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Apr 27th, 2011 @ 1:18 pm
US court grants new sentencing for Mumia Abu-Jamal
P.S. Mumia’s birthday was April 24th. Send him a note if you can: Mumia Abu-Jamal AM 8335 SCI Greene 175 Progress Dr. Waynesburg PA 15370
Highlight: 3rd Circuit Affirms its decision to overturn Mumia Abu-Jamal’s death sentence, orders DA to agree to life sentence or to hold a trial within six months (on just the sentence phrase) before a jury to decide life or death.
Ruling based on oral arguments before the U.S. 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals (Nov. 9, 2010), which argued for the imposition of the death sentence in the case of Mumia Abu-Jamal.
Mumia Abu-Jamal is an award-winning journalist who chronicles the human condition. He has been a resident of Pennsylvania’s death row for twenty-nine years. Writing from his solitary confinement cell his essays have reached a worldwide audience. His books “Live From Death Row”, “Death Blossoms”, “All Things Censored”, “Faith of Our Fathers”, “We Want Freedom”, and “Jailhouse Lawyers” have sold hundreds of thousands of copies and been translated into nine languages. His 1982-murder trial and subsequent conviction has been the subject of great debate.
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Here is the opinion: http://www.ca3.uscourts.gov/opinarch/019014p2.pdf
EXCERPTS:
PRECEDENTIAL
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE THIRD CIRCUIT
___________
No. 01-9014
___________
MUMIA ABU-JAMAL,
a/k/a WESLEY COOK
Direct quotes from decision:
“Accordingly, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court failed to evaluate whether the complete text of the verdict form, together with the jury instructions, would create a substantial probability the jury believed both aggravating and mitigating circumstances must be found unanimously. See id. For these reasons, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court’s application of Mills was objectively unreasonable.
“thereby making clear that, although aggravating circumstances must be found unanimously, mitigating evidence need not be found unanimously in order to be considered by individual jurors during the weighing and balancing process.”
“For the foregoing reasons, we will affirm the District Court’s grant of relief on the mitigation instruction claim. As the District Court noted, the “Commonwealth of Pennsylvania may conduct a new sentencing hearing in a manner consistent with this opinion within 180 days of the Order accompanying this [opinion], during which period the execution of the writ of habeas corpus will be stayed, or shall sentence [Abu-Jamal] to life imprisonment.” Abu-Jamal, 2001 WL 1609690, at *130.”
AP STORY
US court grants new sentencing for Mumia Abu-Jamal
(AP) – 2 hours ago
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A federal appeals court on Tuesday ordered a new sentencing hearing for convicted police killer and death-row activist Mumia Abu-Jamal, finding for a second time that the death-penalty instructions given to the jury at his 1982 trial were potentially misleading.
The 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ordered prosecutors to conduct the new sentencing hearing within six months or agree to a life sentence. Abu-Jamal’s first-degree murder conviction nonetheless stands in the fatal shooting of Officer Daniel Faulkner.
Prosecutors said they were considering another appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.
“We continue to maintain that granting this new sentencing hearing is contrary to clearly established precedent of the United States Supreme Court,” District Attorney Seth Williams said in a statement.
Abu-Jamal’s lawyer, Widener University law professor Judith Ritter, did not immediately return a call to The Associated Press.
Tuesday’s ruling is the latest in Abu-Jamal’s long-running legal saga.
A federal judge in 2001 first granted the former Black Panther a new sentencing hearing over the trial judge’s instructions on aggravating and mitigating factors. Philadelphia prosecutors have been fighting the order since, but the 3rd Circuit ruled against them in a pivotal 2008 decision.
In rejecting a similar claim in an Ohio death-penalty case last year, the Supreme Court ordered the Philadelphia appeals court to revisit its Abu-Jamal decision.
On Tuesday, the 3rd Circuit judges stood their ground and noted differences in the two cases.
Under Pennsylvania law, Abu-Jamal should have received a life sentence if a single juror found the mitigating circumstances outweighed the aggravating factors in Faulkner’s slaying. The three-judge appeals panel found the verdict form confusing, given its repeated use of the word “unanimous,” even in the section on mitigating circumstances.
“The Pennsylvania Supreme Court failed to evaluate whether the complete text of the verdict form, together with the jury instructions, would create a substantial probability the jury believed both aggravating and mitigating circumstances must be found unanimously,” Judge Anthony J. Scirica wrote in the 32-page ruling.
Tuesday’s decision upholds the 2001 ruling by U.S. District Judge William H. Yohn Jr., who first ruled that the flawed jury instructions warranted a new sentencing hearing. While prosecutors were fighting that ruling, Abu-Jamal has been fighting unsuccessfully to have his conviction overturned.
Faulkner, a white 25-year-old patrolman, had pulled over Abu-Jamal’s brother on a darkened downtown street in 1981. Prosecutors say Abu-Jamal saw the traffic stop and shot Faulkner, who managed to shoot back. A wounded Abu-Jamal, his own gun nearby, was found at the scene when police arrived.
Abu-Jamal is now 58. His writings and radio broadcasts from death row have made him a cause celebre and the subject of numerous books and movies. Hundreds of vocal death-penalty opponents and supporters typically turn out for hearings in his case. Copyright © 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
(Source: southendpress)
Reblogged from South End Press.
