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Mumia Abu-Jamal: Court Refuses to Reinstate Death Sentence | 12 comments (12 topical)

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Pardon Is Not in the Cards (5.00 / 2) (#8)
by Peter G on Thu Mar 27, 2008 at 09:45:31 PM EST
Mumia abu-Jamal was a local NPR radio journalist who was also a political activist.  He was convicted in the local court here in Philadelphia of cold-bloodedly killing a police officer, whom abu-Jamal apparently coincidentally came upon while the cop was arresting and allegedly brutalizing his brother.  (Today's court decision comes from the federal appeals court because the case is under review on federal habeas corpus, not because the underlying case involved a federal crime.)  The trial was so unfair and infected (deliberately, it seems, by the DA's office) with political and racial prejudice, starting with the jury selection process and continuing to the sentencing hearing, that it is impossible to weigh the evidence and feel you have determined the truth.  The case for doubt is effectively and fair-mindedly martialled in Northeastern Law School Prof. Daniel Williams' book, Executing Justice.  Governor Rendell was the District Attorney of Philadelphia at the time of the trial,  and before that was chief of the homicide division of the DA's office.  Rendell is the one who decided to seek the death penalty in this case and who supervised the trial.  The clemency decision, if it comes to that, will not be his.  In Philadelphia, where I am, the commitment to the Mumia "cause" is less than in many places, but the sentiment that he didn't receive a fair trial on either guilt or penalty is widespread.

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Mumia Abu-Jamal: Court Refuses to Reinstate Death Sentence | 12 comments (12 topical)

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