.pdf
NOTE - We neglected to send out the actual text of the recent decision made by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court rejecting Mumia's appeal to consider new evidence, discovered after the trial, challenging the testimony of key prosecution witnesses, and thus the validity of the entire trial. As we informed you earlier, the filing was rejected as "untimely". The entire document is available to download at:
http://www.freemumia.com/pdfs/Pennsylvania%20SC%20Feb%2019,%202008.pdf
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Support the Warrens in Court Monday, March 3 at 9:00 am
The Free Mumia Abu-Jamal Coalition urges you to show your support for freedom fighters Michael Tarif Warren and Evelyn Warren this coming Monday, March 3rd at 9AM
Monday, March 3, 2008
Michael Tarif & Evelyn Warren
9:00 a.m.
Criminal Court, AP2, 6th Floor
120 Schermerhorn Street
Brooklyn, New York
Take the 2,3,4 or 5 train to Borough Hall or the A or F trains to Jay St./Borough Hall.
The Warrens were assaulted by NYPD near their home when peacefully observing & taking notes as a cop assaulted a young man.
http://www.justiceforwarrens.org
WHAT HAPPENED?
11/30/07: Video interview by TotalBlackTV.com
(this is the first 2 minutes of interview, view rest at TotalBlackTV.com)
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Attorney Michael Tarif Warren and his wife Evelyn were driving along Vanderbilt Avenue around 6 pm on Thursday, June 21, 2007 when they stopped at a red light. While stopped in traffic they witnessed NYPD officers pursuing a young man. They put their vehicle in park and exited their vehicle to see what was happening. They saw the young man on the ground with his hands cuffed behind him surrounded by police officers who were kicking him viciously.
Then Sgt. Talvy, who appeared to be in charge, kicked him in the head and stepped back some distance away. He placed his hand on his handgun on his right hip.
"Not only as people of conscience and moral decency, but as lawyers, we thought this is outrageous." They arrived and stood "more than ten feet away," he said. We returned to the vehicle almost immediately because we were ordered to do so. Outside the vehicle, Mr. Warren said to Sgt. Talvy, "Why are you beating him, he's handcuffed, he's not a threat. Take him to the precinct."
They returned to their car, and Ms. Warren began to write down the license plate numbers of the police vehicles as the Warrens watched the NYPD put the bleeding young man in a car. When Sgt. Talvy came over to the car Mr. Warren told him we were lawyers. Sgt. Talvy struck Ms. Warren while both Warrens were in the vehicle. Sgt. Talvy was punching Mr. Warren repeatedly in the head, looking as if he had no intention of stopping, repeatedly punching him through the window and shouting, "Get out of the car!" Sgt. Talvy dragged Mr. Warren out of the car, ripping his shirt and pants. Ms. Warren, very upset, asked "Why are you doing this?" Sgt. Talvy then punched her in the face. Both were arrested and taken to the 77th precinct charged with obstruction, disorderly conduct, and resisting arrest.
Quickly, word of the Warrens arrest spread, and several hundred people descended on the 77th Precinct demanding his release. Organizations including the December 12th Movement, 100 Blacks in Law Enforcement Who Care, Malcolm X Grassroots, International Action Center, CEMOTAP, the Muslim community, the Haitian community and many others were present and several media outlets were on hand.
NYC Councilman Charles Barron, Attorneys Roger Wareham, Reginald Haley, and Marisa Benton began negotiating their release with Brooklyn's top brass, including Community Affairs Chief Douglas Zeigler, Brooklyn Borough Commander Chief Gerald Nelson, and 77th Precinct Executive Officer Michael Marino. At approximately 10:30 PM Evelyn Warren was released with a summons. Michael Warren was released with a DAT at 11:30 PM.
Councilman Barron and other community activists are demanding Talvy be fired and that Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hines "drop the charges (against the Warrens) and charge the police." He stated, "Police who murder and assault us must be charged with crimes and put in jail. That is the only deterrent."
Evelyn Warren added, "We are professionals, if they do this to us in broad daylight on a crowded street, what do they do in the dark when no one is around? That's what I'm concerned about. Officer Talvy must go and Police Commissioner Kelly must go, because his policy allows this behavior to continue."
If charges against them are not dropped, Michael and Evelyn Warren vow to take the case to trial and use it as a community mobilizing and educating tool to fight police brutality.
This report largely taken from an article by Amadi Ajamu published by the NYC Indymedia Center on June 23, 2007. Thank you, Sister Amadi.
Freedom Archives
522 Valencia Street
San Francisco, CA 94110
415 863-9977
www.Freedomarchives.org
Questions and comments may be sent to claude@freedomarchives.org
Monday, March 3, 2008
Michael Tarif & Evelyn Warren
9:00 a.m.
Criminal Court, AP2, 6th Floor
120 Schermerhorn Street
Brooklyn, New York
Take the 2,3,4 or 5 train to Borough Hall or the A or F trains to Jay St./Borough Hall.
The Warrens were assaulted by NYPD near their home when peacefully observing & taking notes as a cop assaulted a young man.
http://www.justiceforwarrens.org
WHAT HAPPENED?
11/30/07: Video interview by TotalBlackTV.com
(this is the first 2 minutes of interview, view rest at TotalBlackTV.com)
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Attorney Michael Tarif Warren and his wife Evelyn were driving along Vanderbilt Avenue around 6 pm on Thursday, June 21, 2007 when they stopped at a red light. While stopped in traffic they witnessed NYPD officers pursuing a young man. They put their vehicle in park and exited their vehicle to see what was happening. They saw the young man on the ground with his hands cuffed behind him surrounded by police officers who were kicking him viciously.
Then Sgt. Talvy, who appeared to be in charge, kicked him in the head and stepped back some distance away. He placed his hand on his handgun on his right hip.
"Not only as people of conscience and moral decency, but as lawyers, we thought this is outrageous." They arrived and stood "more than ten feet away," he said. We returned to the vehicle almost immediately because we were ordered to do so. Outside the vehicle, Mr. Warren said to Sgt. Talvy, "Why are you beating him, he's handcuffed, he's not a threat. Take him to the precinct."
They returned to their car, and Ms. Warren began to write down the license plate numbers of the police vehicles as the Warrens watched the NYPD put the bleeding young man in a car. When Sgt. Talvy came over to the car Mr. Warren told him we were lawyers. Sgt. Talvy struck Ms. Warren while both Warrens were in the vehicle. Sgt. Talvy was punching Mr. Warren repeatedly in the head, looking as if he had no intention of stopping, repeatedly punching him through the window and shouting, "Get out of the car!" Sgt. Talvy dragged Mr. Warren out of the car, ripping his shirt and pants. Ms. Warren, very upset, asked "Why are you doing this?" Sgt. Talvy then punched her in the face. Both were arrested and taken to the 77th precinct charged with obstruction, disorderly conduct, and resisting arrest.
Quickly, word of the Warrens arrest spread, and several hundred people descended on the 77th Precinct demanding his release. Organizations including the December 12th Movement, 100 Blacks in Law Enforcement Who Care, Malcolm X Grassroots, International Action Center, CEMOTAP, the Muslim community, the Haitian community and many others were present and several media outlets were on hand.
NYC Councilman Charles Barron, Attorneys Roger Wareham, Reginald Haley, and Marisa Benton began negotiating their release with Brooklyn's top brass, including Community Affairs Chief Douglas Zeigler, Brooklyn Borough Commander Chief Gerald Nelson, and 77th Precinct Executive Officer Michael Marino. At approximately 10:30 PM Evelyn Warren was released with a summons. Michael Warren was released with a DAT at 11:30 PM.
Councilman Barron and other community activists are demanding Talvy be fired and that Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hines "drop the charges (against the Warrens) and charge the police." He stated, "Police who murder and assault us must be charged with crimes and put in jail. That is the only deterrent."
Evelyn Warren added, "We are professionals, if they do this to us in broad daylight on a crowded street, what do they do in the dark when no one is around? That's what I'm concerned about. Officer Talvy must go and Police Commissioner Kelly must go, because his policy allows this behavior to continue."
If charges against them are not dropped, Michael and Evelyn Warren vow to take the case to trial and use it as a community mobilizing and educating tool to fight police brutality.
This report largely taken from an article by Amadi Ajamu published by the NYC Indymedia Center on June 23, 2007. Thank you, Sister Amadi.
Freedom Archives
522 Valencia Street
San Francisco, CA 94110
415 863-9977
www.Freedomarchives.org
Questions and comments may be sent to claude@freedomarchives.org
New Link for MOVE 9 Parole Board Letters
The link previously listed for getting the names of parole board members is dead.
Use this link instead: http://www.pbpp.state.pa.us/pbpp/site/default.asp
Here are the names:
Catherine C. McVey, Chairman
Charles Fox
Michael L. Green
Jeffrey R. Imboden
Matthew T. Mangino
Benjamin A. Martinez
Gerard N. Massaro
Judy Viglione
Lloyd A. White
Below is the entire e-mail, (w/updated link). Thanks so much!
URGENT CALL FOR THE MOVE 9!
Phil Africa says that the MOVE 9 can really use letters and calls to the PA Parole Board this month and next [February & March]. Letters supporting their release can make a big difference. The Board will be having a hearing in April.
After THIRTY years, our brothers and sisters are finally up for parole. If not given probation this year, they may all be forced to serve another SEVENTY. They have almost completed their minimum sentence [of the 30-100 year sentence]. Let's bring them home where they belong in August 2008!
This April parole hearing is SO important. Letters and calls to the Parole Board now can really help. Phil is asking that folks send copies of their letters to him. He wants to take a pile of copies of our letters to the hearing as a show of public support.
It is probably a good idea for folks to send letters to each of the nine Board members. The chairperson was appointed by Ed "1985 Bomber" Rendell so don't count on her getting your message to the whole Board. Their individual names are on this web page:
http://www.pbpp.state.pa.us/pbpp/site/default.asp
Letters can all be sent to this address:
[name of Board member],
Pennsylvania Board of Probation and Parole
1101 South Front Street, Suite #5100
Harrisburg, PA 17104-2517
Phone: (717) 787-5699
Please send copies of the letters to Phil at:
William Phillips Africa #AM-4984
SCI-Dallas
1000 Follies Road
Dallas, PA 18612
For supporters to brush up on the history of MOVE and the "MOVE 9," this recent 45-minute talk by Ramona is great:
http://pittsburgh.indymedia.org/news/2007/08/27830.php
Letters and phone calls to the Board are needed NOW. Let's bring 'em HOME. 30 years is too much already.
70 more is unthinkable.
Peace All! Ona MOVE!!!
Dave
Hans Bennett is a Philadelphia photojournalist mostly focusing on the movement to free Mumia Abu-Jamal and all political prisoners. An archive of his work is available at insubordination.blogspot.com and he is also co-founder of "Journalists for Mumia," created to challenge the long history of corporate media bias, whose website is: http://www.Abu-Jamal-News.com
Use this link instead: http://www.pbpp.state.pa.us/pbpp/site/default.asp
Here are the names:
Catherine C. McVey, Chairman
Charles Fox
Michael L. Green
Jeffrey R. Imboden
Matthew T. Mangino
Benjamin A. Martinez
Gerard N. Massaro
Judy Viglione
Lloyd A. White
Below is the entire e-mail, (w/updated link). Thanks so much!
URGENT CALL FOR THE MOVE 9!
Phil Africa says that the MOVE 9 can really use letters and calls to the PA Parole Board this month and next [February & March]. Letters supporting their release can make a big difference. The Board will be having a hearing in April.
After THIRTY years, our brothers and sisters are finally up for parole. If not given probation this year, they may all be forced to serve another SEVENTY. They have almost completed their minimum sentence [of the 30-100 year sentence]. Let's bring them home where they belong in August 2008!
This April parole hearing is SO important. Letters and calls to the Parole Board now can really help. Phil is asking that folks send copies of their letters to him. He wants to take a pile of copies of our letters to the hearing as a show of public support.
It is probably a good idea for folks to send letters to each of the nine Board members. The chairperson was appointed by Ed "1985 Bomber" Rendell so don't count on her getting your message to the whole Board. Their individual names are on this web page:
http://www.pbpp.state.pa.us/pbpp/site/default.asp
Letters can all be sent to this address:
[name of Board member],
Pennsylvania Board of Probation and Parole
1101 South Front Street, Suite #5100
Harrisburg, PA 17104-2517
Phone: (717) 787-5699
Please send copies of the letters to Phil at:
William Phillips Africa #AM-4984
SCI-Dallas
1000 Follies Road
Dallas, PA 18612
For supporters to brush up on the history of MOVE and the "MOVE 9," this recent 45-minute talk by Ramona is great:
http://pittsburgh.indymedia.org/news/2007/08/27830.php
Letters and phone calls to the Board are needed NOW. Let's bring 'em HOME. 30 years is too much already.
70 more is unthinkable.
Peace All! Ona MOVE!!!
Dave
Hans Bennett is a Philadelphia photojournalist mostly focusing on the movement to free Mumia Abu-Jamal and all political prisoners. An archive of his work is available at insubordination.blogspot.com and he is also co-founder of "Journalists for Mumia," created to challenge the long history of corporate media bias, whose website is: http://www.Abu-Jamal-News.com
Sunday, February 24, 2008
Urgent Call for the MOVE 9!
from NYC Coalition to Free Mumia Abu-Jamal:
Phil Africa says that the MOVE 9 can really use letters and calls to the PA Parole Board this month and next [February & March]. Letters supporting their release can make a big difference. The Board will be having a hearing in April. After THIRTY years, our brothers and sisters are finally up for parole. If not given probation this year, they may all be forced to serve another SEVENTY. They have almost completed their minimum sentence [of the 30-100 year sentence]. Let's bring them home where they belong in August 2008!
This April parole hearing is SO important. Letters and calls to the Parole Board now can really help. Phil is asking that folks send copies of their letters to him. He wants to take a pile of copies of our letters to the hearing as a show of public support.
It is probably a good idea for folks to send letters to each of the nine Board members. The chairperson was appointed by Ed "1985 Bomber" Rendell so don't count on her getting your message to the whole Board. Their individual names are on this web page: http://www.pbpp.state.pa.us/pbppinfo/cwp/view.asp?a=3&q=154178&pbppNav=|
Letters can all be sent to this address:
[name of Board member],
Pennsylvania Board of Probation and Parole
1101 South Front Street, Suite #5100
Harrisburg, PA 17104-2517
tel: (717) 787-5699
Please send copies of the letters to Phil at:
William Phillips Africa #AM-4984
SCI-Dallas
1000 Follies Rd.,
Dallas, PA 18612
For supporters to brush up on the history of MOVE and the "MOVE 9," this recent 45-minute talk by Ramona is great:
http://pittsburgh.indymedia.org/news/2007/08/27830.php
Letters and phone calls to the Board are needed NOW. Let's bring 'em HOME. 30 years is too much already, 70 more is unthinkable.
Phil Africa says that the MOVE 9 can really use letters and calls to the PA Parole Board this month and next [February & March]. Letters supporting their release can make a big difference. The Board will be having a hearing in April. After THIRTY years, our brothers and sisters are finally up for parole. If not given probation this year, they may all be forced to serve another SEVENTY. They have almost completed their minimum sentence [of the 30-100 year sentence]. Let's bring them home where they belong in August 2008!
This April parole hearing is SO important. Letters and calls to the Parole Board now can really help. Phil is asking that folks send copies of their letters to him. He wants to take a pile of copies of our letters to the hearing as a show of public support.
It is probably a good idea for folks to send letters to each of the nine Board members. The chairperson was appointed by Ed "1985 Bomber" Rendell so don't count on her getting your message to the whole Board. Their individual names are on this web page: http://www.pbpp.state.pa.us/pbppinfo/cwp/view.asp?a=3&q=154178&pbppNav=|
Letters can all be sent to this address:
[name of Board member],
Pennsylvania Board of Probation and Parole
1101 South Front Street, Suite #5100
Harrisburg, PA 17104-2517
tel: (717) 787-5699
Please send copies of the letters to Phil at:
William Phillips Africa #AM-4984
SCI-Dallas
1000 Follies Rd.,
Dallas, PA 18612
For supporters to brush up on the history of MOVE and the "MOVE 9," this recent 45-minute talk by Ramona is great:
http://pittsburgh.indymedia.org/news/2007/08/27830.php
Letters and phone calls to the Board are needed NOW. Let's bring 'em HOME. 30 years is too much already, 70 more is unthinkable.
Saturday, February 23, 2008
Responses to the Court's Decision
From Hans Bennett:
Immediately following Tuesday's news, I asked several people to respond to the court's decision: Pam Africa, Robert R. Bryan, Dave Lindorff, Michael Schiffmann, and Linn Washington Jr.
PAM AFRICA, Coordinator of The International Concerned Family and Friends of Mumia Abu-Jamal
I am not shocked by this decision. The PA Supreme Court has never ruled fairly in Mumia's case, especially with former Philadelphia DA Ron Castille's participation.
This should wake people up to see the injustice in Mumia's case. Why can the media report so quickly on this decision, but not report on the newly discovered crime scene photos? These photos are serious evidence, but the media has ignored them.
The media and courts are complicit in the railroading of Mumia.
I urge readers to please help fight the media bias by going to Abu-Jamal-News.com to see the new photo evidence, downloading the information, and spreading the word, at this urgent time in Mumia's case.
ROBERT R. BRYAN, San Francisco, Lead Counsel for Mumia Abu-Jamal
Mumia and I had a long conference this afternoon, shortly after the Pennsylvania Supreme Court made its ruling. We were not surprised since that court has a history of not addressing the racism and fraud that has dominated the prosecution since its inception over a quarter of a century ago. By dismissing the appeal on procedural grounds, the court avoided dealing with the compelling facts establishing that the prosecution of my client was based upon lies, half-truths, and bigotry. It is sad that the state court used possible mistakes of the previous lawyers in the case as an excuse to dodge the truth.
This state ruling has no bearing on the the proceedings pending in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. If the federal decision is favorable, then the Pennsylvania Supreme Court judgment will be moot. Otherwise, I plan to seek relief in the U.S. Supreme Court. I will not rest until Mumia is free.
LINN WASHINGTON, JR., Philadelphia Tribune Columnist, Temple University Professor of Journalism, and graduate of the Yale Law Journalism Fellowship Program
This ruling is sad but not surprising. It continues the infamous Pennsylvania Supreme Court tradition in the Abu-Jamal case of abusing law to block justice. Until this Court grants a new trial to Abu-Jamal where both sides can fairly present evidence, any ruling it issues is legally corrupt.
DAVE LINDORFF, Author of Killing Time: An Investigation into the Death Row Case of Mumia
Abu-Jamal<(Common Courage Press, 2003)
It comes as no surprise to hear that the Pennsylvania State Supreme Court has rejected yet another appeal by Mumia Abu-Jamal, the state's longest-surviving death row prisoner. The court, which is led by former Philadelphia D.A. Ron Castille (who helped fight Abu-Jamal's appeals in his role as DA and has yet to recuse himself from decisions involving this case), has never issued a ruling favorable to Abu-Jamal.
That said, it is clear that the prosecution's case was rampant with examples of suborned perjury, from the belated and choreographed lies by police about having heard a shouted out confession in the hospital--an event no nurse or attending physician heard, and which police at the time curiously failed to note in their reports on the evening's events, to "eye-witness" testimony from a taxi driver whose taxi nobody remembers seeing where he said it was--parked directly behind Officer Daniel Faulkner's car. And of course more recently we have the newly discovered news photos showing police tampering with the evidence at the very scene of the crime.
In a fair world, this case would have been tossed out long ago, but as the PA Supreme Court has demonstrated yet again, we do not live in a fair world.
DR. MICHAEL SCHIFFMANN, German Linguist at The University of Heidelberg, co-founder of Journalists for Mumia, and the author of Race Against Death; Mumia Abu-Jamal: a Black Revolutionary in White America
The original decision in May/June 2005 by Court of Common Pleas Judge Pamela Dembe to dismiss Mumia Abu-Jamal's 3rd PCRA petition was already a travesty of justice. Everything in that decision was tailored to deny Abu-Jamal relief. After sitting on the case for almost four years, the judge deciding it evidently didn't have a clue about the most elementary facts.
That was not necessary, though; all that was needed was to twist the law in such a way that Abu-Jamal wound never have a chance, regardless of what he presented.
Abu-Jamal's 3rd PCRA petition presented testimony by two witnesses that attacked the arguably two single-most important prosecution witnesses at the June/July 1982 Abu-Jamal trial, prostitute Cynthia White and hospital security guard Priscilla Durham. As discussed extensively in work on our website www.abu-jamal-news.com and elsewhere, not least in many, many defense briefs, these witnesses were highly incredible even without that new testimony.
All the same, it was crucially important: New witness Yvette Williams testified that Cynthia White had been blackmailed into fingering Abu-Jamal as the murderer by death threats on the part of the police, and new witness Kenneth Pate testified that Durham had been peer-pressured by the police into falsely accusing Abu-Jamal of having boasted about having "shot the motherfucker" Daniel Faulkner and hoping he would die.
If proven in court, these two new claims in themselves would be enough to prove that the case against Abu-Jamal was hopelessly contaminated right from the start and to explode it once and for all.
By bending even the reactionary new Clinton-era laws to expedite the application of the death penalty out of shape, Judge Dembe at the time concluded that the new evidence was not presented in a "timely" fashion. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court now does the same, inventing yet other and different reasons why the evidence is "untimely."
It's not worth going again into the "legal" forks and angles of that new decision. It's a repeat performance of the 2005 Dembe decision which I analyzed at the time and which got a worthy response by the defense, as we now see without avail. What simmers through in every line of those decisions is that one thing always left unsaid: "WE ARE AFRAID OF THE FACTS."
But those facts won't go away, if we fight to disseminate them, to get them out into the public sphere, and to have them finally heard on court. That is the most urgent task in the weeks and months to come.
Immediately following Tuesday's news, I asked several people to respond to the court's decision: Pam Africa, Robert R. Bryan, Dave Lindorff, Michael Schiffmann, and Linn Washington Jr.
PAM AFRICA, Coordinator of The International Concerned Family and Friends of Mumia Abu-Jamal
I am not shocked by this decision. The PA Supreme Court has never ruled fairly in Mumia's case, especially with former Philadelphia DA Ron Castille's participation.
This should wake people up to see the injustice in Mumia's case. Why can the media report so quickly on this decision, but not report on the newly discovered crime scene photos? These photos are serious evidence, but the media has ignored them.
The media and courts are complicit in the railroading of Mumia.
I urge readers to please help fight the media bias by going to Abu-Jamal-News.com to see the new photo evidence, downloading the information, and spreading the word, at this urgent time in Mumia's case.
ROBERT R. BRYAN, San Francisco, Lead Counsel for Mumia Abu-Jamal
Mumia and I had a long conference this afternoon, shortly after the Pennsylvania Supreme Court made its ruling. We were not surprised since that court has a history of not addressing the racism and fraud that has dominated the prosecution since its inception over a quarter of a century ago. By dismissing the appeal on procedural grounds, the court avoided dealing with the compelling facts establishing that the prosecution of my client was based upon lies, half-truths, and bigotry. It is sad that the state court used possible mistakes of the previous lawyers in the case as an excuse to dodge the truth.
This state ruling has no bearing on the the proceedings pending in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. If the federal decision is favorable, then the Pennsylvania Supreme Court judgment will be moot. Otherwise, I plan to seek relief in the U.S. Supreme Court. I will not rest until Mumia is free.
LINN WASHINGTON, JR., Philadelphia Tribune Columnist, Temple University Professor of Journalism, and graduate of the Yale Law Journalism Fellowship Program
This ruling is sad but not surprising. It continues the infamous Pennsylvania Supreme Court tradition in the Abu-Jamal case of abusing law to block justice. Until this Court grants a new trial to Abu-Jamal where both sides can fairly present evidence, any ruling it issues is legally corrupt.
DAVE LINDORFF, Author of Killing Time: An Investigation into the Death Row Case of Mumia
Abu-Jamal<(Common Courage Press, 2003)
It comes as no surprise to hear that the Pennsylvania State Supreme Court has rejected yet another appeal by Mumia Abu-Jamal, the state's longest-surviving death row prisoner. The court, which is led by former Philadelphia D.A. Ron Castille (who helped fight Abu-Jamal's appeals in his role as DA and has yet to recuse himself from decisions involving this case), has never issued a ruling favorable to Abu-Jamal.
That said, it is clear that the prosecution's case was rampant with examples of suborned perjury, from the belated and choreographed lies by police about having heard a shouted out confession in the hospital--an event no nurse or attending physician heard, and which police at the time curiously failed to note in their reports on the evening's events, to "eye-witness" testimony from a taxi driver whose taxi nobody remembers seeing where he said it was--parked directly behind Officer Daniel Faulkner's car. And of course more recently we have the newly discovered news photos showing police tampering with the evidence at the very scene of the crime.
In a fair world, this case would have been tossed out long ago, but as the PA Supreme Court has demonstrated yet again, we do not live in a fair world.
DR. MICHAEL SCHIFFMANN, German Linguist at The University of Heidelberg, co-founder of Journalists for Mumia, and the author of Race Against Death; Mumia Abu-Jamal: a Black Revolutionary in White America
The original decision in May/June 2005 by Court of Common Pleas Judge Pamela Dembe to dismiss Mumia Abu-Jamal's 3rd PCRA petition was already a travesty of justice. Everything in that decision was tailored to deny Abu-Jamal relief. After sitting on the case for almost four years, the judge deciding it evidently didn't have a clue about the most elementary facts.
That was not necessary, though; all that was needed was to twist the law in such a way that Abu-Jamal wound never have a chance, regardless of what he presented.
Abu-Jamal's 3rd PCRA petition presented testimony by two witnesses that attacked the arguably two single-most important prosecution witnesses at the June/July 1982 Abu-Jamal trial, prostitute Cynthia White and hospital security guard Priscilla Durham. As discussed extensively in work on our website www.abu-jamal-news.com and elsewhere, not least in many, many defense briefs, these witnesses were highly incredible even without that new testimony.
All the same, it was crucially important: New witness Yvette Williams testified that Cynthia White had been blackmailed into fingering Abu-Jamal as the murderer by death threats on the part of the police, and new witness Kenneth Pate testified that Durham had been peer-pressured by the police into falsely accusing Abu-Jamal of having boasted about having "shot the motherfucker" Daniel Faulkner and hoping he would die.
If proven in court, these two new claims in themselves would be enough to prove that the case against Abu-Jamal was hopelessly contaminated right from the start and to explode it once and for all.
By bending even the reactionary new Clinton-era laws to expedite the application of the death penalty out of shape, Judge Dembe at the time concluded that the new evidence was not presented in a "timely" fashion. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court now does the same, inventing yet other and different reasons why the evidence is "untimely."
It's not worth going again into the "legal" forks and angles of that new decision. It's a repeat performance of the 2005 Dembe decision which I analyzed at the time and which got a worthy response by the defense, as we now see without avail. What simmers through in every line of those decisions is that one thing always left unsaid: "WE ARE AFRAID OF THE FACTS."
But those facts won't go away, if we fight to disseminate them, to get them out into the public sphere, and to have them finally heard on court. That is the most urgent task in the weeks and months to come.
Mumia Abu-Jamal Loses Bid for Hearing
From Hans Bennett/Sis. Fatirah:
This is NOT the decision from the 3rd Circuit Court. It is a separate appeal with the State Supreme Court.
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Pennsylvania's highest appeals court has rejected a request by convicted killer Mumia Abu-Jamal (moo-MEE'-ah AH'-boo jah-MAHL') for a hearing into his claims that witnesses in his case perjured themselves.
The state Supreme Court on Tuesday issued a unanimous ruling saying the former Black Panther and radio reporter waited too long to file a post-conviction appeal in the matter.
Abu-Jamal was convicted of shooting to death Philadelphia Police Officer Daniel Faulkner in 1981. A federal judge in 2001 overturned Abu-Jamal's death sentence but upheld his conviction.
His case has attracted international notoriety. A separate appeal in the case, regarding claims of racial bias and faulty jury instructions, is pending before the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
---FROM: Associated Press, Tues, Feb. 19
For background on this appeal, see these 2 previous articles from Betsy Piette: http://www.workers.org/2007/us/mumia-appeal-0719/
Michael Schiffmann: http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?ItemID=8603
==============
http://www.opednews.com/maxwrite/diarypage.php?did=6184
PA Supreme Court rejects Mumia Abu-Jamal's PCRA appeal
--Critics say the ruling is unjust
By Hans Bennett (Abu-Jamal-News.com)
On Tuesday, February 19, in a ruling unrelated to the pending US Third Circuit Court decision, The Pennsylvania Supreme Court rejected death row journalist Mumia Abu-Jamal's appeal of a 2005 ruling by Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas Judge Pamela Dembe, which denied Abu-Jamal's Post Conviction Relief Act (PCRA) petition, on grounds that it was not "timely." (See reports by The Associated Press and Philadelphia Inquirer.)
This recent PCRA petition was based on affidavits by two witnesses that did not testify at the original 1982 trial: Yvette Williams and Kenneth Pate. Yvette Williams states that key prosecution witness Cynthia White told her that she had been coerced by police into giving false testimony against Abu-Jamal. Defense witnesses Veronica Jones and Pamela Jenkins have given similar accounts of Cynthia White's coerced testimony against Abu-Jamal. As Amnesty International has documented, White's alleged eye-witness account was altered, as each subsequent account given to police further served to support the prosecution scenario used to convict Abu-Jamal. Kenneth Pate says that prosecution witness Priscilla Durham confided to him that she had also lied in court when she stated that she's heard Abu-Jamal confess at the hospital. Even before Pate's affidavit, Durham's account was very suspicious.
The alleged "hospital confession," where Abu-Jamal reportedly declared, "I shot the motherf***er and I hope the motherf***er dies," was first officially reported to police over two months later, by hospital guards Priscilla Durham and James LeGrand (Feb. 9, 1982), P.O. Gary Wakshul (Feb.11), P.O. Gary Bell (Feb.25), and P.O. Thomas M. Bray (March 1). Only 2 of these five witnesses were called by the DA: Gary Bell (Faulkner's partner and "best friend") and Priscilla Durham.
At trial, Gary Bell testified that the 2 month lapse resulted from him being so upset over the death of Faulkner. Priscilla Durham testified, and added for the first time, that she had reported the confession to her supervisor the next day. Neither her supervisor, nor the alleged handwritten statement were presented in court. The DA sent an officer to the hospital, returning
with a suspicious typed version. Sabo accepted the paper (not signed) despite both Durham's disavowal, and the defense's protest that authorship and authenticity were unproven.
For more on Kenneth Pate and Yvette Williams, please see German author Michael Schiffmann's 2005 analysis of Judge Pamela Dembe's ruling.
This is NOT the decision from the 3rd Circuit Court. It is a separate appeal with the State Supreme Court.
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Pennsylvania's highest appeals court has rejected a request by convicted killer Mumia Abu-Jamal (moo-MEE'-ah AH'-boo jah-MAHL') for a hearing into his claims that witnesses in his case perjured themselves.
The state Supreme Court on Tuesday issued a unanimous ruling saying the former Black Panther and radio reporter waited too long to file a post-conviction appeal in the matter.
Abu-Jamal was convicted of shooting to death Philadelphia Police Officer Daniel Faulkner in 1981. A federal judge in 2001 overturned Abu-Jamal's death sentence but upheld his conviction.
His case has attracted international notoriety. A separate appeal in the case, regarding claims of racial bias and faulty jury instructions, is pending before the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
---FROM: Associated Press, Tues, Feb. 19
For background on this appeal, see these 2 previous articles from Betsy Piette: http://www.workers.org/2007/us/mumia-appeal-0719/
Michael Schiffmann: http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?ItemID=8603
==============
http://www.opednews.com/maxwrite/diarypage.php?did=6184
PA Supreme Court rejects Mumia Abu-Jamal's PCRA appeal
--Critics say the ruling is unjust
By Hans Bennett (Abu-Jamal-News.com)
On Tuesday, February 19, in a ruling unrelated to the pending US Third Circuit Court decision, The Pennsylvania Supreme Court rejected death row journalist Mumia Abu-Jamal's appeal of a 2005 ruling by Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas Judge Pamela Dembe, which denied Abu-Jamal's Post Conviction Relief Act (PCRA) petition, on grounds that it was not "timely." (See reports by The Associated Press and Philadelphia Inquirer.)
This recent PCRA petition was based on affidavits by two witnesses that did not testify at the original 1982 trial: Yvette Williams and Kenneth Pate. Yvette Williams states that key prosecution witness Cynthia White told her that she had been coerced by police into giving false testimony against Abu-Jamal. Defense witnesses Veronica Jones and Pamela Jenkins have given similar accounts of Cynthia White's coerced testimony against Abu-Jamal. As Amnesty International has documented, White's alleged eye-witness account was altered, as each subsequent account given to police further served to support the prosecution scenario used to convict Abu-Jamal. Kenneth Pate says that prosecution witness Priscilla Durham confided to him that she had also lied in court when she stated that she's heard Abu-Jamal confess at the hospital. Even before Pate's affidavit, Durham's account was very suspicious.
The alleged "hospital confession," where Abu-Jamal reportedly declared, "I shot the motherf***er and I hope the motherf***er dies," was first officially reported to police over two months later, by hospital guards Priscilla Durham and James LeGrand (Feb. 9, 1982), P.O. Gary Wakshul (Feb.11), P.O. Gary Bell (Feb.25), and P.O. Thomas M. Bray (March 1). Only 2 of these five witnesses were called by the DA: Gary Bell (Faulkner's partner and "best friend") and Priscilla Durham.
At trial, Gary Bell testified that the 2 month lapse resulted from him being so upset over the death of Faulkner. Priscilla Durham testified, and added for the first time, that she had reported the confession to her supervisor the next day. Neither her supervisor, nor the alleged handwritten statement were presented in court. The DA sent an officer to the hospital, returning
with a suspicious typed version. Sabo accepted the paper (not signed) despite both Durham's disavowal, and the defense's protest that authorship and authenticity were unproven.
For more on Kenneth Pate and Yvette Williams, please see German author Michael Schiffmann's 2005 analysis of Judge Pamela Dembe's ruling.
IMPORTANT TEACH-IN ON GRAND JURIES, REPRESSION, AND RESISTANCE
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 23rd, 2-5 PM
St. Mary's Church
521 West 126th Street (between Amsterdam and Broadway).
Participants will include:
Ana Lopez and Youth Resisters, Hostos January 11 Grand Jury Resistance Campaign
Julio Rosado, Legendary Independentista and Grand Jury Resister
Esperanza Martell, Iglesia San Romero de las Americas
Roger Wareham, December 12th Movement
Robert Boyle, National Lawyers Guild
Bob Lederer, Grand Jury Resister/Resistance in Brooklyn
NYC Coalition members
Friends of MOVE
And others to be announced
Learn from and support the Puerto Rican Independence Movement and the young Puerto Rican cultural workers who have been served notice to appear before a Grand Jury in Brooklyn - a serious attack on the Puerto Rican Independence Movement, on the Puerto Rican community, and on all of our civil liberties. Learn how the grand jury process is part of the state's attacks on the progressive movement in this country. Learn about the history of resistance to this repression. How does this particular governmental attack on us fit into the overall picture of repression and fascistic developments? Learn about the attacks on December 12th, the Free Mumia Movement, the MOVE organization, and many others.
There will be extensive time for questions and role playing to help people understand the grand jury process, and to strengthen our courage and ability to resist.
Sponsored by: Free Mumia Abu-Jamal Coalition, Hostos January 11th Grand Jury Resistance Campaign, and the December 12th Movement.
For more information call: (212) 330-8029 or check www.freemumia.com
St. Mary's Church
521 West 126th Street (between Amsterdam and Broadway).
Participants will include:
Ana Lopez and Youth Resisters, Hostos January 11 Grand Jury Resistance Campaign
Julio Rosado, Legendary Independentista and Grand Jury Resister
Esperanza Martell, Iglesia San Romero de las Americas
Roger Wareham, December 12th Movement
Robert Boyle, National Lawyers Guild
Bob Lederer, Grand Jury Resister/Resistance in Brooklyn
NYC Coalition members
Friends of MOVE
And others to be announced
Learn from and support the Puerto Rican Independence Movement and the young Puerto Rican cultural workers who have been served notice to appear before a Grand Jury in Brooklyn - a serious attack on the Puerto Rican Independence Movement, on the Puerto Rican community, and on all of our civil liberties. Learn how the grand jury process is part of the state's attacks on the progressive movement in this country. Learn about the history of resistance to this repression. How does this particular governmental attack on us fit into the overall picture of repression and fascistic developments? Learn about the attacks on December 12th, the Free Mumia Movement, the MOVE organization, and many others.
There will be extensive time for questions and role playing to help people understand the grand jury process, and to strengthen our courage and ability to resist.
Sponsored by: Free Mumia Abu-Jamal Coalition, Hostos January 11th Grand Jury Resistance Campaign, and the December 12th Movement.
For more information call: (212) 330-8029 or check www.freemumia.com
Friday, February 01, 2008
Protest the Building of Museum at Sing Sing Prison
Activists are opposing the building of a museum to be located in Sing Sing prison in Ossining, New York. The museum will include a tourist friendly depiction of all people deemed "famous" who were executed in Sing Sing at the hands of the state, including the Rosenbergs. Some are comparing this move to what has similarly happened at Alcatraz, calling Sing Sing the "Alcatraz of the east".
We urge people to protest the building of this museum. For an article on this development please visit: http://www.hudsonriver.com/halfmoonpress/stories/0205singsing.htm
To sign on to a letter against the building of the museum, please email: willwall04@yahoo.com
We urge people to protest the building of this museum. For an article on this development please visit: http://www.hudsonriver.com/halfmoonpress/stories/0205singsing.htm
To sign on to a letter against the building of the museum, please email: willwall04@yahoo.com
Monday, January 28, 2008
Teach-In on Grand Juries, Repression & Resistance
Saturday, February 23 2-5 pm
St. Mary's Church
521 West 126th Street
Between Amsterdam Avenue and Broadway
Learn from and support the Puerto Rican Independence Movement and the young Puerto Rican cultural workers who have been served notice to appear before a Grand Jury in Brooklyn - a serious attack on the Puerto Rican Independence Movement, on the Puerto Rican community, and on all of our civil liberties. Learn how the grand jury is part of the state's attack on the progressive movement in this country. Learn about the history of resistance to this repression. How does this particular governmental attack on us fit into the overall picture of repression and fascistic developments? Learn about the attacks on December 12th, the Free Mumia Movement, the MOVE organization, and many others. There will be a FULL HOUR FOR QUESTIONS as well as ROLE PLAYING to concretize a process that many of us are not familiar with, and need to understand in order to strengthen our courage and our ability to RESIST.
Participants will include:
Ana Lopez and Youth Resisters, Hostos January 11 Grand Jury Resistance Campaign
Esperanza Martell, Iglesia San Romero de las Americas
December 12th Movement
Robert Boyle, National Lawyers Guild, NYC
Free Mumia Abu-Jamal Coalition members
Friends of MOVE
And others to be announced
For more information call 212.330.8089 or www.freemumia.com
St. Mary's Church
521 West 126th Street
Between Amsterdam Avenue and Broadway
Learn from and support the Puerto Rican Independence Movement and the young Puerto Rican cultural workers who have been served notice to appear before a Grand Jury in Brooklyn - a serious attack on the Puerto Rican Independence Movement, on the Puerto Rican community, and on all of our civil liberties. Learn how the grand jury is part of the state's attack on the progressive movement in this country. Learn about the history of resistance to this repression. How does this particular governmental attack on us fit into the overall picture of repression and fascistic developments? Learn about the attacks on December 12th, the Free Mumia Movement, the MOVE organization, and many others. There will be a FULL HOUR FOR QUESTIONS as well as ROLE PLAYING to concretize a process that many of us are not familiar with, and need to understand in order to strengthen our courage and our ability to RESIST.
Participants will include:
Ana Lopez and Youth Resisters, Hostos January 11 Grand Jury Resistance Campaign
Esperanza Martell, Iglesia San Romero de las Americas
December 12th Movement
Robert Boyle, National Lawyers Guild, NYC
Free Mumia Abu-Jamal Coalition members
Friends of MOVE
And others to be announced
For more information call 212.330.8089 or www.freemumia.com
Monday, January 21, 2008
MLK III Says Mumia and MOVE 9 Are Unjustly Incarcerated
Martin Luther King III Says Mumia Abu-Jamal and the MOVE 9 are Unjustly Incarcerated
From Philadelphia Indymedia
21 Jan 2008
My father's words that, "Freedom only comes through persistent agitation, through persistent rising up", were true in 1982 when Mumia Abu Jamal was unjustly convicted for the death of a Philadelphia policeman because he dared to use national air-waves to agitate for the rights of MOVE and for racial and economic justice. They are true today as we continue to fight for his freedom....We live in a society shrouded in hypocrisy, a nation that expects its children to abhor violence but takes every opportunity to promote the "might is right" philosophy....While we promote the notion throughout the world that America's system of justice in colorblind, we live with the reality that racism is inherent in every single facet of our criminal justice system....From the aerial bombing of MOVE to the unjust incarceration of MOVE members, Mumia Abu-Jamal and countless others; to the unjustified and unpunished killings and beatings of people of color; to the "blue mentality" pervading police forces across the country that rewards brutal behavior; to the increasing incidents of police abuse and harassment of even white Americans, we understand the need to continue and remain steadfast in our struggle for freedom. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s journey began in Montgomery with civil rights and ended in Memphis with human rights. SCLC's current support of human rights around the world is consistent with our support of the rights of MOVE.
From Philadelphia Indymedia
21 Jan 2008
My father's words that, "Freedom only comes through persistent agitation, through persistent rising up", were true in 1982 when Mumia Abu Jamal was unjustly convicted for the death of a Philadelphia policeman because he dared to use national air-waves to agitate for the rights of MOVE and for racial and economic justice. They are true today as we continue to fight for his freedom....We live in a society shrouded in hypocrisy, a nation that expects its children to abhor violence but takes every opportunity to promote the "might is right" philosophy....While we promote the notion throughout the world that America's system of justice in colorblind, we live with the reality that racism is inherent in every single facet of our criminal justice system....From the aerial bombing of MOVE to the unjust incarceration of MOVE members, Mumia Abu-Jamal and countless others; to the unjustified and unpunished killings and beatings of people of color; to the "blue mentality" pervading police forces across the country that rewards brutal behavior; to the increasing incidents of police abuse and harassment of even white Americans, we understand the need to continue and remain steadfast in our struggle for freedom. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s journey began in Montgomery with civil rights and ended in Memphis with human rights. SCLC's current support of human rights around the world is consistent with our support of the rights of MOVE.
Saturday, December 08, 2007
Audio from the December 4 press conference
The audio from the December 4 press conference is now online. The video will be available soon at www.abu-jamal-news.org.
Veronica Jones Letter to the Today Show
Below is a link to a letter written by Veronica Jones, a witness in Mumia's case, to the Today Show. This letter was written last week to encourage them to show both sides of the story. It is a very moving letter that gives insight into the injustice that Veronica faced in trying to speak the truth.
http://www.freemumia.com/pdfs/Veronica Jones Letter to the Today Show 12-07.pdf
http://www.freemumia.com/pdfs/Veronica Jones Letter to the Today Show 12-07.pdf
Was Philadelphia Police Officer Daniel Faulkner really "Murdered By Mumia"?
--Journalists and activists present evidence of innocence and an unfair trial in the death-penalty case of Mumia Abu-Jamal.
The news conference organized by Journalists for Mumia Abu-Jamal featured an exclusive slide-show presentation of newly discovered crime scene photos, as well as presentations by local journalists David A. Love and Dave Lindorff, and Pam Africa of The International Concerned Family and Friends of Mumia Abu-Jamal.
INVITATION: This week marks the 26th anniversary of the December 9, 1981 shooting death of Philadelphia Police Officer Daniel Faulkner and the arrest of radical journalist and former Black Panther Mumia Abu-Jamal. December 6 will mark the release of a new book titled "Murdered By Mumia," written by Maureen Faulkner and Michael Smerconish. The Philadelphia Inquirer has already begun a three-part series that features excerpts from "Murdered By Mumia." The media-attention will continue this week with "Murdered By Mumia" scheduled to be featured on such news programs as The Today Show, The O'Reilly Factor, Hardball with Chris Matthews, and many more.
In light of this significant week, the news conference was organized to present "the other side of the story," to the media so that it can be fairly balanced alongside the story presented by Faulkner, Smerconish, and others who argue that Mumia does not deserve a new trial and should be executed. Come and hear from activists and award-winning journalists who have thoroughly researched the case and concluded that Abu-Jamal's 1982 trial was blatantly unfair, and that there is considerable evidence suggesting that Abu-Jamal is innocent, as he has always maintained.
For the national media, and others unable to make it to the news conference, audio and video documentation has been made available via the internet.
CONTACT US: For more information, email: hbjournalist@gmail.com
This news conference featured:
SLIDESHOW PRESENTATION OF NEWLY DISCOVERED CRIME SCENE PHOTOS
Philadelphia journalist Hans Bennett presented a slideshow displaying the crime scene photos recently discovered by German linguist, Michael Schiffmann (University of Heidelberg). Dr. Schiffmann has disclosed his discovery of 26 photographs (never seen by the 1982 jury), taken by press photographer Pedro P. Polakoff, which suggest more evidence that basic investigative protocol was violated by police from the earliest moments of the killing. Schiffmann and Bennett's website, Abu-Jamal-News.com, displays four of the photos to make these key points about the new evidence:
1. Mishandling the Guns - Officer James Forbes holds both Abu-Jamal's and Faulkner's guns, his bare hand touching the metal parts, suggesting perjury when he testified to properly preserving the guns' ballistics evidence.
2. The Moving Hat - Faulkner's hat is moved from the roof of Billy Cook's VW and placed on the sidewalk, where it remained for the official police photo.
3. The Missing Taxi - Robert Chobert testified to parking directly behind Faulkner's car, but the space is empty.
4. The Missing Divots – On the sidewalk, where Faulkner was found, there are no large bullet divots, or destroyed chunks of cement, which should be visible in the pavement if the prosecution scenario was accurate, according to which Abu-Jamal shot down at Faulkner – and allegedly missed several times – while Faulkner was on his back. Dr. Michael Schiffmann writes: "It is thus no question any more whether the scenario presented by the prosecution at Abu-Jamal's trial is true. It is clearly not, because it is physically and ballistically impossible."
DAVID A. LOVE
In October, 2007, Philadelphia-based lawyer and journalist, David A. Love, wrote about the new crime scene photos for The Black Commentator news website. Love's article titled "Photos Bolster Claims of Mumia’s Innocence and Unfair Trial" was featured in the national Black newspaper, The SF Bay View, where one of the photos was published for the very first time in the US. Love spoke at the news conference about why the new crime scene photos are an important and worthy story for the media to cover. (see above)
DAVE LINDORFF
Dave Lindorff is the author of "Killing Time: An Investigation into the Death Row Case of Mumia Abu-Jamal" (Common Courage Press, 2003), an independent examination of this important capital case. In his December 2, 2007 article titled "Maureen Faulkner and Mumia: Vengeance Isn't Sweet," Lindorff responds to the first in a three-part series in The Philadelphia Inquirer, that features experts from Maureen Faulkner's new book, written with Michael Smerconish, titled "Murdered By Mumia." He writes that Faulkner "is entitled to her anger and her grief," but "we are all diminished when justice is so willingly cast aside in the wrongheaded name of vengeance, as has clearly happened in the case of Mumia Abu-Jamal. No amount of sympathy for Faulkner's widow should be permitted to sway society or the courts from a commitment to justice, and there has been no justice in this case."
At the press-conference, Lindorff addressed the summary of evidence against Abu-Jamal, presented at the "Murdered By Mumia" website, that "Mumia Abu-Jamal was unanimously convicted of the crime by a racially mixed jury based on: the testimony of several eyewitnesses, his ownership of the murder weapon, matching ballistics, and Abu-Jamal's own confession."
--Award-winning investigative reporter Dave Lindorff has been working as a journalist for 34 years. A regular columnist for CounterPunch, he also writes frequently for Extra! and Salon magazine, as well as for Businessweek, The Nation, and Treasury & Risk Magazine. Over the years he has written for such publications as Rolling Stone, Mother Jones, Village Voice, Forbes, The London Observer and the Australian National Times.
PAM AFRICA
Pam Africa is the head of The International Concerned Family and Friends of Mumia Abu-Jamal (ICFFMAJ). Africa will provide an update on the current media-activist campaign to "ensure fairness" for Abu-Jamal on the December 6 NBC Today Show, which spotlighted the release of the book "Murdered By Mumia." Africa and ICFFMAJ are asking that the The Today Show fairly show both sides of the Abu-Jamal / Faulkner story, and give equal time to an expert sympathetic to Abu-Jamal's case for a new trial.
--Journalists for Mumia Abu-Jamal (Abu-Jamal-News.com) was co-founded in May, 2007 by Philadelphia journalist Hans Bennett and German linguist Dr. Michael Schiffmann (University of Heidelberg), who is the author of the new German book about Abu-Jamal's case, "Race Against Death." For more information, please email: hbjournalist@gmail.com
You can download the 50 page PRESS PACK at the link below:
http://www.abu-jamal-news.com/pr/PressPackNov07.pdf
The news conference organized by Journalists for Mumia Abu-Jamal featured an exclusive slide-show presentation of newly discovered crime scene photos, as well as presentations by local journalists David A. Love and Dave Lindorff, and Pam Africa of The International Concerned Family and Friends of Mumia Abu-Jamal.
INVITATION: This week marks the 26th anniversary of the December 9, 1981 shooting death of Philadelphia Police Officer Daniel Faulkner and the arrest of radical journalist and former Black Panther Mumia Abu-Jamal. December 6 will mark the release of a new book titled "Murdered By Mumia," written by Maureen Faulkner and Michael Smerconish. The Philadelphia Inquirer has already begun a three-part series that features excerpts from "Murdered By Mumia." The media-attention will continue this week with "Murdered By Mumia" scheduled to be featured on such news programs as The Today Show, The O'Reilly Factor, Hardball with Chris Matthews, and many more.
In light of this significant week, the news conference was organized to present "the other side of the story," to the media so that it can be fairly balanced alongside the story presented by Faulkner, Smerconish, and others who argue that Mumia does not deserve a new trial and should be executed. Come and hear from activists and award-winning journalists who have thoroughly researched the case and concluded that Abu-Jamal's 1982 trial was blatantly unfair, and that there is considerable evidence suggesting that Abu-Jamal is innocent, as he has always maintained.
For the national media, and others unable to make it to the news conference, audio and video documentation has been made available via the internet.
CONTACT US: For more information, email: hbjournalist@gmail.com
This news conference featured:
SLIDESHOW PRESENTATION OF NEWLY DISCOVERED CRIME SCENE PHOTOS
Philadelphia journalist Hans Bennett presented a slideshow displaying the crime scene photos recently discovered by German linguist, Michael Schiffmann (University of Heidelberg). Dr. Schiffmann has disclosed his discovery of 26 photographs (never seen by the 1982 jury), taken by press photographer Pedro P. Polakoff, which suggest more evidence that basic investigative protocol was violated by police from the earliest moments of the killing. Schiffmann and Bennett's website, Abu-Jamal-News.com, displays four of the photos to make these key points about the new evidence:
1. Mishandling the Guns - Officer James Forbes holds both Abu-Jamal's and Faulkner's guns, his bare hand touching the metal parts, suggesting perjury when he testified to properly preserving the guns' ballistics evidence.
2. The Moving Hat - Faulkner's hat is moved from the roof of Billy Cook's VW and placed on the sidewalk, where it remained for the official police photo.
3. The Missing Taxi - Robert Chobert testified to parking directly behind Faulkner's car, but the space is empty.
4. The Missing Divots – On the sidewalk, where Faulkner was found, there are no large bullet divots, or destroyed chunks of cement, which should be visible in the pavement if the prosecution scenario was accurate, according to which Abu-Jamal shot down at Faulkner – and allegedly missed several times – while Faulkner was on his back. Dr. Michael Schiffmann writes: "It is thus no question any more whether the scenario presented by the prosecution at Abu-Jamal's trial is true. It is clearly not, because it is physically and ballistically impossible."
DAVID A. LOVE
In October, 2007, Philadelphia-based lawyer and journalist, David A. Love, wrote about the new crime scene photos for The Black Commentator news website. Love's article titled "Photos Bolster Claims of Mumia’s Innocence and Unfair Trial" was featured in the national Black newspaper, The SF Bay View, where one of the photos was published for the very first time in the US. Love spoke at the news conference about why the new crime scene photos are an important and worthy story for the media to cover. (see above)
DAVE LINDORFF
Dave Lindorff is the author of "Killing Time: An Investigation into the Death Row Case of Mumia Abu-Jamal" (Common Courage Press, 2003), an independent examination of this important capital case. In his December 2, 2007 article titled "Maureen Faulkner and Mumia: Vengeance Isn't Sweet," Lindorff responds to the first in a three-part series in The Philadelphia Inquirer, that features experts from Maureen Faulkner's new book, written with Michael Smerconish, titled "Murdered By Mumia." He writes that Faulkner "is entitled to her anger and her grief," but "we are all diminished when justice is so willingly cast aside in the wrongheaded name of vengeance, as has clearly happened in the case of Mumia Abu-Jamal. No amount of sympathy for Faulkner's widow should be permitted to sway society or the courts from a commitment to justice, and there has been no justice in this case."
At the press-conference, Lindorff addressed the summary of evidence against Abu-Jamal, presented at the "Murdered By Mumia" website, that "Mumia Abu-Jamal was unanimously convicted of the crime by a racially mixed jury based on: the testimony of several eyewitnesses, his ownership of the murder weapon, matching ballistics, and Abu-Jamal's own confession."
--Award-winning investigative reporter Dave Lindorff has been working as a journalist for 34 years. A regular columnist for CounterPunch, he also writes frequently for Extra! and Salon magazine, as well as for Businessweek, The Nation, and Treasury & Risk Magazine. Over the years he has written for such publications as Rolling Stone, Mother Jones, Village Voice, Forbes, The London Observer and the Australian National Times.
PAM AFRICA
Pam Africa is the head of The International Concerned Family and Friends of Mumia Abu-Jamal (ICFFMAJ). Africa will provide an update on the current media-activist campaign to "ensure fairness" for Abu-Jamal on the December 6 NBC Today Show, which spotlighted the release of the book "Murdered By Mumia." Africa and ICFFMAJ are asking that the The Today Show fairly show both sides of the Abu-Jamal / Faulkner story, and give equal time to an expert sympathetic to Abu-Jamal's case for a new trial.
--Journalists for Mumia Abu-Jamal (Abu-Jamal-News.com) was co-founded in May, 2007 by Philadelphia journalist Hans Bennett and German linguist Dr. Michael Schiffmann (University of Heidelberg), who is the author of the new German book about Abu-Jamal's case, "Race Against Death." For more information, please email: hbjournalist@gmail.com
You can download the 50 page PRESS PACK at the link below:
http://www.abu-jamal-news.com/pr/PressPackNov07.pdf
Mumia Abu-Jamal: Evidence of Innocence and an Unfair Trial
[The following are remarks made at a December 4, 2007 press conference held in Philadelphia by The International Concerned Friends and Family of Mumia Abu-Jamal (ICFFMAJ), and Journalists for Mumia. The purpose of the press conference was to discuss newly discovered crime scene photos in the Mumia Abu-Jamal death penalty case, which were not seen by the jury, yet point to his innocence and the need for a new trial. Abu-Jamal, journalist, former Black Panther and death row inmate, was convicted of the 1981 murder of Police Officer Daniel Faulkner. Participants in the press conference included Hans Bennett of Journalists for Mumia, Philadelphia journalists Linn Washington, Dave Lindorff, Pam Africa of ICFFMAJ, and David A. Love of Black Commentator. In its October 18, 2007 cover story, titled Photos Bolster Claims of Mumia’s Innocence and Unfair Trial, Black Commentator broke the story regarding the photos.]
My name is David A. Love, editorial board member of BlackCommentator.com, a weekly online magazine covering issues affecting the Black community, with a monthly readership of 300,000. My Color of Law column appears weekly. I wrote an article in the October 18, 2007 edition of the Black Commentator entitled “ Photos Bolster Claims of Mumia’s Innocence and Unfair Trial.” The piece re-printed for the Independent Media Center, and the San Francisco Bay View, a national Black newspaper, which published the photos. In the article, I discussed these new photos of the crime scene where Officer Faulkner was killed, but also analyzed the larger implications for the case of Mumia Abu-Jamal, the problem of racism in the criminal justice system, and the disturbing application of the death penalty in the United States.
To be sure, these photos are important because they suggest that someone, presumably the police, tampered with evidence at the crime scene, removed evidence and switched evidence around, perhaps out of incompetence, perhaps in order to subvert justice and bring about a particular desired outcome. We can only speculate. But we would be misled if we were to believe that these photos are the only evidence pointing to a setup, pointing to Mumia’s innocence and the need for a new trial. The photos, when viewed in combination with the other problems with the case, bolster an already convincing argument that official misconduct took place. For example:
The prosecutor had a history of excluding African American jurors, and struck 10 of 14 Black potential jurors, but only 5 of 25 whites.
In a sworn statement, a court stenographer said she overheard the trial judge, Albert Sabo, saying he would help the prosecution "fry the nigger."
For twelve years, prosecutors withheld evidence that the driver's license of a third man was found in Faulkner's pocket at the crime scene.
Defense witnesses who testified that someone other than Abu-Jamal killed Faulkner were intimidated.
Five of the seven members of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, which denied his appeal, received campaign contributions from the Fraternal Order of Police, the primary group that has advocated for the execution of Mumia, whom they regard as an unrepentant cop killer.
It should also be noted that in 1981, the year Mumia was arrested, five men were framed by the Philadelphia Police Department for murder and exonerated years later. Two of the innocent men spent as much as 20 years in prison before their release, and one man spent 1,375 days on death row before he became a free man. A legacy of police corruption, brutality and intimidation of poor people, communities of color and political activists haunts the city to this day, at a time when better police-community relations are needed to stem a tide of gun homicides.
The case of Mumia Abu-Jamal sheds light on the racial inequities in the law. Pennsylvania’s criminal justice system is unfair and unequal. An Associated Press investigation in 2000 revealed that Blacks in Pennsylvania are more likely to receive prison sentences, or longer ones, than white defendants accused of the same crimes. Further, the black incarceration rate is 14 times that of whites, the greatest racial disparity in the nation. African Americans, 10 percent of Pennsylvania's population, are 56 percent of the inmates, with most of them coming from the city of Philadelphia.
And we cannot discuss Mumia without looking at the death penalty, given that he is the most well known death row inmate in America and the world, and his case demonstrates all that is wrong with the death penalty, a system that was not meant to be fixed because it was not meant to be fair and just. Executions are a violation of the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment, whether they take the form of beheading, stoning, gas chamber, electric chair, lethal injection, what have you. Like lynching, the death penalty is barbaric, arbitrary and infected with racism, placing an emphasis on expediency over due process. In fact, capital punishment is lynching brought into the court system, in an effort to legitimize the practice.
It is no accident that 90 percent of executions take place in the South, where Jim Crow lynchings and racial violence were the norm. It should not be surprising that the most important factor that determines whether someone will get the death penalty is the race of the victim. Over the past 30 years, an overwhelming majority of people executed in the United States - more than 80 percent - were convicted of killing a white victim, according to Amnesty International. African-Americans, however, are about half of all murder victims. And one-third of America's death row is black. And according to a study published in the Journal of Empirical Legal Studies in March 2004, a black person convicted of murdering a white victim is two and a half times as likely to be sentenced to death as a white person convicted of murdering a white victim.
And there are other inherent flaws in capital punishment. Each locality has its own standards, and each prosecutor decides whether to seek death. Only 2 percent of those who are eligible for a death sentence actually receive death. Codefendants may receive different sentences for the same crime, with one receiving death and the other receiving jail time.
Ninety-five percent of death row prisoners cannot afford an attorney and must take a court-appointed attorney, who often is overworked, underpaid, lacks experience in capital cases or, in extreme cases, falls asleep in court.
And since 1973, according to Amnesty International and the Death Penalty Information Center, 124 people in 25 states have been released from death row because they were wrongfully convicted. And we will never know how many innocent people have been sent to their deaths.
Moreover, the death penalty offends international human rights standards. Only six countries carry out 91 percent of the world’s executions: China, Iran, Pakistan, Iraq, Sudan and the United States. Indeed, you are judged by the company you keep. And we should note that Amnesty International and many others in the international community condemn capital punishment, and have called for a new trial for Mumia, based on the mountain of evidence.
In conclusion, I think of the words of Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis, who said, “Publicity is justly commended as a remedy for social and industrial diseases. Sunlight is said to be the best of disinfectants; electric light the most efficient policeman.” I believe that journalism is at its best when it seeks to get to the bottom of the matter, not regurgitate the official line and shut down the discussion. This is what is necessary for democracy and a free society. As we know in this country, accepting as fact everything that is told to us, and refusing to dig deeper, has cost lives, whether in a senseless war in Iraq or here at home. We are here to discuss the photos that demand a new trial for Mumia. But this is also bigger than Mumia, because Mumia’s case shines the light on official corruption and racism in America’s justice system, and the judicial form of lynching that is the death penalty.
Note: Below Mr. Love’s bio information you will find text taken from the information packet made available to the news media prior to and during the news conference in Philadelphia on Tuesday, December 4, 2007.
BlackCommentator.com Editorial Board member David A. Love, JD is a lawyer and prisoners’ rights advocate based in Philadelphia, and a contributor to the Progressive Media Project, McClatchy-Tribune News Service and In These Times. He contributed to the book,
States of Confinement: Policing, Detention, and Prisons (St. Martin's Press, 2000). Love is a former Amnesty International UK spokesperson, organized the first national police brutality conference as a staff member with the Center for Constitutional Rights, and served as a law clerk to two Black federal judges. His blog is davidalove.com. Click here to contact Mr. Love.
My name is David A. Love, editorial board member of BlackCommentator.com, a weekly online magazine covering issues affecting the Black community, with a monthly readership of 300,000. My Color of Law column appears weekly. I wrote an article in the October 18, 2007 edition of the Black Commentator entitled “ Photos Bolster Claims of Mumia’s Innocence and Unfair Trial.” The piece re-printed for the Independent Media Center, and the San Francisco Bay View, a national Black newspaper, which published the photos. In the article, I discussed these new photos of the crime scene where Officer Faulkner was killed, but also analyzed the larger implications for the case of Mumia Abu-Jamal, the problem of racism in the criminal justice system, and the disturbing application of the death penalty in the United States.
To be sure, these photos are important because they suggest that someone, presumably the police, tampered with evidence at the crime scene, removed evidence and switched evidence around, perhaps out of incompetence, perhaps in order to subvert justice and bring about a particular desired outcome. We can only speculate. But we would be misled if we were to believe that these photos are the only evidence pointing to a setup, pointing to Mumia’s innocence and the need for a new trial. The photos, when viewed in combination with the other problems with the case, bolster an already convincing argument that official misconduct took place. For example:
The prosecutor had a history of excluding African American jurors, and struck 10 of 14 Black potential jurors, but only 5 of 25 whites.
In a sworn statement, a court stenographer said she overheard the trial judge, Albert Sabo, saying he would help the prosecution "fry the nigger."
For twelve years, prosecutors withheld evidence that the driver's license of a third man was found in Faulkner's pocket at the crime scene.
Defense witnesses who testified that someone other than Abu-Jamal killed Faulkner were intimidated.
Five of the seven members of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, which denied his appeal, received campaign contributions from the Fraternal Order of Police, the primary group that has advocated for the execution of Mumia, whom they regard as an unrepentant cop killer.
It should also be noted that in 1981, the year Mumia was arrested, five men were framed by the Philadelphia Police Department for murder and exonerated years later. Two of the innocent men spent as much as 20 years in prison before their release, and one man spent 1,375 days on death row before he became a free man. A legacy of police corruption, brutality and intimidation of poor people, communities of color and political activists haunts the city to this day, at a time when better police-community relations are needed to stem a tide of gun homicides.
The case of Mumia Abu-Jamal sheds light on the racial inequities in the law. Pennsylvania’s criminal justice system is unfair and unequal. An Associated Press investigation in 2000 revealed that Blacks in Pennsylvania are more likely to receive prison sentences, or longer ones, than white defendants accused of the same crimes. Further, the black incarceration rate is 14 times that of whites, the greatest racial disparity in the nation. African Americans, 10 percent of Pennsylvania's population, are 56 percent of the inmates, with most of them coming from the city of Philadelphia.
And we cannot discuss Mumia without looking at the death penalty, given that he is the most well known death row inmate in America and the world, and his case demonstrates all that is wrong with the death penalty, a system that was not meant to be fixed because it was not meant to be fair and just. Executions are a violation of the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment, whether they take the form of beheading, stoning, gas chamber, electric chair, lethal injection, what have you. Like lynching, the death penalty is barbaric, arbitrary and infected with racism, placing an emphasis on expediency over due process. In fact, capital punishment is lynching brought into the court system, in an effort to legitimize the practice.
It is no accident that 90 percent of executions take place in the South, where Jim Crow lynchings and racial violence were the norm. It should not be surprising that the most important factor that determines whether someone will get the death penalty is the race of the victim. Over the past 30 years, an overwhelming majority of people executed in the United States - more than 80 percent - were convicted of killing a white victim, according to Amnesty International. African-Americans, however, are about half of all murder victims. And one-third of America's death row is black. And according to a study published in the Journal of Empirical Legal Studies in March 2004, a black person convicted of murdering a white victim is two and a half times as likely to be sentenced to death as a white person convicted of murdering a white victim.
And there are other inherent flaws in capital punishment. Each locality has its own standards, and each prosecutor decides whether to seek death. Only 2 percent of those who are eligible for a death sentence actually receive death. Codefendants may receive different sentences for the same crime, with one receiving death and the other receiving jail time.
Ninety-five percent of death row prisoners cannot afford an attorney and must take a court-appointed attorney, who often is overworked, underpaid, lacks experience in capital cases or, in extreme cases, falls asleep in court.
And since 1973, according to Amnesty International and the Death Penalty Information Center, 124 people in 25 states have been released from death row because they were wrongfully convicted. And we will never know how many innocent people have been sent to their deaths.
Moreover, the death penalty offends international human rights standards. Only six countries carry out 91 percent of the world’s executions: China, Iran, Pakistan, Iraq, Sudan and the United States. Indeed, you are judged by the company you keep. And we should note that Amnesty International and many others in the international community condemn capital punishment, and have called for a new trial for Mumia, based on the mountain of evidence.
In conclusion, I think of the words of Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis, who said, “Publicity is justly commended as a remedy for social and industrial diseases. Sunlight is said to be the best of disinfectants; electric light the most efficient policeman.” I believe that journalism is at its best when it seeks to get to the bottom of the matter, not regurgitate the official line and shut down the discussion. This is what is necessary for democracy and a free society. As we know in this country, accepting as fact everything that is told to us, and refusing to dig deeper, has cost lives, whether in a senseless war in Iraq or here at home. We are here to discuss the photos that demand a new trial for Mumia. But this is also bigger than Mumia, because Mumia’s case shines the light on official corruption and racism in America’s justice system, and the judicial form of lynching that is the death penalty.
Note: Below Mr. Love’s bio information you will find text taken from the information packet made available to the news media prior to and during the news conference in Philadelphia on Tuesday, December 4, 2007.
BlackCommentator.com Editorial Board member David A. Love, JD is a lawyer and prisoners’ rights advocate based in Philadelphia, and a contributor to the Progressive Media Project, McClatchy-Tribune News Service and In These Times. He contributed to the book,
States of Confinement: Policing, Detention, and Prisons (St. Martin's Press, 2000). Love is a former Amnesty International UK spokesperson, organized the first national police brutality conference as a staff member with the Center for Constitutional Rights, and served as a law clerk to two Black federal judges. His blog is davidalove.com. Click here to contact Mr. Love.
Wednesday, December 05, 2007
UPDATES! Picket at the Today Show tomorrow morning!
The Free Mumia Abu-Jamal Coalition (NYC) calls on everyone who can join us on Thursday December 6th at 7:15 AM to please come to 48th Street and Rockefeller Plaza. We will be picketing the planned hit job on Mumia by Maureen Faulkner and Michael Smerconish in discussing their new book, MURDERED BY MUMIA, on NBC's TODAY SHOW. We have demanded "equal time" but as yet have gotten no agreement to that by the TODAY SHOW. Stand there with us in solidarity with Mumia!
PICKET AT THE TODAY SHOW
DATE: Thursday Dec. 6th
TIME: 7:15 AM
PLACE: 48th Street and Rockefeller Plaza (between 5th and 6th Avenues)
-------------------------------------------
For Immediate Release:
Contact: Suzanne Ross (917) 584-2135
Justin Lumumba (347) 267-8259
Picket to Be At NBC's Today Show, December 6, for Innocent Man on Death Row
The New York Post's typically inflammatory language promotes confrontation outside NBC's Today Show on December 6 with their fabricated story (12/3/07) that the Free Mumia Abu-Jamal Coalition (NYC) is "threatening to storm the streets of Rockefeller Center." The Free Mumia Abu-Jamal Coalition (NYC) has called for a picket across the street from NBC on December 6 as part of a campaign to demand equal time on the Today Show, which is scheduled to host Maureen Faulkner and Michael Smerconish on that day to promote their new book, Murdered by Mumia.
In writing an article highlighting the scheduled picket at NBC, the Post never contacted the Free Mumia Abu-Jamal Coalition but, instead, provided yet another platform for Maureen Faulkner to express her desire for vengeance. Faulkner is the widow of Office Daniel Faulkner, who was killed on the night of December 9, 1981; his murder was a crime for which Mumia Abu-Jamal was convicted in a highly controversial trial. Amnesty International (AI), in a 2000 report, stated that the trial "failed to meet minimum standards safeguarding the fairness of legal proceedings" and that numerous factors "render the verdict and sentence fundamentally unsound." AI called for a new and fair trial. Michael Smerconish is a Philadelphia talk show host, long allied with the Fraternal Order of Police and its campaign for the execution of Jamal.
Pam Africa and Cortnee Anderson of International Concerned Family and Friends of Mumia Abu-Jamal spoke last Friday with Jaclyn Levine, who is producing the December 6 program. They presented information dealing with the importance, in the interest of fairness and accuracy, of getting "equal time" on the Today Show. Levine promised to get back to them, but has yet to do so.
Press reviews of the book have already referred to Jamal, an author of five published books and a recipient of hundreds of honors and awards, including Honorary Citizenship of Paris in 2004, as a "thug." Given ABC's widely denounced 20-20 "hatchet job" of Jamal in 1998, Jamal supporters anticipate a similar presentation on the Today Show. Faulkner played a key role in the 20-20 program, as well, working closely with the Fraternal Order of Police, as the producer of that show acknowledged in writing. In several interviews in the past week, Faulkner has stated unequivocally that she wants to see Jamal dead, nothing short of that, and has given a hint of the distortions and lies that are to come by stating that he had "a jury of his own choosing." Racial bias on the part of the prosecutor in the selection of the jury is a critical issue being given serious consideration by the Third Circuit Court of Appeals, where Jamal's case is current being reviewed. If racial bias is judged by this federal court as present in the selection of the jury, Jamal would be granted a new trial.
Journalistic fairness and accuracy call for "equal time" for those who have information that refutes the view that will be aired when Faulkner and Smerconish are on the show.
The Free Mumia Abu-Jamal Coalition will have a picket across the street from NBC in support of Jamal, in support of evidence that challenges what Faulkner and Smerconish regularly promulgate, and in support of fair media that allows the public to hear important information rather than only a very biased and distorted picture in a campaign for executing someone regardless of guilt or innocence.
For additional information see: www.freemumia.com or www.journalistsformumia.com.
PICKET AT THE TODAY SHOW
DATE: Thursday Dec. 6th
TIME: 7:15 AM
PLACE: 48th Street and Rockefeller Plaza (between 5th and 6th Avenues)
-------------------------------------------
For Immediate Release:
Contact: Suzanne Ross (917) 584-2135
Justin Lumumba (347) 267-8259
Picket to Be At NBC's Today Show, December 6, for Innocent Man on Death Row
The New York Post's typically inflammatory language promotes confrontation outside NBC's Today Show on December 6 with their fabricated story (12/3/07) that the Free Mumia Abu-Jamal Coalition (NYC) is "threatening to storm the streets of Rockefeller Center." The Free Mumia Abu-Jamal Coalition (NYC) has called for a picket across the street from NBC on December 6 as part of a campaign to demand equal time on the Today Show, which is scheduled to host Maureen Faulkner and Michael Smerconish on that day to promote their new book, Murdered by Mumia.
In writing an article highlighting the scheduled picket at NBC, the Post never contacted the Free Mumia Abu-Jamal Coalition but, instead, provided yet another platform for Maureen Faulkner to express her desire for vengeance. Faulkner is the widow of Office Daniel Faulkner, who was killed on the night of December 9, 1981; his murder was a crime for which Mumia Abu-Jamal was convicted in a highly controversial trial. Amnesty International (AI), in a 2000 report, stated that the trial "failed to meet minimum standards safeguarding the fairness of legal proceedings" and that numerous factors "render the verdict and sentence fundamentally unsound." AI called for a new and fair trial. Michael Smerconish is a Philadelphia talk show host, long allied with the Fraternal Order of Police and its campaign for the execution of Jamal.
Pam Africa and Cortnee Anderson of International Concerned Family and Friends of Mumia Abu-Jamal spoke last Friday with Jaclyn Levine, who is producing the December 6 program. They presented information dealing with the importance, in the interest of fairness and accuracy, of getting "equal time" on the Today Show. Levine promised to get back to them, but has yet to do so.
Press reviews of the book have already referred to Jamal, an author of five published books and a recipient of hundreds of honors and awards, including Honorary Citizenship of Paris in 2004, as a "thug." Given ABC's widely denounced 20-20 "hatchet job" of Jamal in 1998, Jamal supporters anticipate a similar presentation on the Today Show. Faulkner played a key role in the 20-20 program, as well, working closely with the Fraternal Order of Police, as the producer of that show acknowledged in writing. In several interviews in the past week, Faulkner has stated unequivocally that she wants to see Jamal dead, nothing short of that, and has given a hint of the distortions and lies that are to come by stating that he had "a jury of his own choosing." Racial bias on the part of the prosecutor in the selection of the jury is a critical issue being given serious consideration by the Third Circuit Court of Appeals, where Jamal's case is current being reviewed. If racial bias is judged by this federal court as present in the selection of the jury, Jamal would be granted a new trial.
Journalistic fairness and accuracy call for "equal time" for those who have information that refutes the view that will be aired when Faulkner and Smerconish are on the show.
The Free Mumia Abu-Jamal Coalition will have a picket across the street from NBC in support of Jamal, in support of evidence that challenges what Faulkner and Smerconish regularly promulgate, and in support of fair media that allows the public to hear important information rather than only a very biased and distorted picture in a campaign for executing someone regardless of guilt or innocence.
For additional information see: www.freemumia.com or www.journalistsformumia.com.
Sunday, December 02, 2007
Pam Africa Update: December 6 Protests/New Petition, Flyer, Press Conference
(Abu-Jamal-News.com)
MEDIA-ACTIVIST CAMPAIGN: Two weeks ago, Journalists for Mumia (in conjunction with The International Concerned Family and Friends of Mumia and Educators for Mumia) initiated a media-activist campaign to ensure fairness for Mumia on the Dec. 6 NBC Today Show, which is scheduled to feature Michael Smerconish and Maureen Faulkner as they release their new book titled Murdered By Mumia.
UPDATE FROM PAM AFRICA: As a result of our campaign, The Today Show scheduled a telephone conference with Pam Africa (of the ICFFMAJ) for this past Friday. Following this conference, Pam Africa reported that she spoke with the show and provided them with our Press Pack of background information on Mumia's case. The Today Show did not make an official decision regarding our request, but said they would look at the information and contact Pam Africa this week with their official response to our desire to have equal representation on The Today Show.
PROTEST AT THE TODAY SHOW: As reported at FreeMumia.com, "The Free Mumia Abu-Jamal Coalition (NYC) calls on everyone who can join us on Thursday December 6th at 7:15 AM to please come to 48th Street and Rockefeller Plaza.... We have demanded "equal time" but as yet have gotten no agreement to that by the TODAY SHOW. Stand there with us in solidarity with Mumia!"
NEW PETITION: As this campaign heats up, sending emails to The Today Show (today@msnbc.com) is more important than ever, so NBC knows that people around the word are demanding fairness, and paying close attention to the upcoming Dec. 6 show. Fortunately, a new petition assisting these efforts has just been created. Please sign onto it and share with others. Sign the petition here.
NEW FLYER: Journalists for Mumia has just completed a new flyer responding to Smerconish and Faulkner's new book. Download the flyer and spread the word!
PRESS CONFERENCE: The formal press-release announcement of Journalists for Mumia's press conference on Tuesday, November 4, in Philadelphia, at NOON, at The A-Space, 4722 Baltimore Avenue (featuring a slide show presentation of the newly discovered crime scene photos, and journalists David Lindorff & David A. Love) will be released on Sunday.
MASS DEMONSTRATION IN PHILADELPHIA DEC. 8: Download the flyer here
In Solidarity,
Hans Bennett, Journalists for Mumia
Abu-Jamal-News.com
MEDIA-ACTIVIST CAMPAIGN: Two weeks ago, Journalists for Mumia (in conjunction with The International Concerned Family and Friends of Mumia and Educators for Mumia) initiated a media-activist campaign to ensure fairness for Mumia on the Dec. 6 NBC Today Show, which is scheduled to feature Michael Smerconish and Maureen Faulkner as they release their new book titled Murdered By Mumia.
UPDATE FROM PAM AFRICA: As a result of our campaign, The Today Show scheduled a telephone conference with Pam Africa (of the ICFFMAJ) for this past Friday. Following this conference, Pam Africa reported that she spoke with the show and provided them with our Press Pack of background information on Mumia's case. The Today Show did not make an official decision regarding our request, but said they would look at the information and contact Pam Africa this week with their official response to our desire to have equal representation on The Today Show.
PROTEST AT THE TODAY SHOW: As reported at FreeMumia.com, "The Free Mumia Abu-Jamal Coalition (NYC) calls on everyone who can join us on Thursday December 6th at 7:15 AM to please come to 48th Street and Rockefeller Plaza.... We have demanded "equal time" but as yet have gotten no agreement to that by the TODAY SHOW. Stand there with us in solidarity with Mumia!"
NEW PETITION: As this campaign heats up, sending emails to The Today Show (today@msnbc.com) is more important than ever, so NBC knows that people around the word are demanding fairness, and paying close attention to the upcoming Dec. 6 show. Fortunately, a new petition assisting these efforts has just been created. Please sign onto it and share with others. Sign the petition here.
NEW FLYER: Journalists for Mumia has just completed a new flyer responding to Smerconish and Faulkner's new book. Download the flyer and spread the word!
PRESS CONFERENCE: The formal press-release announcement of Journalists for Mumia's press conference on Tuesday, November 4, in Philadelphia, at NOON, at The A-Space, 4722 Baltimore Avenue (featuring a slide show presentation of the newly discovered crime scene photos, and journalists David Lindorff & David A. Love) will be released on Sunday.
MASS DEMONSTRATION IN PHILADELPHIA DEC. 8: Download the flyer here
In Solidarity,
Hans Bennett, Journalists for Mumia
Abu-Jamal-News.com
Saturday, December 01, 2007
Journalists Decry Racism in Media Coverage of Mumia
On Thursday, November 29, Pacifica Radio/KPFK Los Angeles show Uprising Radio focused on NBC's plans to feature extremely biased coverage of Mumia's case on the December 6 edition of the Today Show. Uprising Radio highlighted the media justice campaign being organized with Educators for Mumia and The International Concerned Family and Friends of Mumia Abu-Jamal (ICFFMAJ).
Listen to the program online.
This program comes at an important time in the campaign. Pam Africa of ICFFMAJ was scheduled to talk with The Today Show to push for equal coverage. People are urged to please take a minute and contact The Today Show to express as much support as possible for these efforts.
A major demonstration is being organized in Philadelphia for December 8. Please download the flier and spread the word).
Also, Journalists for Mumia is organizing a press conference next week (DATE AND LOCATION TO BE ANNOUNCED SOON) which will feature a slide show of the newly discovered crime scene photos, Pam Africa, and several Philadelphia journalists who have covered the Abu-Jamal case.
-- Hans Bennett (Abu-Jamal-News.com)
Listen to the program online.
This program comes at an important time in the campaign. Pam Africa of ICFFMAJ was scheduled to talk with The Today Show to push for equal coverage. People are urged to please take a minute and contact The Today Show to express as much support as possible for these efforts.
A major demonstration is being organized in Philadelphia for December 8. Please download the flier and spread the word).
Also, Journalists for Mumia is organizing a press conference next week (DATE AND LOCATION TO BE ANNOUNCED SOON) which will feature a slide show of the newly discovered crime scene photos, Pam Africa, and several Philadelphia journalists who have covered the Abu-Jamal case.
-- Hans Bennett (Abu-Jamal-News.com)
Protest Today Show's twisted coverage of Mumia's Case
The Free Mumia Abu-Jamal Coalition (NYC) calls on everyone who can join us on Thursday December 6th at 7:15 AM to please come to 48th Street and Rockefeller Plaza. We will be protesting the planned hit job on Mumia by Maureen Faulkner and Michael Smerconish in discussing their new book, MURDERED BY MUMIA, on NBC's TODAY SHOW. We have demanded "equal time" but as yet have gotten no agreement to that by the TODAY SHOW. Stand there with us in solidarity with Mumia!
PROTEST AT THE TODAY SHOW
DATE: Thursday Dec. 6th
TIME: 7:15 AM
PLACE: 48th Street and Rockefeller Plaza (between 5th and 6th Avenues)
For more info or to leave a message, call (212) 330-8029.
ONA MOVE! FREE MUMIA AND ALL POLITICAL PRISONERS!
PROTEST AT THE TODAY SHOW
DATE: Thursday Dec. 6th
TIME: 7:15 AM
PLACE: 48th Street and Rockefeller Plaza (between 5th and 6th Avenues)
For more info or to leave a message, call (212) 330-8029.
ONA MOVE! FREE MUMIA AND ALL POLITICAL PRISONERS!
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
Framing An Execution Documentary Feat. Danny Glover Available For Online Viewing
Please visit the following link to view the documentary narrated by Danny Glover, Framing an Execution, which shows how the CBS news magazine 60 Minutes intentionally portrayed a dishonest and faulty version of Mumia's case.
NBC'S The Today Show is planning on carrying Mumia's story in this damaging light when they feature conservative talk show host Michael Smerconish and Maureen Faulkner, wife of Officer Daniel Faulkner, on their show this December 6th.
To view Framing An Exexution on you tube, go to http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2537462601888502694.
For More videos on Mumia visit the Free Mumia Coalition (NY) video page at: http://www.freemumia.com/IResources/videos.html
or the Journalists for Mumia youtube site at: http://youtube.com/user/journalists4mumia
NBC'S The Today Show is planning on carrying Mumia's story in this damaging light when they feature conservative talk show host Michael Smerconish and Maureen Faulkner, wife of Officer Daniel Faulkner, on their show this December 6th.
To view Framing An Exexution on you tube, go to http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2537462601888502694.
For More videos on Mumia visit the Free Mumia Coalition (NY) video page at: http://www.freemumia.com/IResources/videos.html
or the Journalists for Mumia youtube site at: http://youtube.com/user/journalists4mumia
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)