Critical new evidence in Mumia Abu-Jamal case
By Jeff Mackler
SAN FRANCISCO — Speaking at a January 23 national leadership conference in New York City, held to prepare the April 24 mass demonstrations demanding a new trial for Mumia Abu-Jamal, Abu-Jamal's chief legal counsel, Leonard Weinglass, outlined startling new information further demonstrating Jamal's innocence.
Abu-Jamal, a journalist, author and leading critic of police violence and brutality, was framed up in 1982 on charges of murdering Philadelphia police officer Daniel Faulkner. Jamal has spent the past 18 years on death row.
Weinglass, addressing some 70 leaders of the national political defence campaign at Columbia University, reported on a recent study by Professor David Baldus, an authority on race and the court system. Baldus' 1983-93 study documents the concerted efforts of Philadelphia district attorneys to exclude blacks from juries.
Blacks were 5.2 times as likely to be thrown off juries as whites, according to Baldus. In Abu-Jamal's case, the figure rose to 16 times more likely. Baldus is now studying the record of Abu-Jamal's 1982 prosecutor, Joseph McGill. Racism in the selection of jurors is a key point of contention in Abu-Jamal's case, since 11 African-Americans were removed.
Weinglass reported that internationally renowned ballistics expert Dr Peter De Forrest has discovered critical new evidence that suggests the bullet that killed Faulkner was switched. A former Philadelphia police officer told the defence that such switching was done all the time.
Weinglass also related evidence that casts doubt on the police claim that they did not know who Abu-Jamal was when he was detained at the time of the murder. The highest ranking policeman on the scene, Captain Giordano, reported that Mumia had confessed. Giordano was an officer at Benjamin Franklin High School when Abu-Jamal led the fight there to rename the school after Malcolm X. Police officer Forbes, who claimed he found Abu-Jamal's gun at the scene, also knew him.
This new information offers the defence team a powerful argument to demand access to the huge files the police admit to having on Abu-Jamal yet refuse to turn over. Previous defence efforts to access these and other files have been denied.
Weinglass presented some stunning information related to Abu-Jamal's alleged confession. Priscilla Durham, the security guard at the hospital, who, two months after the alleged murder, suddenly reported that Abu-Jamal had confessed his guilt as he lay critically wounded in the hospital, has since died.
Durham claimed at the 1982 trial that she reported this confession to another police officer, Bartelli, one day after the murder. Bartelli is dead. Another security guard who reported that he heard a confession is also dead.
A detailed report was presented by Weinglass on an individual who was reported to have been on the crime scene who may have been the person who really killed Faulkner. Two months after the murder, this same person was arrested on other charges and found in possession of a 22-calibre weapon capable of firing a bullet with a copper jacket similar to the one found on the crime scene. The copper-jacketed bullet could not have been fired by either Faulkner's or Abu-Jamal's gun.
Abu-Jamal's defenders have long argued that this information, known to the police at the time, was illegally kept from the defence. It was not presented at Abu-Jamal's 1982 trial. This fact alone provides a substantial legal basis for throwing out the entire 1982 trial.
The defence team has amassed critical evidence that reinforces Abu-Jamal's 18-year assertion of innocence and repudiates the police-orchestrated frame-up. The key fight today is for a new trial that will allow the introduction of this evidence and open the door to Abu-Jamal's freedom.
Weinglass said that the legal team will shortly file a limited writ of certiorari before the US Supreme Court. The writ will deal only with the issues of Abu-Jamal's physical exclusion from part of his trial and Judge Albert Sabo's denial of Abu-Jamal's request to serve as his own counsel.
Weinglass indicated that he does not expect the Supreme Court to agree to hear the case. While it is impossible to predict when the Supreme Court will rule, Weinglass speculated that a decision could be rendered before March or April.
A negative ruling will likely trigger the signing of a second death warrant by Pennsylvania Governor Thomas Ridge. The warrant will set a date for execution 30 days after the date of signing.
Following the likely rejection of the writ of certiorari, the legal team will immediately appeal the October 29, 1998, Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruling to refuse a retrial to the Federal District Court, the first court in the three-tiered federal judiciary system.
The single judge assigned to take the appeal will have the power to overturn the lower court's findings and order a new trial. Alternatively, the judge could reject the appeal in its entirety, a grave result that would be immediately appealed to the Court of Appeals, Third Circuit.
The Federal District Court could decide the matter sometime between June and September. An appeal to the Court of Appeals could then be decided by late 1999 or early 2000. A negative decision in this court would be appealed to the US Supreme Court, which rarely reviews such cases unless there are major constitutional issues involved.
If the US Supreme Court rules against Abu-Jamal, the decision to execute reverts to Governor Ridge. Abu-Jamal will not file an application for clemency because this requires an admission of guilt. Weinglass reported that Abu-Jamal maintains his innocence and will never change this position.
Weinglass discussed in detail the likely negative impact on all federal appeals of the 1996 Effective Death Penalty Act, the Clinton-signed legislation that severely restricts federal courts from reviewing issues of fact decided in state courts. The new law requires federal judges to defer to the facts found in state courts. This too will be challenged by the legal team.
The pope's visit to the US, according to Weinglass, will include strong statements opposing the death penalty. This can only help in Abu-Jamal's case. Although the pope will not mention Abu-Jamal directly, Weinglass reported on previous discussions with Vatican officials on Abu-Jamal's case and the reception it received.
Weinglass concluded his remarks by affirming that Abu-Jamal's life rests in the hands of his supporters' capacity to build a mass movement that cannot be ignored. He reminded the gathering that the upcoming April 24 mass mobilisations in Philadelphia, San Francisco and around the globe are a central element in this.
Write to the Mobilization to Free Mumia Abu-Jamal at 3425 Cesar Chavez St, San Francisco, CA, 94110 USA. Phone 1 415 821 0459 or fax 1 415 821 0166. Visit <http://www.mumia.org>.
[Jeff Mackler is national co-coordinator of the April 24 Millions for Mumia demonstrations and co-coordinator of the Mobilization to Free Mumia Abu-Jamal].