http://anarchism.tribe.net/thread/fa388206-1ba5-4c0d-bda0-5b3b8d97a8c4?format=rss Tribe.net. Local Connections http://anarchism.tribe.net/thread/fa388206-1ba5-4c0d-bda0-5b3b8d97a8c4#535d41cf-d295-4c05-9a89-0fef9b04ed21 Philadelphia Officials Again Seek Mumia’s Execution by Jeff Mackler / November 2008 http://www.socialistaction.org/mackler30.htm In late October 2008 the Philadelphia District Attorney’s office announced that it would again appeal the 2001 Federal District Court decision by William H. Yohn that invalidated the death sentence imposed at Mumia Abu-Jamal’s 1982 frame-up trial presided over by "hanging judge" Albert Sabo. Yohn ruled at that time that Judge Sabo had improperly instructed the jury by informing them that they had to be unanimous on each and every mitigating circumstance in order to impose a sentence of life in prison rather than execution by lethal injection. Sabo had sentenced more defendants to execution, the vast majority Black, than any other sitting judge in the country. Yohn ordered Philadelphia officials to conduct a new sentencing hearing with the proper jury instructions within 180 days. That order has been delayed for the past eight years pending the outcome of the city’s appeal. While akin to a new trial, including the right of the defendant to introduce evidence of innocence, the procedure only allows the jury to impose a sentence of life in prison or execution. A verdict of innocence and freedom is excluded since Mumia’s frame-up 1982 trial resulted in a guilty verdict. Jamal is an awarding-winning journalist, leading critic of the racist Philadelphia Police Department, and perhaps the world’s most well-known innocent political prisoner. He was falsely convicted in 1982 of the murder of police Officer Daniel Faulkner. Massive evidence of Mumia’s innocence has been systematically excluded from the legal proceedings that have marked this racist persecution for the past 26 years. Having failed in its first effort to reverse Yohn’s ruling before the U.S. Court of Appeals, Third Circuit, Philadelphia officials announced that they would meet the Nov. 19 deadline and ask the U.S. Supreme Court to reverse the two previous court federal decisions and order Mumia’s execution. While many legal specialists as well as Third Circuit precedents indicate that a re-imposition of the death sentence by the Supreme Court is highly unlikely, the experience of the past 26 years teaches that the "law of the land" is subordinate to the single-minded institutional hatred of Mumia Abu-Jamal, a leading revolutionary critic of capitalist society. The desire to demonstrate that the criminal "justice" system has acted properly at all junctures of the case weighs heavily on the system’s most ardent defenders. A case in point is the recent interview with Barack Obama by right-wing Philadelphia talk-show host Michael Smerconish—co-author of the new book, "Murdered by Mumia" and a major advocate for executing Mumia. Smerconish asked Obama where he stood. Obama responded that while he didn’t know much about the case, "let just me lay out a very clear principle: In my mind if someone killed a police officer, they deserve the death penalty or life in prison" (Philadelphia Inquirer, Oct. 10, 2008). It is curious that the diplomatic Obama did not respond to Smerconish, a former Republican recently turned Obama supporter, "if someone is innocent, they should be freed." Obama might even have pointed out, "There is significant evidence of his innocence and even more evidence that the court’s own precedents have been violated." But this would be too much to expect from a candidate wedded to a system in which institutional racism is the norm. If the past record of misapplication of the law to Mumia’s case continues as it has during the past 26 years, a Supreme Court decision ordering his execution cannot be excluded, however unlikely it might be from a "legal" point of view. In his dissenting opinion before the Third Circuit, Judge Thomas Ambro, for example, expressed his annoyance with his colleagues’ blind eye to their own previous rulings when he wrote, "I see no reason why we should not afford Abu-Jamal the courtesy of our precedents." Ambro’s dissent referred to the court’s application of the historic 1986 Batson v. Kentucky ruling, which held that the exclusion of Black jurors based on race was unconstitutional. Out-voted by 2-1 in the Third Circuit, Ambro stated that the majority’s decision, "goes against the grain of our prior actions." Indeed, the Third Circuit’s anti-Batson ruling violates the most recent Supreme Court decision on the same issue, which held that the exclusion of a single Black juror on account of race necessitates a new trial. In Mumia’s case 11 Blacks were excluded! Nothing can be taken for granted today. Mumia’s life is still very much on the line. Mumia’s legal team is now seeking to reverse the Third Circuit decision denying him a new trial. His lead counsel, Robert R. Bryan, was recently successful in extending the deadline for the filing of an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court to Dec. 19. The Supreme Court has no legal obligation to certify that it will even hear Mumia’s final appeal. Indeed, it rejects some 95 percent of the 2500 petitions it receives in death penalty cases every year. This "killing machine" is driven forward by a series of laws and court decisions that severely restrict appeal rights in the federal courts, with the infamous 1996 Clinton-signed Anti-terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act (AEDPA) being first on the list. This heinous legislation requires federal courts to grant a "presumption of correctness" to state court findings of fact—in this case, the findings of the overtly racist Judge Albert Sabo. It was designed to make state level decisions "effective," that is, virtually totally immune to federal appeal. Similar court decisions, applied to Mumia in the past and to Troy Davis today, include the 1993 Supreme Court decision in Herrera v. Collins, holding that "innocence is no defense" and that it is trumped by "timeliness." Both laws were designed to facilitate the execution of innocent people, mostly oppressed nationalities. According to Herrera, evidence of innocence that is presented beyond whatever state statutory deadlines have been put into place is inadmissible. In the case of Troy Davis, whose life now hangs in the balance, seven of the nine so-called witnesses who testified against him have recanted their testimony and stated that it was originally given under police pressure. The Davis case is among the most blatant applications of capitalist law today. Eight years ago, Gary Graham was executed in Texas, although his post-deadline evidence of innocence included several extremely credible eyewitnesses proving that he was nowhere near the murder scene and a county sheriff who demolished the prosecution’s murder-weapon theory with irrefutable evidence. Mumia is alive today only because a broad and unrelenting national and international movement has been constructed in his defense. While Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell has pledged to sign a third warrant for Mumia’s execution (if the Supreme Court reverses its previous legal precedents), Mumia’s supporters are pressing forward with a public campaign that has captured the imagination of millions who cherish human rights and freedom. The recent publication of J. Patrick O’Connor’s book, "The Framing of Mumia Abu-Jamal," has been acclaimed across the country and cited in The New York Times, a publication that has previously failed to publish any favorable material on Mumia’s case. In late October, O’Connor spoke at 13 public meetings and radio and television appearances in California organized by the Mobilization to Free Mumia Abu-Jamal. These will be followed this month by meetings organized in Connecticut and in New York. Also, a new award-winning documentary, "In Prison My Whole Life," recently purchased by the Sundance Channel, is to be premiered on HBO-TV in the coming months and then scheduled for local distribution across the country. Mumia’s national defense network, led by the International Concerned Family and Friends of Mumia Abu-Jamal, has set Saturday, Dec. 6, for local protests across the country. A victory for Mumia and his freedom would be a victory for democratic rights for everyone. A free Mumia will contribute immensely to the power of the mass movements that will inevitably arise to challenge the foundations of the present system of war, racism, poverty, and corruption. For further information contact, (West Coast) The Mobilization to Free Mumia Abu-Jamal: (510) 268-9429, freemumia.org, alerts@freemumia.org. (East Coast) ICFFMAJ, (215) 476-8812, www.freemumia.org or www.Abu-Jamal-News.com. Also, join the Free Mumia Tribe http://freemumia.tribe.net/ Sun, 30 Nov 2008 20:28:31 GMT http://anarchism.tribe.net/thread/fa388206-1ba5-4c0d-bda0-5b3b8d97a8c4#535d41cf-d295-4c05-9a89-0fef9b04ed21 $item.owner.firstName 2008-11-30T20:28:31Z