From: "leslie jones" <youth4mumia@hotmail.com>
Date: Mon, 04 Oct 1999 17:45:16 PDT
ona move.....
please help spread the word....
URGENT!!! ACTION ALERT!
The United States Supreme Court Denied Mumia's Request for Review WITHOUT
Comment!
1. DEMONSTRATE TOMORROW 10/5 at Broad & Spring Garden Streets in
Philadelphia. 4:00 PM. HONK FOR MUMIA!
-------------------------------------------------
>
>Convicted Reporter Loses Appeal
>By Richard Carelli (Associated Press Writer)
>
>Washington (AP) - A former radio reporter convicted and sentenced to death
>for the 1981 killing of a Philadelphia policeman lost a Supreme Court appeal
>today.
>
>The court, without comment, turned away arguments that Mumia Abu-Jamal was
>denied a fair trial. However, there is little likelihood he will be
>executed soon.
>
>Abu-Jamal's jailhouse writings about the justice system attracted worldwide
>attention. Thousands of supporters have staged demonstrations in
>Philadelphia to demand a new trial.
>
>The Pennsylvania Supreme Court twice upheld Abu-Jamal's conviction and death
>sentence, most recently last year. The state court found no merit in the
>various arguments his lawyers raised.
>
>Abu-Jamal, a onetime Black Panther and radio journalist, was convicted of
>fatally shooting Philadelphia police officer Daniel Faulkner, who was shot
>after stopping Abu-Jamal's brother for driving the wrong way down a city
>street.
>
>Abu-Jamal was found wounded at the murder scene. He has maintained his
>innocence and contended that he was framed.
>
>The appeal acted on today raised three legal arguments, none of which
>focused on Abu-Jamal's claim of innocence. But his lawyers did tell
>justices about "an array of evidence powerfully supporting his longstanding
>insistence that he is victim of a monumental injustice."
>
>The appeal centered on these claims:
>
>- Abu-Jamal wrongly was stripped of his right to represent himself during
>his trial's jury-selection phase.
>
>- He wrongly was removed from the courtroom after disrupting the trial
>proceedings, a violation of his right to confront the witnesses against him.
>
>- He wrongly was excluded from a meeting in which the trial judge
>disqualified a sequestered juror who secretly had gone home to tend a sick
>cat.
>
>"The prosecution's theory of the case was never placed within the crucible
>of meaningful adversarial testing such that the resulting verdict engenders
>confidence that justice was done," the appeal said.
>
>State prosecutors urged the justices to reject Abu-Jamal's appeal. They
>said he killed Faulkner "by cold-bloodedly shooting him in the face as the
>officer lay helpless on the ground."
>
>While today's action frees state prosecutors to seek an execution date,
>Abu-Jamal is not likely to be executed any time soon. He still can
>challenge his state court conviction in federal courts, a process that
>someday could lead back to the Supreme Court.
>
>The case is Abu-Jamal vs. Pennsylvania, 98-1702.
>
>------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>Stay on the move! We must work so much harder NOW to save Mumia's life! We
>CANNOT slow down. This government has told us what it is preparing to do.
>WE CANNOT ALLOW THIS SYSTEM TO KILL MUMIA!