June 16, 2009
Citing withheld evidence, supporters of Mumia Abu-Jamal call for civil rights investigation
by Hans Bennett
The facts of the Abu-Jamal/Faulkner case are highly contested, but all sides agree on certain key points: Abu-Jamal was moonlighting as a taxi-driver on Dec. 9, 1981, when, shortly before 4 a.m., he saw his brother, William “Billy” Cook, in an altercation with Officer Faulkner after Faulkner had pulled over Cook’s car at the corner of 13th and Locust streets, downtown Philadelphia. Abu-Jamal approached the scene.
Minutes later when police arrived, Faulkner had been shot dead, and Abu-Jamal had been shot in the chest. The bullet removed from Faulkner, reportedly a .38, was officially too damaged to match it to the legally registered .38 caliber gun that Abu-Jamal says he carried as a taxi driver, after he was robbed several times on the job. Further, Amnesty International has criticized the official “failure of the police to test Abu-Jamal’s gun, hands, and clothing” for gunshot residue as “deeply troubling.”
Abu-Jamal has always maintained his innocence, and today still fights the conviction from his death-row cell in Waynesburg, Penn., where he also records weekly radio commentaries and has now written six books.
Recently, Abu-Jamal had petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to review the U.S. Third Circuit Court ruling of March 27, 2008, which rejected his bid, based on three issues, for a new guilt-phase trial. One issue was that of racially discriminatory jury selection, based on the 1986 case Batson v. Kentucky, on which the three-judge panel split 2-1, with Judge Thomas Ambro dissenting.
Ambro argued that prosecutor Joseph McGill’s use of 10 out of his 15 peremptory strikes to remove otherwise acceptable African-American jurors was itself enough evidence of racial discrimination to grant Abu-Jamal a preliminary hearing that could have led to a new trial. In denying Abu-Jamal this preliminary hearing, Ambro argued that the court was creating new rules that were being exclusively applied to Abu-Jamal’s case. The denial “goes against the grain of our prior actions … I see no reason why we should not afford Abu-Jamal the courtesy of our precedents,” wrote Ambro.
The phrase “Mumia exception” was first coined by Linn Washington Jr., a Philadelphia Tribune columnist and professor of journalism at Temple University, who has covered this story since the day of Abu-Jamal’s 1981 arrest. Washington criticizes the Third Circuit’s ruling against Abu-Jamal’s claim that Judge Sabo had treated him unfairly at the 1995-97 Post-Conviction Relief Act (PCRA) hearings, which was another issue the Circuit Court had considered. Citing “the mound of legal violations in this case,” Washington says “the continuing refusal of U.S. courts to equally apply the law in the Abu-Jamal case constitutes a stain on America’s image internationally.”
Launched campaign cites withheld evidence
The Philadelphia Inquirer has reported that supporters of Mumia Abu-Jamal are responding to the March 2009 U.S. Supreme Court ruling by launching a campaign calling for a federal civil rights investigation into Abu-Jamal’s case. The campaign’s supporters include the Riverside Church’s Prison Ministry, actress Ruby Dee, professor Cornel West and U.S. Congressman Charles Rangel, who is chairman of the House Committee on Ways and Means.
In 2004, the NAACP passed a resolution supporting a new trial for Abu-Jamal, and campaign supporters will be gathering to publicize the civil rights campaign at the upcoming NAACP National Convention in New York City July 11-16 and to pressure the NAACP to honor their earlier resolutions by actively supporting the current campaign seeking an investigation. Supporters will then be in Washington, D.C., on July 22 to lobby their elected officials and, in mid-September, they’ll return to Washington, D.C., for a major press conference.
Thousands of signatures have been collected for a public letter to U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, which reads: “Inasmuch as there is no other court to which Abu-Jamal can appeal for justice, we turn to you for remedy of a 27-year history of gross violations of U.S. constitutional law and international standards of justice.” The letter cites Holder’s recent investigation into the case of former Sen. Ted Stevens, which led to all charges against him being dropped: “You were specifically outraged by the fact that the prosecution withheld information critical to the defense’s argument for acquittal, a violation clearly committed by the prosecution in Abu-Jamal’s case. Mumia Abu-Jamal, though not a U.S. Senator of great wealth and power, is a Black man revered around the world for his courage, clarity and commitment and deserves no less than Senator Stevens.”
Supporters will be gathering to publicize the campaign for a federal civil rights investigation into Abu-Jamal’s case at the upcoming NAACP National Convention in New York City July 11-16.
Several campaigns seeking a civil rights investigation into the Abu-Jamal case have been launched since 1995, at which time the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) was one of many groups that publicly supported an investigation. In a 1995 letter written independently of the CBC, Reps. Chaka Fattah, Ron Dellums, Cynthia McKinney, Maxine Waters and John Conyers – now chairman of the House Judiciary Committee – stated, “There is ample evidence that Mr. Abu-Jamal’s constitutional rights were violated, that he did not receive a fair trial, and that he is, in fact, innocent.”
One of the 2009 campaign’s organizers is Dr. Suzanne Ross, a spokesperson for the Free Mumia Abu-Jamal Coalition of New York City.
Citing Andrew Fois’ letter, Ross argues that the “continued denial of justice to Mumia in the federal courts, as documented by dissenting Judge Thomas Ambro,” is evidence of an “ongoing conspiracy” and thus merits an investigation. “Throughout the history of this case, we were always told ‘Wait until we get to the federal courts. They will surely overturn the racism and gross misconduct of Judge Sabo,’ but we never got even a preliminary hearing on the issue considered most winnable: racial bias in jury selection, the so called Batson issue.”
Ross also criticizes the Third Circuit’s denial of Abu-Jamal’s claim that Judge Sabo was unfair at the 1995-97 PCRA hearings and considers this denial to be further evidence of an “ongoing conspiracy.” Ross argues that the courts’ continued affirmation of Sabo’s rulings during the PCRA hearings and Sabo’s ultimate ruling that nothing presented at the PCRA hearings was significant enough to merit a new trial serves to legitimize numerous injustices throughout Abu-Jamal’s case.
Specifically referring to the issue of withheld evidence that was central to the case of former Sen. Ted Stevens, organizer Suzanne Ross identifies five key instances in Abu-Jamal’s case where “evidence was withheld that could have led to Mumia’s acquittal.” The DA’s office withheld two items from Abu-Jamal’s defense: the actual location of the driver’s license application found in Officer Faulkner’s pocket and Pedro Polakoff’s crime scene photos. Then, at the request of prosecutor McGill, Judge Sabo ruled to block three items from the jury: prosecution eyewitness Robert Chobert’s probation status and criminal history; testimony from defense eyewitness Veronica Jones about police attempts to solicit false testimony; and testimony from Police Officer Gary Waskshul.
DA suppresses evidence about Kenneth Freeman
Central to Schiffmann and O’Connor’s argument was the presence of a driver’s license application for one Arnold Howard, which was found in the front pocket of Officer Faulkner’s shirt. Abu-Jamal’s defense would not learn about this until 13 years later, because the police and DA’s office had failed to notify them about the application’s crucial location. Journalist Linn Washington argues that this failure was “a critical and deliberate omission” and “a major violation of fair trial rights and procedures. If the appeals process had any semblance of fairness, this misconduct alone should have won a new trial for Abu-Jamal.”
More importantly, Washington says, “This evidence provides strong proof of a third person at the scene along with Faulkner and Billy Cook. The prosecution case against Abu-Jamal rests on the assertion that Faulkner encountered a lone Cook minutes before Abu-Jamal’s arrival on the scene, but Faulkner got that application from somebody other than Cook, who had his own license.”
At the 1995 PCRA hearing, Arnold Howard testified that he had loaned his temporary, non-photo license to Kenneth Freeman, who was Billy Cook’s business partner and close friend. Further, Howard stated that police came to his house early in the morning on Dec. 9, 1981, and brought him to the police station for questioning because he was suspected of being “the person who had run away” from the scene, but he was released after producing a 4 a.m. receipt from a drugstore across town – which provided an alibi – and telling them that he had loaned the application to Freeman, who Howard reports was also at the police station that morning.
Also pointing to Freeman’s presence in the car with Cook, O’Connor and Schiffmann cite prosecution witness Cynthia White’s testimony at Cook’s separate trial for charges of assaulting Faulkner, where White describes both a “driver” and a “passenger” in Cook’s VW. Also notable, investigative journalist Dave Lindorff’s book (“Killing Time: An Investigation into the Death Row Case of Mumia Abu-Jamal,” 2003) features an interview with Cook’s lawyer, Daniel Alva, in which Alva says that Cook had confided to him within days of the shooting that Freeman had been with him that morning.
Linn Washington argues that “this third person at the crime scene is consistent with eyewitness accounts of the shooter fleeing the scene. Remember that accounts from both prosecution and defense witnesses confirm the existence of a fleeing shooter. Abu-Jamal was arrested at the scene, critically wounded. He did not run away and return in a matter of seconds.” Eyewitnesses Robert Chobert, Dessie Hightower, Veronica Jones, Deborah Kordansky, William Singletary and Marcus Cannon all reported, at various times, that they saw one or more men run away from the scene.
O’Connor writes that “some of the eyewitnesses said this man had an Afro and wore a green army jacket. Freeman did have an Afro and he perpetually wore a green army jacket. Freeman was tall and burly, weighing about 225 pounds at the time.” Then there’s eyewitness Robert Harkins, whom prosecutor McGill did not call as a witness. O’Connor postulates that the prosecutor made that decision because Harkins’ account of a struggle between Faulkner and the shooter that caused Faulkner to fall on his hands and knees before Faulkner was shot “demolished the version of the shooting that the state’s other witnesses rendered at trial.” O’Connor writes further that “Harkins described the shooter as a little taller and heavier than the 6-foot, 200-pound Faulkner,” which excludes the 6-foot-1-inch, 170-pound Abu-Jamal.
Regarding the police harassment and intimidation of Freeman, which continued after the arrest of Abu-Jamal, Washington adds: “It is significant to note that the night after the Faulkner shooting, the newsstand that Freeman built and operated at 16th and Chestnut Streets in Center City burned to the ground. In news media accounts of this arson, police sources openly boasted to reporters that the arsonist was probably a police officer. Witnesses claimed to see officers fleeing the scene right before the fire was noticed. Needless to say, that arson resulted in no arrests.”
Dave Lindorff argues that the police clearly “had their eye on Freeman,” because “only two months after Faulkner’s shooting, Freeman was arrested in his home, where he was found hiding in his attic armed with a .22 caliber pistol, explosives and a supply of ammunition. At that time, he was not charged with anything.” O’Connor and Schiffmann argue that police intimidation ultimately escalated to the point where police themselves murdered Freeman.
The morning of May 14, 1985, Freeman’s body was found: naked, bound and with a drug needle in his arm. His cause of death was officially declared a “heart attack.” The date of Freeman’s death is significant because the night before his body was found, the police had orchestrated a military-style siege on the MOVE organization’s West Philadelphia home. Police had fired over 10,000 rounds of ammunition in 90 minutes and used a State Police helicopter to drop a C-4 bomb – illegally supplied by the FBI – on MOVE’s roof, which started a fire that destroyed the entire city block. The MOVE Commission later documented that police had shot at MOVE family members when they tried to escape the fire: In all, six adults and five children were killed.
DA suppresses Pedro Polakoff’s crime scene photos
On Dec. 6, 2008, several hundred protesters gathered outside the Philadelphia District Attorney’s office, where Pam Africa, coordinator of the International Concerned Family and Friends of Mumia Abu-Jamal, spoke about the newly discovered crime scene photos taken by press photographer Pedro Polakoff. Africa cited Polakoff’s statements today that he approached the DA’s office with the photos in 1981, 1982 and 1995 but that the DA had completely ignored him.
Polakoff states that because he had believed Abu-Jamal was guilty, he had no interest in approaching the defense, and never did. Consequently, neither the 1982 jury nor the defense ever saw Polakoff’s photos. “The DA deliberately kept evidence out,” declared Africa. “Someone should be arrested for withholding evidence in a murder trial.”
Advocacy groups called Educators for Mumia and Journalists for Mumia explain in their fact sheet, “21 FAQs,” that Polakoff’s photos were first discovered by German author Michael Schiffmann in May 2006 and published that fall in his book, “Race Against Death.” One of Polakoff’s photos was first published in the U.S. by the San Francisco Bay View newspaper on Oct. 24, 2007.
Since May, 2007, www.Abu-Jamal-News.com has displayed four of Polakoff’s photos, making the following points:
Photo 1: Mishandling the Guns – Officer James Forbes holds both Abu-Jamal’s and Faulkner’s guns in his bare hand and touches the metal parts. This contradicts his later court testimony that he had preserved the ballistics evidence by not touching the metal parts.
Photos 2 and 3: The Moving Hat – Faulkner’s hat is moved from the top of Billy Cook’s VW and placed on the sidewalk for the official police photo.
Photo 4: The Missing Taxi – Prosecution witness Robert Chobert testified that he was parked directly behind Faulkner’s car, but the space is empty in the photo.
The Missing Divots – In all of Polakoff’s photos of the sidewalk where Faulkner was found, there are no large bullet divots, or destroyed chunks of cement, which should be visible in the pavement if the prosecution scenario was accurate. According to that account, Abu-Jamal shot down at Faulkner – and allegedly missed several times – while Faulkner was on his back. Also, citing the official police photo, Michael Schiffmann writes: “It is thus no question any more whether the scenario presented by the prosecution at Abu-Jamal’s trial is true, because it is physically impossible.”
Pedro P. Polakoff was a Philadelphia freelance photographer who reports having arrived at the crime scene about 12 minutes after the shooting was first reported on police radio and at least 10 minutes before the arrival of the Mobile Crime Detection Unit that handles crime scene forensics and photographs. In Schiffmann’s interview with him, Polakoff recounted that “all the officers present expressed the firm conviction that Abu-Jamal had been the passenger in Billy Cook’s VW and had fired and killed Faulkner by a single shot fired from the passenger seat of the car.” Polakoff bases this on police statements made to him directly and from his having overheard their conversations.
Polakoff states that this early police opinion was apparently the result of their interviews of three other witnesses who were still present at the crime scene: a parking lot attendant, a drug-addicted woman and another woman. None of those eyewitnesses, however, have appeared in any report presented to the courts by the police or the prosecution.
It is undisputed that Abu-Jamal approached from across the street and was not the passenger in Billy Cook’s car. Schiffmann argues that Polakoff’s personal account strengthens the argument that the actual shooter was Billy Cook’s passenger Kenneth Freeman, who, Schiffmann postulates, fled the scene before police arrived.
Robert Chobert’s legal status withheld from jury
At prosecutor Joseph McGill’s request, Judge Albert Sabo blocked Abu-Jamal’s defense from telling the 1982 jury that key prosecution eyewitness, taxi driver Robert Chobert, was on probation for throwing a molotov cocktail into a school yard, for pay. Sabo justified this by ruling that Chobert’s offense was not crimen falsi, i.e., a crime of deception. Consequently, the jury never heard about this, nor that on the night of Abu-Jamal’s arrest, Chobert had been illegally driving on a suspended license (revoked for a DWI). This probation violation could have given him up to 30 years in prison, so he was extremely vulnerable to pressure from the police. Notably, at the later 1995 PCRA hearing, Chobert testified that his probation had never been revoked, even though he continued to drive his taxi illegally through 1995.
At the 1982 trial, Chobert testified that he was in his taxi, which he had parked directly behind Faulkner’s police car, and was writing in his log book when he heard the first gunshot and looked up. Chobert alleged that while he did not see a gun in Abu-Jamal’s hand, nor a muzzle flash, he did see Abu-Jamal standing over Faulkner, saw Abu-Jamal’s hand “jerk back” several times, and heard shots after each “jerk.” After the shooting, Chobert stated that he got out and approached the scene.
Damaging Chobert’s credibility, however, is evidence suggesting that Chobert may have lied about his location at the time of Faulkner’s death. As noted earlier, the newly discovered Polakoff crime scene photos show that the space where Chobert testified to being parked directly behind Officer Faulkner’s car was actually empty.
Yet even more evidence suggests he lied about his location. While prosecution eyewitness Cynthia White is the only witness to testify seeing Chobert’s taxi parked behind Faulkner’s police car, no official eyewitness reported seeing White at the scene. Furthermore, Chobert’s taxi is missing both from White’s first sketch of the crime scene given to police (Defense Exhibit D-12) and from a later one (Prosecution Exhibit C-35). In a 2001 affidavit, private investigator George Michael Newman says that in a 1995 interview, Chobert told Newman that Chobert was actually parked around the corner, on 13th Street, north of Locust Street, and did not even see the shooting.
Amnesty International documents that both Chobert and White “altered their descriptions of what they saw, in ways that supported the prosecution’s version of events.” Chobert first told police that the shooter simply “ran away,” but after he had identified Abu-Jamal at the scene, he said the shooter had run away 30 to 35 “steps” before he was caught. At trial, Chobert changed this distance to 10 “feet,” which was closer to the official police account that Abu-Jamal was found just a few feet away from Officer Faulkner.
Nevertheless, Chobert did stick to a few statements in his trial testimony that contradicted the prosecution’s scenario. For example, Chobert declared that he did not see the apparently unrelated Ford car that, according to official reports, was parked in front of Billy Cook’s VW. Chobert also claimed that the altercation happened behind Cook’s VW (it officially happened in front of Cook’s VW), that Chobert did not see Abu-Jamal get shot or see Officer Faulkner fire his gun, and that the shooter was “heavyset” – estimating 200-225 pounds. Abu-Jamal weighed 170 pounds.
The attempts to silence Veronica Jones
Veronica Jones was working as a prostitute at the crime scene on Dec. 9, 1981. She first told police on Dec. 15, 1981, that she had seen two men “jogging” away from the scene before police arrived. As a defense witness at the 1982 trial, Jones denied having made that statement; however, later in her testimony she started to describe a pre-trial visit from police: “They were getting on me telling me I was in the area and I seen Mumia, you know, do it. They were trying to get me to say something that the other girl [Cynthia White] said. I couldn’t do that.” Jones then explicitly testified that police had offered to let her and White “work the area if we tell them” what they wanted to hear regarding Abu-Jamal’s guilt.
At this point, prosecutor McGill interrupted Jones and moved to block her account, calling her testimony “absolutely irrelevant.” Judge Sabo agreed to block the line of questioning and strike the testimony and then ordered the jury to disregard Jones’ statement.
The DA and Sabo’s efforts to silence Jones continued through to the later PCRA hearings that started in 1995. Having been unable to locate Jones earlier, the defense found Jones in 1996, and, over the DA’s protests, obtained permission from the Pennsylvania Supreme Court to extend the PCRA hearings for Jones’ testimony. Sabo vehemently resisted – arguing that there was not sufficient proof of her unavailability in 1995. However, in 1995, Sabo had refused to order disclosure of Jones’ home address to the defense team.
Over Sabo’s objections, the defense returned to the state Supreme Court, which ordered Sabo to conduct a full evidentiary hearing. Sabo’s attempts to silence Jones continued as she took the stand. He immediately threatened her with five-10 years imprisonment if she testified to having perjured herself in 1982. In defiance, Jones persisted with her testimony that she had in fact lied in 1982, when she had denied her original account to police that she had seen two men “leave the scene.”
Jones testified that she had changed her version of events after being visited by two detectives in prison, where she was being held on charges of robbery and assault. Urging her to both finger Abu-Jamal as the shooter and to retract her statement about seeing two men “run away,” the detectives stressed that she faced up to 10 years in prison and the loss of her children if convicted. Jones testified in 1996 that in 1982, afraid of losing her children, she had decided to meet the police halfway: She did not actually finger Abu-Jamal, but she did lie about not seeing two men running from the scene. Accordingly, following the 1982 trial, Jones only received probation and was never imprisoned for the charges against her.
During the 1996 cross-examination, the DA announced that there was an outstanding arrest warrant for Jones on charges of writing a bad check and that she would be arrested after concluding her testimony. With tears pouring down her face, Jones declared: “This is not going to change my testimony!” Despite objections from the defense, Sabo allowed New Jersey police to handcuff and arrest Jones in the courtroom.
While the DA attempted to use this arrest to discredit Jones, her determination in the face of intimidation may, arguably, have made her testimony more credible. Outraged by Jones’ treatment, even the Philadelphia Daily News, certainly no fan of Abu-Jamal, reported: “Such heavy-handed tactics can only confirm suspicions that the court is incapable of giving Abu-Jamal a fair hearing. Sabo has long since abandoned any pretense of fairness.”
Jones’ account was given further credibility a year later. At the 1997 PCRA hearing, former prostitute Pamela Jenkins testified that police had tried pressuring her to falsely testify that she saw Abu-Jamal shoot Faulkner. In addition, Jenkins testified that in late 1981, Cynthia White – whom Jenkins knew as a fellow police informant – told Jenkins that she was also being pressured to testify against Abu-Jamal and that she was afraid for her life.
As part of a 1995 federal probe of Philadelphia police corruption, Officers Thomas F. Ryan and John D. Baird were convicted of paying Jenkins to falsely testify that she had bought drugs from a Temple University student. Jenkins’ 1995 testimony in this probe helped to convict Ryan, Baird and other officers and also to dismiss several dozen drug convictions. At the 1997 PCRA hearing, Jenkins testified that this same Thomas F. Ryan was one of the officers who attempted to have her lie about Abu-Jamal.
More recently, a 2002 affidavit by former prostitute Yvette Williams described police coercion of Cynthia White. The affidavit reads: “I was in jail with Cynthia White in December of 1981 after Police Officer Daniel Faulkner was shot and killed. Cynthia White told me the police were making her lie and say she saw Mr. Jamal shoot Officer Faulkner when she really did not see who did it … Whenever she talked about testifying against Mumia Abu-Jamal, and how the police were making her lie, she was nervous and very excited and I could tell how scared she was from the way she was talking and crying.”
Explaining why she is just now coming out with her affidavit, Williams says: “I feel like I’ve almost had a nervous breakdown over keeping quiet about this all these years. I didn’t say anything because I was afraid. I was afraid of the police. They’re dangerous.” Williams’ affidavit was rejected by Philadelphia Judge Pamela Dembe in 2005, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court in February 2008 and, in October 2008, by the U.S. Supreme Court.
Amnesty International reports that later, in 1987, White was facing charges of armed robbery, aggravated assault and possession of illegal weapons. A judge granted White the right to sign her own bail and she was released after a special request was made by Philadelphia Police Officer Douglas Culbreth – where Culbreth cited her involvement in Abu-Jamal’s trial. After White’s release, she skipped bail and has never, officially, been seen again.
At the 1997 PCRA hearing, the DA announced that Cynthia White was dead, and presented a death certificate for a “Cynthia Williams,” who died in New Jersey in 1992. However, Amnesty International reports, “an examination of the fingerprint records of White and Williams showed no match and the evidence that White is dead is far from conclusive.”
Journalist C. Clark Kissinger writes, a Philadelphia police detective “testified that the FBI had ‘authenticated’ that Williams had the same fingerprints as White.” However, Kissinger continues, “the DA’s office refused to produce the actual fingerprints,” and “the body of Williams was cremated so that no one could ever check the facts! Finally, the Ruth Ray listed on the death certificate as the mother of the deceased Cynthia Williams has given a sworn statement to the defense that she is not the mother of either Cynthia White or Cynthia Williams.” Dave Lindorff reports further that the listing of deaths by social security number for 1992 and later years does not include White’s number.
Gary Wakshul’s testimony blocked
On the final day of testimony during the original trial, Abu-Jamal’s lawyer discovered Police Officer Gary Wakshul’s official statement in the police report from the morning of Dec. 9, 1981. After riding with Abu-Jamal to the hospital and guarding him until treatment for his gunshot wound, Wakshul reported: “The negro male made no comment.” This statement contradicted the trial testimony of prosecution witnesses Gary Bell, a police officer, and Priscilla Durham, a hospital security guard, who testified that they had heard Abu-Jamal confess to the shooting while Abu-Jamal was awaiting treatment at the hospital.
When the defense immediately sought to call Wakshul as a witness, the DA reported that he was on vacation. Judge Sabo denied the defense request to locate him for testimony, on grounds that it was too late in the trial to even take a short recess so that the defense could attempt to locate Wakshul. Consequently, the jury never heard from Wakshul, nor about his contradictory written report. When an outraged Abu-Jamal protested, Judge Sabo replied: “You and your attorney goofed.”
Wakshul’s report from Dec. 9, 1981, is just one of the many reasons cited by Amnesty International for their conclusion that Bell’s and Durham’s trial testimonies were not credible. There are many other problems that merit a closer look if we are to determine how important Wakshul’s 1982 trial testimony could have been.
The alleged “hospital confession,” in which Abu-Jamal reportedly shouted, “I shot the motherf***er and I hope he dies,” was first officially reported to police over two months after the shooting, by hospital guards Priscilla Durham and James LeGrand on Feb. 9, 1982, by Police Officer Gary Wakshul on Feb. 11, by Officer Gary Bell on Feb. 25, and by Officer Thomas M. Bray on March 1. Of these five, only Bell and Durham were called as prosecution witnesses.
When Durham testified at the trial, she added something new to her story which she had not reported to the police on Feb. 9. She now claimed that she had reported the confession to her supervisor the next day, on Dec. 10, making a handwritten report. Neither her supervisor nor the alleged handwritten statement was ever presented in court. Instead, the DA sent an officer to the hospital, returning with a suspicious typed version of the alleged Dec. 10 report. Sabo accepted the unsigned and unauthenticated paper despite both Durham’s disavowal – because it was typed and not handwritten – and the defense’s protest that its authorship and authenticity were unproven.
Gary Bell, Faulkner’s partner and self-described “best friend,” testified that his two month memory lapse had resulted from his having been so upset over Faulkner’s death that he had forgotten to report it to police.
Later, at the 1995 PCRA hearings, Wakshul testified that both his contradictory report made on Dec. 9, 1981 – “The negro male made no comment” – and the two month delay were simply bad mistakes. He repeated his earlier statement given to police on Feb. 11, 1982, that he “didn’t realize it [Abu-Jamal's alleged confession] had any importance until that day.” Contradicting the DA’s assertion of Wakshul’s unavailability in 1982, Wakshul also testified in 1995 that he had in fact been home for his 1982 vacation and available for trial testimony, in accordance with explicit instructions to stay in town for the trial so that he could testify if called.
Just days before his PCRA testimony, undercover police officers savagely beat Wakshul in front of a sitting judge in the Common Pleas Courtroom where Wakshul worked as a court crier. The two attackers, Kenneth Fleming and Jean Langen, were later suspended without pay as punishment. With the motive still unexplained, Dave Lindorff and J. Patrick O’Connor speculate that the beating may have been used to intimidate Wakshul into maintaining his “confession” story at the PCRA hearings.
Regarding Abu-Jamal’s alleged confession, Amnesty International concluded: “The likelihood of two police officers and a security guard forgetting or neglecting to report the confession of a suspect in the killing of another police officer for more than two months strains credulity.”
Conclusion: The DA still wants to execute
In March 2008, the Third Circuit Court affirmed Federal District Court Judge William Yohn’s 2001 decision “overturning” the death sentence. Citing the 1988 Mills v. Maryland precedent, Yohn had ruled that sentencing forms used by jurors and Judge Albert Sabo’s instructions to the jury were potentially confusing, and that therefore jurors could have mistakenly believed that they had to unanimously agree on any mitigating circumstances in order to consider them as weighing against a death sentence.
According to the 2001 ruling, affirmed in 2008, if the DA wants to re-instate the death sentence, the DA must call for a new penalty-phase jury trial. In such a penalty hearing, new evidence of Abu-Jamal’s innocence could be presented, but the jury could only choose between execution and a life sentence without parole.
The DA is appealing to the U.S. Supreme Court against this 2008 affirmation of Yohn’s ruling. If the court rules in the DA’s favor, Abu-Jamal can be executed without benefit of a new sentencing hearing. If the U.S. Supreme Court rules against the DA’s appeal, the DA must either accept the life sentence for Abu-Jamal or call for the new sentencing hearing. Meanwhile, Mumia Abu-Jamal has never left his death row cell.
How you can help
Actions are being organized throughout the summer to support the campaign for a federal civil rights investigation, including at the upcoming NAACP convention in New York City, July 11-16. Organizers are focusing particularly on July 13, the day that Attorney General Holder will address the convention.
Supporters will then be in Washington, D.C., on July 22 to lobby their elected officials and, in mid-September, they’ll return to Washington, D.C., for a major press conference. For more information on how you can support the campaign for a federal civil rights investigation and to sign the online letter and petition to Attorney General Holder, visit http://freemumia.com/civilrights.html.
Hans Bennett is an independent multi-media journalist (www.insubordination.blogspot.com) and co-founder of Journalists for Mumia Abu-Jamal (www.Abu-Jamal-News.com). Born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, Bennett has been researching Abu-Jamal’s case for over 10 years and lived in Philadelphia for seven years, documenting the movement to free Mumia and all political prisoners from the frontlines of the struggle.
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I always enjoy reading about this important case.
Videos from the April 24 event for Mumia in Oakland have also just been released:
http://abu-jamal-news.com/article?name=jlboak
I will enjoy the day I do not have to read about it and MUMIA IS FREE!!!!!!
Well said JDoyle, it will be sooo much better once Mumia is free. To clarify what I meant, corporate media coverage on the case is always so crappy that I am appreciative that the Bay View writes about it like it does.
Free ‘Em All!
This whole article is a twist as to the proven and affirmed facts. For the TRUTH, I suggest readers refer to the DanielFaulkner.com web site. I also wonder how many readers rely on certain “journalists” seeking to make a name for themselves and book writers who are after $$$$$. Read between the lines man, Mumia Abu Jamal executed Officer Daniel Faulkner and he Jamal, was arrested within 30 to 45 SECONDS after he killed the Officer. Also, I would like the “journalist” to define “otherwise acceptable” jurors.
To the readers on the West Coast, don’t be fooled by fools from the East coast “Journalists” Web site regarding this matter. Jamal will die in prison with or without the help of the State. Mumia Abu Jamal..guilty of murder…proven, convicted and affirmed.
Jon Pisano
Phila.
Looks like we got a comment from the Philadelphia ‘FRY MUMIA’ lynch-mob’s all-star internet ‘activist,’ who is proud to have been a Philly cop, supports basically everything they do (I’m sure folks know that ‘police can do no wrong’ attitude), including the May 13, 1985 bombing of MOVE. ‘Pisano’ claims to have participated in the 78 attack on MOVE, and he sure is proud of that, since it is another example of Philly’s finest in action (I’m not kidding, he really does boast about his involvement that day!). On his more honest days Pisano is quite open about his racism and likes referring to MOVE members as ‘animals’ and ’savages,’
Moving beyond Pisano, I wanted to share with folks the new letter to Eric Holder from U.S. Congressman Charles Rangel, who is chairman of the House Committee on Ways and Means:
http://freemumia.com/rangel.gif
Hans.. I have NEVER referred to ANYONE as to YOUR statement as to ME referring to MOVE members being animals and savages. Typical left wing propaganda. NEVER HAPPENED…Selective propaganda. As to 78, it was a sad day when Officer Ramp was murdered and several Officers and Firefighters were wounded…NOT by friendly fire..and I can attest to that…I WAS THERE…where were YOU…in California…or even BORN yet? As to being a “proud Phila. Officer”..Damn right. As in any other job, if there are FACTS regarding any impropriety as to an Officers/employees conduct, action should be taken…BUT he/she should be granted the SAME protections as any other citizens and not dumped to the side as was the TNS incident WITHOUT proof. Your support of this convicted and Affirmed murderer Mumia Abu Jamal, shows your desperate attempt to validate your “journalistic aspirations” and you criticize the TRUE facts regarding this matter. The SUPREME COURT HAS RULED…Mumia Abu Jamal…GUILTY of MURDER…affirmed
Jon Pisano
32 Merit Commendations
3 Commendations for Bravery
Numerous commendatory letters from Citizens, INCLUDING one from a Supreme Court Justice. Walk in MY SHOES Hans if you have the gonads
and YOUR credentials Hans…are what???
Jon Pisano
Facts will seek truth…Truth will seek Justice…Mumia Abu Jamal..Guilty of Murder..proven, convicted and affirmed..over and over again
I read your comments that employed the racist “savage” and “animal” language many times on the internet, but after I called you on it you denied it. Now you are clever enough to be more of a “professional racist,” kinda like David Duke, who turned his public KKK robes in for a suit and tie, and abandoned traditional racial slurs for more acceptable ones like “drug dealer” or “welfare mom.” But then why was it that you recently sent me that awful email defending Michael Richards (the actor that played “Kramer” on Seinfeld) on grounds that he was just “proud to be white”? I thought this was even a little much for you, given that Richards used the ‘n’ word repeatedly, and then spoke nostalgically about the days of lynching.
But, lets not get distracted, because I want SFBV readers to know just exactly what kind of person they’re hearing from, when you leave your comments. You provide a glimpse into the rabidly racist, lynch mob mentality that infects Philly when it comes to the case of Mumia Abu-Jamal. Many folks in Philly simply want Mumia dead because of who he is (a radical journalist, former Black Panther, MOVE supporter, etc.), because these folks calling for the execution and claiming that his trial was fair, these folks do not know the facts (or if they do know them, they actively work to misrepresent and/or hide them). In my article I detail SO MANY reasons (over 6,000 words worth) that the trial was unfair, but this will never matter to you, or any of the other cop-worshipping fanatics, because you simply do not care!
The facts are irrelevant to your crowd, and keep in mind that this was always what state-sanctioned lynchings of folks of color (and sometime also anti-racist whites) were about… It was about maintaining the right to publicly torture and murder “uppity” folks that the mob wanted to target, without benefit of a “fair trial” — because it was about maintaining white supremacy. So called “crimes” (usually accusations of Black men raping white women) were only the pretext for racist murder and intimidation. It didn’t matter whether or not the alleged “crime” was true, because the act was only about murder and the maintenance of white supremacy through terror. Throughout this horrific era of lynching in US history (which continues today in a somewhat milder form) the cops and the courts played a key role in facilitating this. If the cops (sometimes in uniforms, sometimes not) weren’t actively involved in the actual lynching, then they stood by and did not arrest the murderers — and the courts didn’t prosecute.
Seen in this context, it is also possible that you do know the facts of the Abu-Jamal / Faulkner case (including the indisputable fact that his trial was unfair), and you actively work to hide the truth. The movement is calling for an independent investigation into the case! What are you afraid of?
We’re not afraid of the truth. It’s you and the rest of the FRY MUMIA lynch mob that want the truth suppressed. This is why the FRY MUMIA crowd has always opposed a new trial. If it was an ‘open and shut case’ against Mumia, you’d have nothing to fear with a new trial or a civil rights investigation. But, as I document in my article, there are SO MANY instances of police/DA/judicial misconduct that the DA’s case against Mumia is sabotaged well beyond repair.
Cynthia McKinney just sent a letter to AG Holder:
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=14031
Han’s, I restate I NEVER referred to anyone as animals or savages NOR did I send you any racist e mails. Your goal is to distract and discredit anything I post and to champion your cause in support of a convicted and proven murderer. This case has been reviewed by the courts so damn many times and NONE have found any wrong doing that would nessecitate a new trial…NONE. Jamal has had some of the BEST attorneys and ALL have failed. But I guess YOU and your ‘journalistic” group know the law better than the many DEFENCE attorneys and reviewing State and FEDERAL Judges who were part of this case over the last 27 years.
I believe there will be no “civil rights” investigation of this case due to the FACT reviewing FEDERAL courts have found NO wrongdoing therefor the US A.G. will defer to the courts review and findings
As to MOVE and the 78 confrontation, I was there and witnessed Officer James Ramp murdered and several Officers and Firefighters wounded…NONE by friendly fire…proven. I stand by my 6/20 post and I URGE the SF bay area to not take the word of YOU or the MOVE propaganda machine or your discredited “new evidence” and refer all to the UNBIASED web site DanielFaulkner.com for the TRUE facts
Jon Pisano
As to the legitimacy of the courts’ rejecting Mumia’s appeal, just read the introduction of the article. For example, 3rd Circuit Court dissenting Judge Ambro argued that prosecutor Joseph McGill’s use of 10 out of his 15 peremptory strikes to remove otherwise acceptable African-American jurors was itself enough evidence of racial discrimination to grant Abu-Jamal a preliminary hearing that could have led to a new trial. In denying Abu-Jamal this preliminary hearing, Ambro argued that the court was creating new rules that were being exclusively applied to Abu-Jamal’s case. The denial “goes against the grain of our prior actions … I see no reason why we should not afford Abu-Jamal the courtesy of our precedents,” wrote Ambro.
On this long history of the courts twisting the rules to deny Mumia a new, fair trial, check out J. Patrick O’Connor’s essay on this:
http://www.phillyimc.org/en/mumia-exception
On another note, I’m not surprised that you deny sending me that email defending Michael Richards, on grounds of “white pride.” Maybe now, you’ll stop harassing me with all your emails, like the ones during the election that claimed Obama was secretly a Muslim.
Lastly, regarding the horrific 78 police assault on MOVE’s house, that Mumia himself covered as a journalist. I refer readers to this article, for background:
http://www.blackcommentator.com/328/328_move_bennett_guest.html
And, this interview with journalist Linn Washington Jr. explaining how several of his sources in the police department told him that Officer Ramp was actually killed by police “friendly fire”:
http://move9parole.blogspot.com/2008/03/was-officer-ramp-killed-by-police.html
After reading these above links, it is clear how indefensible the 78 police assault was. Yet, you boast about your involvement, which really says a lot… Helping to explain how you can also make indefensible arguments like arguing that Mumia received a fair trial.
Oh…one other thing Hans…we are not the “Fry Mumia Crowd” we are the Justice for Officer Daniel Faulkner crowd.
Jon Pisano
“Justice for Officer Daniel Faulkner,” huh? How is it “justice” to railroad Mumia, and put all of that pain and suffering upon Mumia and his family? One would think that the best way to seek “justice” would be to have a fair investigation (like we’re asking for the with the current campaign for a federal investigation) that looks at all evidence — including evidence that was illegally suppressed by the DA and Judge Sabo.
The FRY MUMIA crowd masks their actual intention of continuing to railroad Mumia in pursuit of an execution. Instead they present themselves as seeking “justice” and trying to honor Maureen Faulkner, whose pain and grief is undeniable. However, Maureen Faulkner’s very real anguish over her husband’s death does not mean that Mumia was the shooter, or that Mumia received a fair trial. A good example of the FRY MUMIA crowd’s dishonest rhetorical strategy was well displayed on the December 6, 2007 Today Show, which featured Maureen Faulkner and Michael Smerconish when they released their book “Murdered By Mumia”. Watch the video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1FsL3rjXpl4
Co-host Matt Lauer is respectful to Faulkner, but he did not accept Faulkner and Smerconish’s narrative that can be summarized as “because PO Faulkner’s death has been a source of emotional pain for his family, it is therefore disrespectful to present Mumia’s side, and honestly question the facts presented by those calling for Mumia’s execution”. Because of this, Faulkner and Smerconish would later complain that they’d been ambushed by Matt Lauer, and that his questions were disrespectful.
I will end this by giving one more reason I think the phrase “FRY MUMIA lynch mob” is fitting: because they do everything they can to cover up the true facts of the case, including very real intimidation. Check out this article I wrote for the SF Bay View in 2007, detailing the police intimidation campaign that Spring, which featured numerous examples of overt racism. Below is the link and the first paragraph of the article:
http://freemumianow.blogspot.com/2007/05/tyrants-hate-free-speech.html
“I received nothing less than 10 or 15 death threats over the last four weeks from so-called Philadelphia police officers. I assured them that I would show up today, so they would have an opportunity to kill me. They’ve intimidated and scared folks. They’ve done what the Ku Klux Klan has always done in America: terrified Black people, poor people, immigrants and good white people” into stepping down and not confronting racism, declared Sgt. DeLacy Davis, of Black Cops Against Police Brutality.
Hans…you just don’t get it.Now listen AGAIN. The Courts, State and Federal ,over the last 27 years have reviewed the FACTS and this entire case with a fine tooth comb and NONE have found the trial to be unfair or ANY discrimination in Jury selection…NONE. You have not answered my question to you as to what is” otherwise qualified jurors” who YOU state were rejected at trial. The reviewing Courts found NO WRONG DOING…but you know more than those learned in the Law..don’t you. Jamal was NOT RAILROADED but found GUILTY of murder. All your “new evidence” is invalid for if it was credible defence Attorneys would run with it. As to your “death threats” you ASSUME those, if they REALLY were received, were from Police Officers. You always make reference regarding those who seek Justice For Officer Daniel Faulkner as aligned with the KKK or skinheads just to throw a twist in your quest for journalistic recognition…sad.
I hope the people on the West coast see thru your facade. Now, answer my question..what are “otherwise acceptable juniors?
Jon Pisano
Justice for Daniel Faulkner
Sorry for the typo, the last word in my above post should be jurors
Regarding the well-documented bias of the appeals courts in their denying of relief to Mumia, I will once again refer to the recent article by J Patrick O’Connor, that is currently featured at the freemumia.com site, at the page focusing on the campaign for a civil rights investigation:
http://www.phillyimc.org/en/mumia-exception
But, of course, I know that the numerous unjust court rulings that O’Connor documents will be absolutely meaningless to you — because you simply want Mumia dead. True to the legacy of the lynch mob mentalty, the facts do not matter and you will make any argument, however absurd or dishonest, to argue that Mumia had a fair trial.
You should know that I do not respond to you in these comments that accompany my article, because I think I can change your mind. Instead, I respond for the benefit of the readers so they can see how your arguments are dishonest, much like the information presented at danielfaulkner.com.
Many, times now, I have made direct replies to your comments on my numerous articles, providing a mountain of reasons that Mumia needs a new trial. My efforts have never has any effect on your close-minded (or purposefully dishonest?) adherence to the FRY MUMIA crowd’s mantra that “Mumia got a fair trial and the case against him is ‘open and shut’”.
That said, I will answer your other quetion. “Otherwise acceptable jurors” — means basically that they were jurors that had to be struck via a peremptory strike (for which no official grounds are necessary at the time) as opposed to striking them on particular grounds (such as an obvious bias)that made them disqualified, and thus removed based on the Judge’s decision.
Each side is given 20 peremptory strikes. It is undisputed that prosecutor McGill used 15 of his 20 possible peremptory strikes, and of those 15, 10 were used against Black jurors–making a strike rate of 67% against Black jurors. I was an observer in the courtroom on May 17, 2007 when this issue was argued before the 3rd Circuit Court’s three judge panel, and all sides (the judges, DA, and defense) all agreed that this 67% strike rate was true.
And, like I said previously, dissenting Judge Ambro argued that this discriminatory strike rate is evidence enough to grant Mumia a preliminary Batson hearing.
Hans…you are impossible.. IF THERE WERE DOCUMENTED BIAS..don’t YOU or the book seller O’Connor$$ would conclude the reviewing Courts, both State and Federal would have ruled such but NONE have and the Guilty verdict stands and affirmed. As to the preempt strikes,and as to your posting regarding “all sides agreed” BUT the Court ruled…WHAT Hans? So your biased conclusion is the jurors struck were due to them being monarity? Me thinks you should research some of the juror questions posed ,some being..”if the evidence shows, would you be able to impose the death penalty or life in prison or, what are your feelings regarding the death penalty or would you take the word of a Police Officer above other witnesses” OR do you have a family member who is a Police Officer? Now as to YOU presenting a “mountain of evidence” for a new trial, take it to the Courts since Jamals best attorneys have and failed…but YOU and your book sellers know more than those learned in the Law.
Again to those on the West Coast and readers of this column. PLEASE don’t be fooled by fools and read the TRUTH at DanielFaulkner.com or read the TRUTH in the book Murdered by Mumia of which the proceeds help further the education of children of murder victims and not in the pockets for PROFIT authors here and in Germany or to further “journalistic aspirations” of some.
What I post is the UNBIASED factual truth and not a journalistic twist. Hans, or any other poster, I welcome your FACTUAL views and Court rulings and PLEASE…no what if’s .
Jon Pisano
Justice for Daniel Faulkner
I see that you have no interest in acknowledging the legitimacy of the argument that the courts have denied Mumia’s appeal because they were biased against him. Like I said previously, I write these comments for the benefit of SFBV readers and not you. Therefore, if readers link to the J. Patrick O’Connor essay that I have cited twice before, they will clearly see that I am not dodging your argument at all. Rather, I am providing many examples of the appeals courts’ bias.
On another note, your arguments for why McGill may have struck those jurors, not based on race, are typically misleading. In a capital case (where the death penalty is being sought) like Mumia’s, jurors can be “removed for cause” if they oppose the death penalty. So, the DA did not have to use a peremptory strike against jurors who opposed the death penalty.
So, you see, your argument is another deceptive ‘false flag’ used to distract from the obvious racisl discrimination in the jury selection. Once again, you are either unfamiliar with the facts of the case, or you are being deliberately misleading.
Let’s take a look at the bigger picture of racist practices in the Phila. DA’s office: From 1977-1986 when current Pennsylvania governor Ed Rendell was Philadelphia’s District Attorney, the evidence of racism is striking: from 1977-86, the Philadelphia DA struck 58% of potential black jurors, but only 22% of white jurors.
In their Amicus Curiae (“friend of the court”) brief supporting the Batson claim, the NAACP Legal Defense Fund concludes that it is an “abundantly clear… prima facie case of discrimination.” The LDF cites a survey of homicide cases DA McGill tried from Sept., 1981 to Oct., 1983, showing that “the odds that Mr. McGill would peremptorily challenge an African-American potential juror were 8.47 times greater than for non-black jurors.”
And, then there is the infamous 1986 DA training video, which explicitly taught new prosecutors how to get around Batson and still strike Black jurors simply because they are Black, and do this without appearing to do it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rv9SJPa_dF8
So your saying ALL of the Courts over the last 27 years, both State and Federal, were bias in their ruling…is that what you’re saying? Are you also saying my points are deceptive but yours are not? I also respond to these articles written by you so the West Coast ‘fans” have a real avenue to the truth and not “what if’s” as you, O’Connor$$$ and your Co-Journalists$$$ portray in your attempts to “SELL” your misguided fiction. I welcome your responses but lets talk FACTS here like what happened to Arnold Beverly B.S.tape or the helicopter that wasn’t there etc. BTW, as to your public speaking, I suggest you take a few courses, shed some pounds and dress better when trying to make a “journalistic” impression when you present your twist of the evidence and Courts findings.
jon pisano
Justice for Officer Daniel Faulkner Crowd
jon pisano
I must apologise as to my BTW comment attacking you personally. I do not wish to lower my self to name calling as you do in referring to me and the Justice for Officer Daniel Faulkner crowd as racist and wanting to see a affirmed killer dead but then again, deflection is a tool to distract from proven factual evidence and you are good at switching lanes.
Jon Pisano
I hadn’t noticed that a comment Hans made a few days ago was being held for moderation because it contains several links. It’s now posted; look for the one headed: Hans Bennett, on June 21st, 2009 at 1:50 pm. I apologize for the oversight.
Mary Ratcliff, editor
SF Bay View
Again Hans, I NEVER sent you any harassing e mails let alone Richards comments which I have never seen or any comments regarding the election. I always sign my name or post my e mail address and sending you hateful comments would not accomplish anything for you are close minded regarding Mumia and rely on others for your supposed facts.
As to your comments regarding 78 MOVE confrontation, the bullet that killed Officer Ramp was positively identified being fired from a weapon recovered from the MOVE basement and registered to a MOVE member…FACT. L Washington never identified his source, if it actually happened, as to Police Comments regarding friendly fire. That just didn’t happen and as I stated, I WAS THERE and witnessed all. I was there when many times MOVE members paraded on their raised porch dressed in fatigues and carrying rifles and side arms while shouting on their bull horns. So Hans…as to MOVE 78, you don’t have a clue and as to “Mumia is innocent” charade..even less. BTW,and I believe you avoided this, what is your definition of “otherwise qualified juriors” y’all claim were rejected because they were black? What makes them qualified? What were the questions asked of them prior to a peremptory? As to the ONE dissenting Judge…one out of how many over the last 27 years, your group jumps on his every word as proof of cause for a new trial disregarding all of the other State and Federal opinions and rulings.
Jon Pisano
Jon, I don’t have much left to say to you — as you seem to pay as close attention to my comments as you do the facts in my article.
For example, you ask:
————–
So your saying ALL of the Courts over the last 27 years, both State and Federal, were bias in their ruling…is that what you’re saying?
—————-
Yeah, and I said that in the intro to my article (with meticulous documentation of the history of biased rulings) and OVER and OVER again in these comments responding to you.
Then you wrote:
———————
BTW,and I believe you avoided this, what is your definition of “otherwise qualified juriors”
———————
No, I didn’t avoid this. I answered it directly in the previous comment when you first asked this, and I wrote this:
—————
I will answer your other quetion. “Otherwise acceptable jurors” — means basically that they were jurors that had to be struck via a peremptory strike (for which no official grounds are necessary at the time) as opposed to striking them on particular grounds (such as an obvious bias)that made them disqualified, and thus removed based on the Judge’s decision.
Each side is given 20 peremptory strikes. It is undisputed that prosecutor McGill used 15 of his 20 possible peremptory strikes, and of those 15, 10 were used against Black jurors–making a strike rate of 67% against Black jurors. I was an observer in the courtroom on May 17, 2007 when this issue was argued before the 3rd Circuit Court’s three judge panel, and all sides (the judges, DA, and defense) all agreed that this 67% strike rate was true.
And, like I said previously, dissenting Judge Ambro argued that this discriminatory strike rate is evidence enough to grant Mumia a preliminary Batson hearing.
——————————-
Now, I really hope you don’t need me to re-paste anything else.
So, you don’t like my calling you and your friends in the FRY MUMIA lynch mob a bunch of racists? Sorry, especially after watching you in this current forum blindly following the “Mumia is guilty and he had a fair trial” mantra, no matter WHAT evidence I present, I honestly conclude that calling your approach to this case a “lynch mob mentality” is an extremely accurate description. I will explain further by citing this recent interview I did at the Philadelphia news website Geoclan.com:
http://geoclan.com/politics/articles/08/AnInterviewwithHansBennett.htm
Geoclan: Do you think race is the major factor in this case? If not and even if so what are other factors?
Hans Bennett: If I had to cite one major factor, I would say Racism, Yes. That said, it is not all about racism. There’s police brutality and corruption. Then there’s classism and the fundamental unfairness of the criminal justice system for poor people that do not have the resources for an adequate defense. There is also the issue of political repression, and the ugly legacy of the FBI’s COINTELPRO war against the Black Panthers, the American Indian Movement, Brown Berets, Young Lords (all militant organizations resisting institutionalized white supremacy), and the rest of the US left.
However, racism is inherently tied into those other issues, so let’s look at that more. Regarding those who advocate Mumia’s execution and claim he had a fair trial, they show a disturbing lack of concern about the undeniable problems of racism (and all documented police/DA/judicial misconduct) at so many levels. At the most fundamental level, the “Fry Mumia” campaign’s lack of concern is racist. The campaign is fundamentally appealing to the same racist lynch mob mentality that has long infected the US. Calling this a “legal lynching” is no exaggeration.
There was racism from the very beginning. As I’m sure readers in Philadelphia know, Police Commissioner-turned-Mayor Frank Rizzo was an open racist and public advocate of police brutality. As a co-founder and Lieutenant of Information of the Philadelphia BPP, Mumia was a public critic of Rizzo’s police force, and later as a prominent radio journalist, he became well known by the police. He had been under Philly police and FBI surveillance since his Panther days, and he was certainly unpopular in the eyes of those watching him. Rizzo left office in 1980 after his failed campaign urging people to “Vote White,” but his legacy was there on the morning of Dec. 9. 1981, when Police Officer Daniel Faulkner pulled over Mumia’s brother Billy Cook at the intersection of 13th and Locust.
In the new British documentary In Prison My Whole Life, which premieres this week on Sundance TV, Cook says that after pulling him over, Faulkner approached him, called him a “nigger” and began to beat his head bloody with the police flashlight. In the movie, Cook shows the scar still on his head today from the beating. The beating of Cook is not in dispute, but the police and DA claimed Faulkner responded to Cook punching him first, which Cook vehemently denies in this new interview.
It was at this point that Mumia approached the scene. What happened next is disputed, but it is not disputed that afterwards Mumia was found on the ground, after a near fatal gunshot in his chest. Faulkner was shot in the back and in the forehead, which killed him.
When police arrived, before Mumia was given a fair trial, they apparently decided he was “guilty” and viciously beat him at the scene—arguably with the intent to kill. Police claim the first kick to the face was in response to Mumia allegedly reaching for his gun, and then that they “accidentally” rammed his head into a pole and dropped him from several feet in the air. Once in the police wagon, Mumia says he was repeatedly hit in the head and called a “nigger” and a “black motherfucker” by the police.
It took over a half hour before Mumia was finally taken to the hospital, where according to witnesses, he was again beaten by a mob of angry cops. This demonstrates well how racism, police brutality, and the denial of a fair trial worked together from the beginning.
Then, you have the so-called “trial.” In 2001, court stenographer Terri Mauer-Carter came forward and stated in an affidavit that at the beginning of the trial, she heard presiding judge Albert Sabo say outside the courtroom that he was going to help the prosecution “Fry the Nigger”. Notably, the courts have denied the attempt to enter this in as new evidence. Judge Patricia Dembe argued that even if Maurer-Carter is correct about Sabo’s stated intent to use his position as Judge to throw the trial and help the prosecution “fry the nigger,” it doesn’t matter. According to Dembe, since it “was a jury trial, as long as the presiding Judge’s rulings were legally correct, claims as to what might have motivated or animated those rulings are not relevant.”
Another one of the most racist aspects of the trial was the way in which the prosecutor used 10-11 of his 15 peremptory challenges to strike otherwise acceptable black jurors. As I explained earlier, this is “Batson” issue is central in Mumia’s appeal to the US Supreme Court, and the NAACP Legal Defense Fund has written a brief in support of Mumia’s claim on this issue.
Racism also plays a key role among those supporting his execution. Recently, in April, 2007, in the weeks leading up to the April 24 demonstration supporting Mumia, Sgt. Delacey Davis of “Black Cops Against Police Brutality” (who was scheduled to appear at the April 24 protest) received several death threats from callers identifying themselves as police. Also, venues in NYC and Philadelphia that month, both caved into threats from police, and did not host the events. Comments posted by police officers on the infamous NYPD “RANT” blog website detailed this intimidation campaign. One post stated, “This fucker should be dead, we should ruin this event and make life miserable for every fucking Hollywood liberal scum liker that shows up, fry Mumia.”
After the NYC event was forced to relocate, an April 15 thread on the “RANT” site was titled “NY Mumia Hip Hop Benefit Rally Gets Bitch Slapped.” One post on this thread used imagery that explicitly drew the connection to the brutal history of U.S. lynchings, where Black victims of racist white mobs were literally burned alive, stating that “I’m waiting for Mumia to be well done on the rotisserie.” Yet another post used the racist “Sambo” dialect attributed to African Americans for so many years in mainstream culture: “OH SNAP!!! da venue be changed? i hopez publik transpotation be making itz way ova dere fo me!”
After all this racist terrorism from the cops, Philadelphia Inquirer writer Monica Yant-Kinney wrote a disgusting article actually praising this campaign of intimidation.
More recently, a coalition of racist neo-Nazi groups showed up at the April 19, 2008 protest for Mumia. Some were holding signs that said “Fry Mumia and His Supporters.” Another one of their signs was a tamed-down version of a poster that the neo-Nazi Keystone State Skinheads (KSS) have been wheat-pasting around the city that says “Guns Don’t Kill People, Dangerous Minorities Do”. On their website, the KSS proudly displays a photo of KSS member Keith Carney getting his copy of the book Murdered By Mumia signed by Maureen Faulkner, at Geno’s “Speak English” Steaks, a longtime stronghold of those who want Mumia dead. (see photos here)
Regarding, racism, I could go on and on.
You, as a supposed fledgling “journalist” should take some advice and writing skills and TRUTHFUL INVESTIGATIVE PROVEN FACTUAL EVIDENCE findings that a TRUE journalist as Monica Yant-Kinney has done before you spew your biased rhetoric. Also, you really have not answered my question as to what makes a “otherwise QUALIFIED juror” who were rejected at premp. WHAT makes them ‘QUALIFIED” Did the defence reject any “otherwise qualified jurors”? Your bias is a stand out flaw that will never allow you to succeed as an impartial investigative “journalist” of the caliber of MY-K. You and your group and supporters have been debunked at every turn and now your hope is the AG of the U.S will intercede…won’t happen and I bet you will call his decision “bias” since you can’t call him a racist..
Jon Pisano
Justice for Officer Daniel Faulkner who was executed by Mumia Abu Jamal…proven and AFFIRMED ,who will die in prison with or without the help of the State and rightfully so.
Oh..as to two other postings of yours. As to the Steno, did she not come forward after TWENTY YEARS with her affidavit as did Billy “I AIN”T GOT NOTHING TO DO WITH THIS” Cook yet you condemn the Police Officers and the Hospital Security Guards . Now that is BIAS reporting by the “free the murderer crowd” who accept what makes their case sound factual by not indicating the many years between what happened (Billy Cook) and the Steno…20 years…my God..and y’all accept their statements as Gospel. Reverse racism at it’s best and you have fools who follow your selective version of “journalism”.Sad
How are we the “free the murderer” crowd when we argue that we think Mumia is innocent, and “not a murderer”, and that he deserves a new, fair trial? Your logic appears to be seriously flawed, to say the least.
When I cite “the 2001 affidavit” by court stenographer Terri Maurer-Carter, that is “biased journalism”? How did I misrepresent that? I said that she came out with it in 2001, which is about 20 years later. You are really grabbing at straws here.
By the way, journalist Dave Lindorff, who I refer to in the article above, interviewed Mauer-Carter for his book, which I’d recommend as reading, because he asks her why she took so long to come out with it. Lindorff and Maurer-Carter are both interviewed in this short video:
http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&VideoID=24150701
I’m kind of glad you brought Sabo’s “fry the…” comment back up, because there was something I did not mention in my article. In 2002, Lindorff interviewed Mauer-Carter’s former boss, Richard Klein, who was with Mauer-Carter when she states she overheard Sabo. A Philadelphia Common Pleas Court judge at the time who now sits on PA’s Superior Court, Klein told Lindorff: “I won’t say it did happen, and I won’t say it didn’t. That was a long time ago.” Lindorff considers Klein’s refusal to firmly reject Mauer-Carter’s claim to be an affirmation of her statement.
What I’m saying Hans is you take the word of Carter, 20 years later, but reject the words of Officer Bell and the Hospital Security guards. As to Judge Kline and Carter, I believe she was passing alone thru the anti rooms between courtrooms when she stated she heard Judge Sabo make a comment to another person, Kline, who was with Judge Sabo. This is ALLEGED to have occurred BEFORE any Mumia Trial. Sabo, before his death, denied EVER making such comments as did Judge Kline who stated basically it was a very long time ago and it could have happened and it could have NOT happened but you and Lindroff take that answer as an admission…another what if as evidence.
Try again
Jon Pisano
Mr. Pisano is indicative of most blinded cops I know. Mr. Pisano imagine this following the cops for years documenting their abuse of citizens(far too often African descendants)and suddenly one day I feel it is time to just randomly shoot and kill an officer. Where is the motive? Why weren’t the gun powder residue test performed? Far too often this is our justice(African descendants), especially if we are educated and speak out and can organize. If this were your child Mr. Pisano, someone you really knew deeply woudln’t you want to know why all of a sudden he became a cop killer? What was his motive? Mumia is far too intelligent to throw his life away when he knew the Philly cops and FBI were watching him. I guess some people must suffer the same as other to have their realization. The Philly cops are corrupt, as was the late judge Sabo. Mr. Pisano read some history of this country post slavery objectively and learn of the many shot down, imprisoned with no evidence and then tell me how you feel about the police and the justice system. We have been burn too many times. Tulso Oklahoma, Emmitt Till, four lovely girls in Sunday school blown up.
Why bring other PAST things into this when they have NOTHING to do with the proven evidence in this case.
Typical “journalistic type” diversion. As for me and my co workers, NONE ever heard of Jamal until the night he murdered Officer Faulkner let alone the FBI and Police were “watching him”. As I posted before,residue tests would have been compromised due to the FACT Jamal was holding his bleeding wound, sitting on the ground and a scuffle ensued. The bullet removed from Jamal was positively identified as being fired from Officer Faulkners weapon and residue tests done to his BACK indicated he was shot from a distance of about 12 to 24 inches As to motive, you tell me…could it be a depressed out of work radical radio announcer or just someone who was pissed when he saw his brother fighting with Officer Faulkner. You will have to ask Jamal but he has never stated he did not kill Officer Faulkner NOR did his brother Billy defend him the night of the murder. Billys statement was, “I ain’t got nothing to do with this” not my brother didn’t do it or someone else did it and ran. He swore an affidavit 20 years later that is laughable and not in sync with his brother Mumia. Also remember Jamal was arrested 30 to 45 SECONDS at the scene VERY close to Officer Faulkners body, with an empty unlicensed to carry gun( 5 spent shells) and shoulder holster.
As to Mumia throwing his life away…he did it in an instant…proven convicted and affirmed by every reviewing State and Federal Court…but, in your eyes, they are corrupt so what does it matter to you and your obvious bias
Jon Pisano
DanielFaulkner.com for the TRUE facts.
Keep up the good work, Jon. I admire and respect your dedication to preserving the truth.
As for you, Hans, there are hundreds (if not thousands) of wrongly convicted men and women, black and white, in our prisons. If you would spend the energy it took to craft this abomination looking into their cases, you might actually do this world some good and reverse an injustice. But that wouldn’t get you as much publicity as jumping on the misguided Mumia bandwagon, would it?
I believe it would be a really big accomplishment and very personally rewarding if Hans investigative “journalism” focused on the execution of X MOVE associate John Gilbride.
Jon Pisano
Also…to Dave I…thank you for your kind words. Sometimes it’s very frustrating when the postinge by Hans, regarding this cold blooded murder, drift from the admitted factual evidence useing BOOK SELLERS “thoughts and what if’s” as evidence to furthur his journalistic goals. But then again, some are limited in their abilities. I have given him a REAL challange regarding the execution of John Gilbride, an X MOVE insider but he Hans,would have to confront his “friends” within MOVE for any info My guess is they will dump him as they did Gilbride and call him a tool of the P.D. or Government. We shall see what happens.
Jon Pisano
I have been working closely with the folks organizing the campaign for a federal civil rights investigation, and we are now releasing two new resources to be used for this campaign. Please help spread the word, and if you have access to photo-copying resources, please help by printing what you can!
–First, is a new, double-sided, 8.5 x 11, ballistics flyer detailing the many different problems with the ballistics evidence that was used to convict Mumia. This flyer explicitly shows why the prosecution’s scenario of the shooting is ballistically impossible:
http://abu-jamal-news.com/docs/ballistics.pdf
–Second, this SF Bay View article is now available as a four page, 8.5 x 11, pdf file, that can also be made into one double sided, 11X17 booklet/pamphlet:
http://abu-jamal-news.com/docs/sfbv.pdf
Right now, organizing efforts are being focused on mobilizing for the July 13 press conference at the NAACP National Convention in New York City, the day that Attorney General Eric Holder is speaking. If you don’t live close enough to New York City, there are still many ways to help support this campaign. Please check out the campaign’s new web page for more information:
http://freemumia.com/civilrights.html
Hans…still gripping at straws?.
Here are some FACTS I’ve posted before but I’ll do it again for the SFBV readers
Better yet, I urge ALL to view the TRUE facts at DanielFaulkner .com. This site will show and debunk all that was put forth in the so called “new” flyer, the “myths” about Mumia Abu Jamal and misinformation put forth by Mr. Hans Bennett and company
The site again is DanielFaulkner.com
Facts will lead to Truth…Truth will lead to Justice…and it has,,,Mumia Abu Jamal,convicted of murder, proven and affirmed
Jon Pisano
I encourage folks to go to DanielFaulkner.com so they can see for themselves the dishonesty of the crime scene diagram they have. It is obviously altered to make the prosectution’s scenario seem more plausible — which the new flyer that Journalists for Mumia just released shows is totally impossible. Please check out the flyer:
http://abu-jamal-news.com/docs/ballistics.pdf
I would say the 2 key misrepresentations at danielfaulkner.com are (1) the location of Mumia’s taxi in the parking lot across the street, as opposed to where it actually was around the corner, up 13th, north of locust street. and (2) the location of Faulkner’s body as incorrectly being behind William Cook’s VW, as opposed to the actual location, which was in front of Cook’s VW.
It is obvious why the site would misrepresent this, because it lines up Mumia’s parked car to make his likely approach a straight line to where Faulkner’s body was found. In reality, as we show in the diagram on our flyer, the prosecution’s scenario is in total contradiction to the likely approach that Mumia would have made where his car was actually parked.
This dishonest diagram at danielfaulkner.com is really one of the clearest example of how they twist the facts to advocate for the prosecution’s fraudulent scenario of the shootings of both Abu-Jamal and Faulkner.
Readers..the diagram shown in Hans Bennett postings is where Mumia’s cab was on the 10th NOT on the night of the murder of Officer Faulkner. On the 10th, also with the Cab were the Cab owner and a Police Officer waiting for the arrival of a Detective. This is the Court testimony transcripts and are facts..
The deception here is Bennett and his German co journalist wish y’all to believe their drawing is factual as to the night when Mumia Abu Jamal executed…IT IS NOT. The assigned Detective CLEARLY STATES the cab depicted in Bennett’s/Schiffmans drawing was on the 10th and NOT on the ninth.
Deception as to Factual information is the hallmark of Mumia Supporters and “journalists” such as Mr.Bennett
jon pisano
So, Jon, I’m calling you a liar.
If you claim that Mumia’s cab was actually moved by police, from the parking lot to 13th Street (which I know to be untrue) please post here the quote from the court transcripts.
I know that you won’t, because you can’t. The trial transcripts explicitly state that the location on 13th street is where the cab was parked. It was there on the 9th and the 10th. The detective DOES NOT say that it was moved.
Looks like once again, you and your buddies at danielfaulkner.com have been caught in your lies.
According to the TRANSCRIPTS, the Detective met the Cab Owner WITH the Cab and a Police Officer was there also and that was on the 10th. If I knew how to post that section I would but I will research it again and let you know EXACTLY where to find it. And, of all people to call me a liar. You and your group have posted twisted logic, more turns than Ridge Ave, that flies in the face of facts…proven facts. The cab…with Mumia the driver, was parked IN THE PARKING LOT on the 9th, the morning when he, Mumia, ran from the cab and shot Officer Faulkner in the BACK then murdered him…FACT JACK.
Jon Pisano
You completely avoided my true request.
I do NOT deny the story about the 10th.
I DO challenge your unsupported assertion that the cab had been previously parked in the parking lot and that for some reason they moved it from there, over to 13th street.
If you claim that Mumia was actually parked in that parking lot (which I know is untrue), you need to back it up.
The OFFICIAL investigative drawing shows the cab parked in the parking lot on the 9th. On page 72 of the transcripts det Thomas states the cab, along with the OWNER and a Police Officer were at the N.W corner of 13th and Locust on the 10th. The Police did not have custody of the cab therefor Det Thomas had to secure the Warrant. NO WHERE do the transcripts state the Cab was in the possession of the Police until the warrant was served Your fishing for straws when you DENY the Official location of the Cab on the 9th when NO Court or reviewing Judge OR for that matter, NO HIGH PRICED DEFENCE ATTORNEYS over 27 years including the currant one,have done so. So sweetie, the Cab was at the location on the 10…NOT the 9th and I also believe witnesses indicated the shooter ran from the parking lot. You can twist this all you want to make a “journalistic” name for yourself but the verdict stands and rightfully so. Your somewhat limited skills would better be served researching the murder of X MOVE associate John Gilbride
Jon Pisano
So you admit that you have ZERO evidence that the cab was moved from the 9th to the 10th. Maybe Mumia left the hospital after his surgery, and just for the sake of it, drove it down the street a little bit, huh?
I am glad you are making such an absurd argument, since it illustrates well how the FRY MUMIA crowd operates. They’ll make any claim, however ridiculous, in their quest to kill Mumia.
Hans …It’s not my evidence but the evidence of the Court. You sir,OR the defence attorneys over 27 years, have no evidence the cab was moved from the parking lot on the 9th to 13th street on the 10th, now do you? How do you explain the shooter, identified by witnesses as Jamal, run from the parking lot?
Your defence of this affirmed murder is lame and your objections as to the FACTUAL and admitted evidence is as absurd as your comment as to Jamal leaving the Hospital.. I strongly suggest you follow my recommendation as to the John Gilbride murder case and maybe…just maybe if you can shed light…FACTUAL light as to this execution, you MAY actually become a TRUE investigative Journalist and not a wanna be follower. As to the quest to kill Mumia…nah…the Jury passed the verdict and he, Mumia, did it to himself…murder…affirmed.
jon pisano
jon pisano
Justice for Daniel Faulkner crowd.
Your response is now reaching a new level of absurdity (and that says a lot). Apparently, you now realize that I’m correct, and you are attempting to confuse the conversation.
I am saying that Mumia’s taxi was NOT moved, and that it had indeed been parked on 13th street (as presented at the trial), north of Locust. So, of course, I do not have evidence that it was moved, because my point is that was always on 13th st, and that it was NOT moved.
You are the one who tried to argue that it was moved from the parking lot over to 13th street. Not Me. You claim that the location cited in the trial transcripts was a LATER location that is different from the location at the time of the shootings. Not Me. I repeat, this is your argument, not mine. When I challenged your fraudulent assertion, I asked YOU where the evidence was that the car had been moved, because this is evidence that YOU would need to support your argument.
However much you try and confuse and go in circles, it won’t work. The fact remains that the diagram at danielfaulkner.com is WRONG, and it is wrong in a way that helps to support the prosecution scenario.
…and the courts ruled…WHAT..Hans..Evidence accepted and documented and NO COURT has found anything different…so WHO is “fraudulent” here YOU or the many reviewing courts. As stated in the transcripts, the Cab was at 13th north of Locust on the TENTH of DECEMBER and NOT the ninth. I never said the cab was moved…. I said the cab was in the parking lot on the 9th, NOT challenged by ANY DEFENCE ATTORNEYS when Jamal exited,and according to witnesses, the shooter, Jamal , ran from THE PARKING LOT and to the bullshmit screams of his brother and some mysterious thing happened. Whatever you’re smokin Hans…take a deep breath and relax ( don’t inhale)…your journalistic quest as to defending this murderer Jamal…is OVER…you lose
Jon Pisano
Good nite sweetheart
Hypocrites on the Hill
[col. writ. 6/20/09] (c) ‘09 Mumia Abu-Jamal
As politicians rush resolutions through Congress supporting the protesters in Tehran, defending the principle of freedom to protest, their hypocrisy is even more blinding than their own myopia.
For, it takes only a moment’s reflection to recognize that they don’t give a tinker’s damn about the protesters. This is about using resolutions as a weapon to further mark Iran as the enemy, the dangerous other which “threatens” U.S. hegemony.
As proof of political hypocrisy, one can cock an ear to hear the hiss of silence when protests erupt here in America, and demonstrators get beaten, locked up and prosecuted for practicing their alleged rights under the First Amendment.
Think back to the massive street protests against the police murder of Oscar Grant in Oakland, California. People were beaten, busted and had their cell phone cameras confiscated by the police.
Did Congress support these protesters? Well, not yet.
State and local politicians, when they said anything, called for calm, an end to protests — and some dissed the protesters as “animals.”
Sound familiar?
I don’t speak Farsi, but it’s my guess that they don’t sound too different in tone from Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei — in other words, ‘the system works — trust the system!’
Why? Because that’s what states always say.
Protesters here in the U.S. have had their butts kicked for years — yes, years — in spite of so called guarantees in the constitution to free expression and the right to protest.
Indeed, we need look no farther than the hallowed halls of Congress itself, specifically Rep. John Lewis, (D.-GA), whose head still sports the scars from the police batons that battered him in Selma, when he protested against American apartheid.
A half a century later, and protesters still get beat downs, from coast to coast, for demonstrating — and if they don’t get beat down physically, they get beaten economically, by lawyers, judges and DA’s, who squeeze them — as they pay for the right to practice the freedom to demonstrate.
The U.S. Congress, which just a few generations ago, supported the brutal, savage reign of repression over Iran under the Shah (Mohammad Reza Pahlavi), and also supported his nuclear ambitions, could care less about the Iranian people.
This is politics — pure and simple — and about using these protests as pretexts for other, more nefarious goals.
Because of the brutish, bone-headed policies of the Bush Regime, Iran emerged from the carnage of the Iraq war period as the strongest player on the board. That’s because the U.S. took down their deadliest enemy, Saddam Hussein.
The U.S. wants to reset the wheel, by sparking internal conflict, and thereby weakening the Iranian government.
We have been here before — and it didn’t turn out well the last time.
– (c) ‘09 maj
Ahhh…what does this disertation posted have to do with a convicted proven and affirmed murderer Mumia Abu Jamal, here in the United States????
Jon Pisano
As blacks in general favour the death penalty more than middle class liberal white morons – the strking of blacks from the jury was actually a bias in favour of the defence. But they still returned a death penalty. What does that tell you?
My kudos, Hans, and my condolences, for your patience in trying to rationally deal with the irrational.
Pisano (who DOES send out right-wing and racist stuff by e-mail; I can send you samples) really is a piece of work.
Here is the excerpt from the trial transcripts that he distorts & mangles:
Q. When did you obtain a search and seizure warrant?
A. That warrant was obtained early in the morning, I believe, of — it was obtained during my last out tour the next night. I didn’t serve it, until
Page 72.
Direct-Detective Thomas
after daylight on the l0th, I believe.
Q. And the search and seizure warrant subject matter was the taxicab?
A. Yes.
Q. The taxicab was parked where? Where was it located initially?
A. It was located on 13th, 13th Street on the west side of the street just north of Locust.
Q. Who brought to your attention the location of the cab?
MR. MCGILL: Objection.
THE COURT: I will sustain the objection.
BY MR. JACKSON:
Q. You prepared an affidavit of probable cause for the search and seizure warrant?
A. Yes, I did.
Q. Based on information you received?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. Based on information that you received, when was the cab located at the location you just stated?
MR. MCGILL: Again objection.
THE COURT: I have to sustain the
Page 73.
Direct-Detective Thomas
objection.
BY MR. JACKSON:
Q. Where did you first come in contact with the taxicab?
A. 13th and Locust.
Q. You physically saw it there?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. And at the time that you saw it was it in police custody? When I say police custody, were the police there?
A. At the time I saw the cab the owner of the cab was there and he had been talking with a police officer.
Q. Before you arrived?
A. That is correct.
Where was the cab located INITIALLY, the cop is asked. The answer is crystal clear. It is corroborated by the cab’s owner, Frank Allen, in his statement to the police on December 9, NOT 10, 1981.
Basis: a close reading of the trial transcripts & the court documents, something which the Fry Mumia mob guys apparently are organically unable to do.
Not only here, the crime scene diagram on the Justice for Faulkner website is just a bunch of bull.
The trial transcripts and other documents also show that Billy Cook did NOT approach the scene by taking 13th the wrong way. He was traveling on Locust. Ask prosecution witness Albert Magilton!
But truth is secondary for the mob. Once they’ve touted some version of the events, no amount of counterevidence will move them to retreat from this even a tiny little bit.
Small wonder; people who have so many reasons to doubt the basic tenets of their professed belief can’t give away even a small point, out of fear that once you start this, everything will be lost.
Pisano is a lyer and a fraud who hides behind court decisions in order to avoid serious argument. But the court decisions are what is at issue! You can’t justify them by saying that they are… COURT DECISIONS!
It took hundreds of church institutions hundreds of years to admit that the church was wrong in its argument with Galilei, same thing with defendants in the U.S. and elsewhere who spent countless years in the dungeon, justified by one court after another, until the authorities were finally forced to see the light.
As in the case of Geronimo Pratt, who spent almost as many years in jail as Mumia, for a murder he also didn’t commit. Or Nick Yarris, the Philadelphian who was convicted the same day as Mumia and was acquitted as definitely innocent after more than 22 years in hell.
Yes indeed, the courts had spoken – until the day they, very fortunately, spoke otherwise.
This is not written for the likes of Joe Pisano, or whatever his real name is. His heart has long ago into that darkness Joseph Conrad wrote about, turning his, as we now know, limited intellectual abilities into a repetitive machine of hatred.
Let’s forget about him and move on to engage in discussion with people who deserve it and who will pay bacl our efforts by giving us their own insights, drawn from genuinely thinking about the matters at hand.
You can count me in on the Fry Mumia crowd. Mr. Schiffmann, you’ve done a fine job defending this convicted cop-killer. Keep up the good work. Hopefully your fine work will aid in carrying out the original sentence. DEATH. Mr. Bennett, why not try using a source other than all of the left-wing, anti-white publications or websites? I’ll tell you why, you CAN’T. Other than citing sources from Germany or France, or the really left leaning AI, you don’t have any.
Fry Em!
Mr. Bowman, Mr. Pisano,
isn’t it funny how all the pseudo-arguments on your part stop once your alleged Bible, the trial transcripts, are actually quoted?
Actually, you have no clue of what’s in them. They demonstrate Abu-Jamal’s cab to NOT have been in the parking lot. They demonstrate Mumia’s brother Billy Cook to NOT have driven on 13th Street the wrong way. They demonstrate a lot more claims now being made by the Fry Mumia mob to be simply wrong.
Response, whenever this is pointed out? Nothing.
More importantly, you also can’t respond to the fact that the bullet that three prosecution witnesses claimed to have seen being fired at Faulkner as he lay on the sidewalk were never found.
It very much seems that the cops didn’t even look for them, because they knew they couldn’t be there, since their witnesses had made it all up.
But as I already said, it’s meaningless to argue with the Pisanos and the Bowmans. Judging from the hate speech they are producing, they have killed their hearts long ago, and judging from their “arguments,” their mind went along.
All the same, they won’t see their hope to see Mumia executed realized.
He, and other unjustly imprisoned victims of the judicial machinery such as Leonard Peltier, will finally be free, thanks to the dedicated work of people all around the world who bank on human sympathy and understanding, not repellent slogans such as “Fry Em.”
Michael, I see you talked the German Council to declare a resolution in support of the affirmed murderer mumia Abu Jamal. Now, Michale, I refer you to Jamals affidavit especially #11 & 13 . Now according to YOUR drawing of the cab location on the 10 which you depict as being at that location on the 9th when Jamal murdered Officer Faulkner. Now let’s go over this. You state Jamal was parked on 13th street north of Locust..right? Jamal NEVER stated that. You also state and according to your drawing, Jamal ran from the cab to his brothers “screams”. Now, if the Cab was parked where you show in the drawing, NORTH of Locust st on the WEST side of 13th, HOW in the hell could Jamal, sitting in the drivers seat, look in his rear view mirror and see EAST about 30/40 feet on Locust, the location of Faulkner and Cook? LOGIC..if you are sitting in a vehicle parked on the WEST side of a street and look in your rear view mirror, you CANNOT see any activity EAST of the location. Try it. Also Jamal states he looked in his rear view mirror and saw billy. He WOULD have been in the parking lot with the Cab facing WEST, and while in the drivers seat, looking in the mirror,he witnessed his brother in a fight with Officer Faulkner. Also Billy Cooks affidavit is hogwash. ANY Police Officer , after being struck by someone, would take that person into custody ASAP. Continue to blow smoke Michael…apparently you convinced your Munich Council with your twisted logic which has never been taken as serious FACTUAL evidence
jon pisano
Justice for Officer Faulkner crowd
Mumia Abu Jamal will die in prison with or without the help of the State and rightfully so,
Oh Mr. Schiffmann, you confuse me with others who want to debate the facts of this case with you. I do not. The case has been debated where the law requires,and frankly stated, the only place that matters…. that being a courtroom. You can type on this left-wing website as much as you wish. It won’t help you or your friends. Nor will it help Jamal. The Court has spoken, and the sentence remains DEATH. Plain and simple. Execute the sentence; execute the cop-killer.
I say fry ‘em.
You people never give up, you simply keep reciting the same lies over and over and over again. There was NO withheld evidence in this case, athough there has been a systematic campaign of perjury and deception by Jamal’s supporters. You keep going on and on about blacks being excluded from the jury, even if that were true, what does it prove? One of Jamal’s new lawyers shows a video by a Philadelphia lawyer who says you should try to keep intelligent people off the jury because they are more likely to acquit. If that is the case, then the blacks were excluded because they were considered smarter than whites. Not your usual “racist” propaganda, that, is it?
As long ago as 1913 in the Deep South the jury in the Leo Frank case convicted a wealthy white businessman of murder primirily on the evidence of a low class Negro of poor character. What does that tell you about jury bias?
Grow up, give up, and campaign against a genuine miscariage of justice
http://www.youtube.com/user/SydBaron#play/all/uploads-all/2/od5simbD7Q8
or for a genuine cause?
http://www.financialreform.info/
Jon,
I’m not committed to this affidavit in any way. Therefore, I also don’t write that Abu-Jamal ran to his brother’s “screams.” All of this plays no role whatsoever in what I’ve written on the topic for the past three years (some of the stuff I wrote earlier and in German is indeed open to various kinds of criticism, but I guess you don’t even know these writings).
To repeat, I’m not committed to this, that, or any other affidavit.
I’m simply quoting from your alleged Bible, the trial transcripts.
And according to them, Abu-Jamal was parked on 13th Stree, not the parking lot, period.
And according to them, and to the testimony of prosecution witness Albert Magilton there, Abu-Jamal’s brother Billy Cook was driving on Locust before crossing the intersection 13th and Locust, not (and specifically, not the wrong way) on 13th.
And according to the trial transcripts, if one wants to believe the explicit statements of both Albert Magilton and key prosecution witness Michael Scanlan, there was no cab parked behind Daniel Faulkner’s police car.
So one other key prosecution witness, cab driver Robert Chobert, claiming he had parked behind a police car that had its dome lights on even though he was out on probation and was driving without a license, was not even there, all according to weighty testimony to be found in the trial transcripts.
And so on.
But as I said, to argue with you is useless, even if my arguments are strictly based on what you proclaim to be your Bible. You’ll continue to sidestep whatever I say.
I you want to argue with my or Hans’s points, you have to address what we say, not with what someone else, and be it Abu-Jamal himself, has said.
But you can’t respond, and so you choose to sidetrack the issues.
Five straight questions to you, John:
* If the three prosecution witnesses were right and Abu-Jamal fired at Faulkner several times at point blank range, meaning he also missed several times minus one – where are the bullets? How is it that the police that allegedly was told about this way everything allegedly unfolded did not even look for these bullets?
* How is it that prosecution witnesses Albert Magilton and Mike Scanlan explicitly denied that a taxi cab, or indeed any car, was standing behind Faulkner?
* What crazy idea could have driven prosecution witness Robert Chobert, out on probation after a conviction for firebombing a school and operating his cab without a licence as he had lost the latter on account of DUI not once, but twice, to park his cab behind a police car whose driver had just stopped another car?
* How is it that NOT ONE SINGLE person at the scene had seen the main prosecution witness, Cynthia White, where she claimed to have been standing, that is, at the South-Eastern corner of 13th and Locust? Not one!
* How is it that your friends, Joseph McGill, Mike Smerconish, and by now probably also filmmaker Tigre Hill, continue to peddle the claim that Billy Cook drove down 13th the wrong way (presumably to PROVOKE a traffic stop and ensuing altercation with Faulkner), even though the trial transcripts (through the testimony of Albert Magilton) and additional documents such as the police radio transcripts (of which you can have a copy anytime) show this claim to be entirely bogus?
Just five straight questions, Jon. All based on the proclaimed Bible of the “Justice for Daniel Faulkner” people.
As for the answers, I must admit I’m not exactly holding my breath. I guess you’ll again be talking about something else.
But the questions themselves cannot be sidestepped.
To repeat the central one: You proclaim to have been an officer yourself. Imagine a situation where three witnesses testify to a cold-blooded murder at point blank range, with all but one bullet missing and thus hitting the pavement.
And in the aftermath, the investigating cops found nothing in the pavement, and apparently didn’t even look for it? Is that the way you undertook investigations at the time in Philadelphia?
A high-ranking Medical Examiner in one of the more important towns in Germany I recounted this to just shook his head and laughed, declaring it not worthy of further discussion.
What will you have to say about this?
Again, given my experience with you and like people, I’m not exactly holding my breath.
Bowman: Yo, indeed I mistook you for one with whom at least a semi-conversation was possible. What a fool I was, acting against my own former advice to Hans Bennett.
Alexander Baron: Very similar. Even in the 1930s, Jews won some court cases in Germany. Which should prove there was no anti-Semitism in the Germany and the country’s courts, and probably no Holocaust also.
A revoir, you guys. This is getting to insane.
I never said any such thing; I’m saying if it was possible for a Jew to get a fair trial in Nazi Germany – and be acquitted – it is certainly possible for a black man to get a fair trial in the United States. Jamal’s problem is not that he didn’t get a fair trial but that he did. Or have you forgotten the Charter Arms revolver at his feet – registered in his name, the bullet from Officer Faulkner’s gun in his chest, and his boast – not confession, boast when he thought he was going to die himself – that he had shot Faulkner, adding “I’m glad…If you let me go, I’ll kill all you cops”.
http://majorityrights.com/index.php/weblog/comments/mumia_murder_michael_stone_theory_practice_consequences_blanket_dismissal/
Alexander Baron,
Good that you don’t say such a thing, even though on the website you’re advertizing lot of links can be found like “judenfrei,” “Jewish deception” etc.
No one claims that no Black man ever received a fair trial in the U.S. But the chance of an African American to receive one is significantly lower than for a Caucasian.
Why was the likelihood for a potential Black juror to be kicked out by the prosecutor ten times higher than for a White juror at Abu-Jamal’s trial? Just one point.
In the training video for to-be prosecutors, keeping intelligent and critical people who might take the slogan about a fair trial seriously off the jury is not the only point.
You “don’t want Blacks from 33th and Diamond” is another, keeping meticulous record about Blacks and Whites still left in the jury pool a third.
Intelligent people, Black people, poor people are all to be excluded. For a person such as Mumia Abu-Jamal, wonderful conditions to get a jury of his peers.
“I’m glad… If you let me go, I’ll kill all you cops” is a quote from a cop who never testified at the trial. Perhaps because the first time he reported this alleged boast by Abu-Jamal was March 1, 1982, almost three months after the shooting death of Faulkner.
Did this guy, Thomas M. Bray, also forget to report the incriminating boast because he thought it was not important?
Like his colleagues Gary Wakshul (February 11, 1982) and Gary Bell (February 25, 1982)?
Why did both officers assigned to guard Abu-Jamal, Gary Wakshul and Stephen Trombetta, write in their reports immediately after the shooting that Abu-Jamal said nothing?
Why did hospital security guard James LeGrand wait until February 9, 1982 to contact the police, or in fact anyone about Abu-Jamal’s alleged boast?
Or to take the one witnesses to the boast even worthy of discussion, hospital guard Priscilla Durham: Why did she, too, wait until February 9, 1982 to go to the police?
And if she indeed, as claimed, reported Abu-Jamal’s boast to her superior at the hospital, why didn’t HE immediately report this to the police or the press?
Six people who are in the know, five of them as direct earwitnesses, and none of them gets excited enough to talk to the press, to talk to anyone else, and in particular, to report this to the police? Three of them police officers, two of the security guards, and one of them the superior of the security guards in the hospital where a cop just died from gunshot wounds inflicted by the suspect in question?
If you really have the stomach to believe this, god bless you. But given what you write elsewhere, you seem to think anyway that a fair amount of lying on the part of the prosecution or their witnesses is quite normal in trials and no reason to overturn the result.
Be glad you are not the one in the dock.
The five questions I posed to Jon Pisano of course remain unanswered, by him, you, or anyone else. Perhaps because there is no sensible answer that would support Abu-Jamal’s guilt.
BTW, the Charter Arms was not alleged to have been at Abu-Jamal’s feet but to his left side, and allegedly he reached for it before the arriving cops maltreated him. Given the way they handled the gun & then lied about this in court, the question is in order whether they really found next to Abu-Jamal or whether it was still in its holster.
It’s not enough to resort to name-calling and accuse opponents summarily of “lies.” Where, please, did I, or Hans for that matter, lie?
An informed public will finally force the courts and the criminal justice system to let the whole truth come out, and that’s what Journalists for Mumia are working for.
Michael, Michael…what are we gonna do with you. Jamal’s gun was recovered by the arresting Officers 30 to 45 SECONDS after Jamal killed Officer Faulkner. The guns, Faulkners and Jamals were handled in the PROPER manner by Officer Forbes. It appears you and your jamal site support statements given after 20 years but find fault with statements by the Officers/ security time lines. As to the statement ” the negro male made no comment, you KNOW that was AFTER Jamals blurted statement at the Hosp. entrance. The recorded “no comment” statement was when the defendant and his Police guard were in the ER treatment room awaiting the Doctor. You and your web site post your BS but the Justice system in the UNITED STATES, both State and Federal, have ruled Jamal did in FACT , without ANY proven discrimination, received a fair trial and ALL of the Courts AFFIRMED his guilt…the murder of another human being. Blow smoke and sell books Michael..there is at least ONE “journalist” who you can lead by the nose and his latest quest is a Civil Rights investigation of Jamal’s rights. Fools led by fooled fools.
Jon Pisano
Justice for Officer Daniel Faulkner
Good luck, Jon, in selling this confused blather to others. You can’t keep a straight line even if it’s drawn for you, so I’ll simply stop here.
Now, who is confused Michael? You feed on misreprensations and a lot of “what if’s” but facts mean nothing to you or your bogus “journalists” murderer support site. As I stated before, jamal will die in prison with or without the help of the State, and rightfully so.
Jon Pisano
Justice for Officer Daniel Faulkner
The reason the cops didn’t itemise every single scrap of evidence against your hero is because they didn’t imagine in their wildest dreams that he would ever deny shooting Faulkner. And he didn’t actually do that until 2001, did he?
How much evidence do you need to convict a man of murder? If this had been a black cop shot by a white fanatic we wouldn’t be having this conversation. If Faulkner had been black too we wouldn’t be having it.
How can the World possibly believe the word of corrupt cops? As called by themselves, “Rizzo’s Renegades” did whatever they wanted and several, including the head of Mumia’s case – Officer Giordano = were thrown off the force by the FBI.
As I said in my dissertation on blanket dismissal, the only problem with this sort of twisted logic is that taken to its logical extreme you can never convict anybody of anything. Period. How about you start by explaining that Charter Arms revolver? Or why neither your hero nor his brother said anything about a phantom hitman, Arnold Beverly, or was it Ken Freeman, or was it some guy with “Johnny Mathis hair” until two decades after the deed was done.
Get real, save your misplaced idealism for someone who deserves it.
Sean, that is a pretty blanket statement and it shows your limited knowledge of this situation. Officer Forbes and Shoemaker, who arrested the murderer Mumia Abu Jamal within 30 seconds after he murdered Officer Faulkner were members, as I, Of the Phila Police Stakeout Unit (SWAT) and were neither corrupt or “renegades” but dedicated Officers apprehending a vicious murderer. As to “officer Giordano” he was an Inspector in night Command of Central Division that fateful night and was not “head” of Mumia’s case.
As to Giordano being arrested and losing his job…good but to make a blanket statement as in your post shows…what?
Jon Pisano
Justice for Officer Faulkner
Re Abu-Jamal, check out
http://video.tiscali.it/canali/truveo/5565451.html
http://majorityrights.com/index.php/weblog/comments/mumia_murder_michael_stone_theory_practice_consequences_blanket_dismissal/
http://www.archive.org/details/ATaleOfTwoConvictedCopKillers
After recent events in Washington I can see public support for your favourite cop killer plunging to zero. Sad it should take something like that to bring it about though.