Supreme Court Upholds Mumia Appeal: Death Sentence Was Unconstitutional

Supreme Court Upholds Mumia Appeal: Death Sentence Was Unconstitutional

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Philadelphia Tribune, News Report, Larry Miller, Posted: Oct 11, 2011

 
The legal wrestling over the death penalty case of Mumia Abu-Jamal, convicted for the killing of a Philadelphia police officer, took another turn when the Supreme Court of the United States rejected a request by the Philadelphia District Attorney to overturn the federal appeals court’s decision declaring the defendant’s death sentence unconstitutional.

The decision was released today — leaving the District Attorney’s Office with only two options, to seek another sentencing hearing with a new jury or allow the case to default to Abu-Jamal automatically being sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

“The District Attorney will not be making any comments on today’s Supreme Court ruling in the Mumia Abu-Jamal case. The District Attorney along with members of the office’s Law Division need to determine the next course of action in this case and no decision will be made today,” said Tasha Jamerson, spokesperson for the DA’s Office.

In 2001, Judge William H. Yohn Jr., upheld Abu-Jamal’s conviction but stated that instructions to the jury regarding the death penalty were unclear. Yohn ordered a new sentencing hearing that has been contested ever since. Four times the federal courts have determined that the jury was misled about the process for considering evidence supporting a life or death sentence.

Mumia Abu-Jamal was convicted in 1982 for the murder of police officer Daniel Faulkner on December 9, 1981 in the vicinity of 13th and Locust Streets. Since then the case has been boiling in controversy over Abu-Jamal’s innocence or guilt.

“Like all Americans, Mr. Abu-Jamal was entitled to a proper proceeding that takes into account the many substantial reasons why death was an inappropriate sentence,” said Professor Judith Ritter of the Widener Law School, one of the attorneys representing the defendant. “Our system should never condone an execution that stems from a trial in which the jury was improperly instructed on the law.”
 

Comments

 

Anonymous

Posted Oct 15 2011

This man needs to serve his sentence. The sentence was imposed on him by a jury of his peers, a jury that contrary to popular belief, HE HELPED PERSONALLY SELECT. There was no personally selected jury for Officer Faulkner. He was executed in the street by MUMIA (read a transcript, people! Your anti-death penalty poster boy is a cold blooded executioner.) The utter disregard for the facts is what is wrong with the justice system in this particular case.

Anonymous

Posted Oct 15 2011

Brother Mumia Abu- Jamal has infurated the Invisible Gangsters in the gov-cartel ,therefore ,they would not forgive him but we the people of the world Know tha he is been frame .

Anonymous

Posted Oct 15 2011

Framed? By three different people who didn't know each other who, mere moments after the shooting, went over to three different officers and reported seeing him stand over the Daniel Faulkner and shoot him in the face? With HIS gun that was registered to him that HE purchased two years prior to the shooting? READ A TRANSCRIPT PEOPLE. Try speaking intelligently.

Or hey...here's an idea....why not ask "brother Mumia" to explain how it is he came to be sitting there with a bullet in him that night a few feet away from a slain officer. An explanation he's NEVER bothered to offer in 30 years of proclaiming his "innocence". Nor has his brother who stood by and watched the entire event.

Anonymous

Posted Oct 15 2011

Framed? By three different people who didn't know each other who, mere moments after the shooting, went over to three different officers and reported seeing him stand over Daniel Faulkner and shoot him in the face? With HIS gun that was registered to him that HE purchased two years prior to the shooting? READ A TRANSCRIPT PEOPLE. Try speaking intelligently.

Or hey...here's an idea....why not ask "brother Mumia" to explain how it is he came to be sitting there with a bullet in him that night a few feet away from a slain officer. An explanation he's NEVER bothered to offer in 30 years of proclaiming his "innocence". Nor has his brother who stood by and watched the entire event.

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