Who is Mumia Abu-Jamal?

Murnia Abu-Jamal is a renowned journalist
from Philadelphia who has been in prison
since 1981 and on death row since 1983 for
allegedly shooting Philadelphia police offcer
Dan Faulkner. He is known as the “Voice of
the Voiceless" for his award- winning report-
ing on police brutalty and other social and
racial epidernics that plague communites of
color in Philadelphia and throughout the
world. Muia has received intemational sup-
port over the years in his eforts to overturm
his unjust conviction.

Mumia Abu-Jamal was serving s the
President of the Association of Black
Journalists at the time of his arrest. He was a
founding member of the Philadelphia Chapter
of the Black Panther Party as a teenager.
Years later he began reporting professionally
on radio stations such as NPR, and was the
news director of Philadelphia station WHAT
Much of his jounalism called attention to the
blatant injustice and brutalty he watched
happen on a daily basis o MOVE, a revolu-
tionary organization that works to protect all
forms of fe~human, animal, plant--and the
Earth as a whole

The Scene

n 1981, Mumia worked as a cab driver at
night o supplement his income. On
December 9th he was driving his cab through
the red light district of downtown Philadelphia
ataround 4 a.m. Mumia testifies that he let
offa fare and parked near the comer of 13th
and Locust Streels. Upon hearing gunshos,
he turned and saw his brother, William Cook,
staggering in the street. Mumia exited the
cab and ran 10 the scene, where he was shot
by a uniformed police offcer and fel to the
ground, fading in and out of consciousness.
Within minutes, police arrived on the scene to
find Officer Faulkner and Mumia shot;
Faulkner died. Mumia was arrested, savagely
beaten, thrown into a paddy wagon and driv-
en'to a hospital a few blocks away (suspi

clously, it ook over 30 minutes to arrive at
the hospital). Mumia somehow survived.

The Trial

The trial began in 1982 with Judge Sabo
(who sent more people to death row than any
other judge) presiding. Mumia wished to rep-
resent himself and have John Afrca as his
legal advisor, but before jury selection had
finished, this right was revoked and an attor-
ney was forcibly appointed for him.
Throughout the trial, Mumia was accused of
distupting court proceedings and was not
allowed to attend most of his own tral. Sabo
lived up to his nickname of “Prosecutor in
Robes.”

The Evidence

“The prosecution daimed that the shot which
killed Faulkner came from Mumia Abu-Jamal's
legally registered .38-caliber weapon, contra-
dicting the medical examiner's repor that the
bulletremoved from Faulkner's brain was a
A4-caliber. This fact was kept from the jury.
Moreover, a ballistics expert found it incredible
hat police at the scene failed o test Mumia's
gun to see i has been recently fired, or [0 est
fis hands for powder residue. One of the.
most damning prosecution claims was that
Mumia confessed at the hospital. However,
this confession was not reported until nearly
two months afer December 9th, immediately
after Mumia had fled a brutality su against
the police. One of the officers who claims to
have heard the confession is Gary Wakshul
However, in his police report on that day he.
stated, “the Negro male made no comments.”
Dr. Goletta, the attending physician who was.
with Mumia the entire time, says that he never
heard Mumia speak.

The Witnesses

The star proseculion wilness, a prostitule
named Cynthia White, was someone no other
witness reported seeing at the scene. During

the il of Bily Cook (Mumia's brother) just
weeks before Mumia's trial, White gave testi-
mony completely contradictory to what she
stated at Mumia’s trial. Her testimony at Bily
Cook's trial placed someone at the scene
Who was ot there when poiice arrved. This
corroborates the other five witness accounts
that someone fled the scene. In a 1997 hear-
ing, another former prostitute, Pamela
Jenkins, testifd that White was acling as a
police informant. Other sworn testimony
revealed that witness coercion was routinely
practiced by the police. In 1995, eyewitness
Wiliam Singletary testified that police repeat-
edly tore up his inital statement-that the
shooter fled the scene--unti he finally signed
something acceptable to them. The following
year, witness Veronica Jones came forward
o testify that she had been coerced into
changing her iniial statement that two men
fled the scene. Witness Bily Cook, who was
present the whole time, has stated very clear-
Iy that Mumia is absolutely innocent.

The Sentence

Due to police manipulation of witnesses, fab-
rication of evidence, and the rights of the
defense severely denied, Mumia was found
quily. He was sentenced to death during the
penalty phase based solely on his poliical
beliefs. Mumia has been unjustly separated
from his family for twenty-two years, with the
threat of death looming over his head.

New Witnesses

n 2001, court stenographer Terri Maurer-
Carter came forward and stated that in 1982,
before Mumia's tia began, she heard Judge
‘Sabo say, "Yeah, and ' going to help them
fry the n**+*c” He was referring to Mumia
This backs up evidence of judicial bias and
racism in Mumia’s case. In the same year,
esteemed Phiadelphia journalst Linn
Washinglon stated that on the morning of
December 9th, 1981, he went to the scene (o
roport on it-and no police were present. This
backs up prior claims that police didn't handle
the crime scene properly.

In 1999, Amold Beverly confessed to kiling
Officer Faulkner. This confession is validated
by a lie detector test administered by eminent
polygraph expert Charles Honts. Despite con-
crete evidence supporting this confession, the
Philadelphia District Attorey has refused to
investigate, and the courts have not even
allowed it to be heard. The injustice continues.

The Decisions

On December 18th, 2001, Judge Yohn
issued a decision on the Habeas Corpus peti-
tion in Federal District Cour. He upheld
Mumials unjust conviction, but challenged the
sentencing phase (the death sentence)

He ordered the State of Pennsylvania to
commence new sentencing proceedings with-
in 180 days and ruled that it s unconsiitu-
ional to require that a jury' finding of circum-
stances miligating against determining a sen-
tence of death be unanimous

Both the prosecutor and Mumia's attorney
were unhappy with the decision and
appealed

On May 17, 2007, the Third Gircuit Court
heard oral arguments regarding the reinstate-
ment of the death sentence and an appeal
from Mumia's aitomey stafing that the trial
was unfair because of racial bias in jury
selection. One year later, on March 27, 2008,
the courts upheld the Yohn decision but
denied the racil bias claim.

Mumia attempted to petiion the courls for a
reconsideration of the decision by the ful
panel of twelve judges, but that request was
denied.

As it now stands, Mumia is still working
through the appeal process and is rying o
get a new trial. While the courts granied a
new jury trial on the question of penalty fe
or death, Mumia's attormeys want a tial wore
the new evidence can be adited in evi-
dence. They will work tirelessly unti they
achieve that goal and his freedom.

Free Mumia Abu-Jamal

Write to Mumia at:

Smart Communications/PA DOC
Mumia Abu-Jamal #AM8335

SCI Mahanoy

Post Office Box 33028

St Petersburg, Florida 33733

Local groups supporting Mumia:
NYC Anarchist Black Cross
Post Office Box 110034
Brooklyn, New York 11211
nycabe@riseup.net
nycabe.wordpress.com
facebookitwitter/instagram
@nycabc

Free Mumia Abu-Jamal Coalition
Post Office Box 16, College Station
New York, New York 10030
info@freemumia.com
freemumia.com

twitter @MumiaAbuJamal

New York City Jericho Movement
Post Office Box 670927

Bronx, New York 10467
nycjericho@gmail.com
jerichony.org

Bring Mumia Home Campaign
bringmumiahome @grmail.com
bringmumiahome.com

twitter @bringmumiahome

Mumia
Abu-Jamal

Voice of the Voiceless
Serving Life In Prison