From: "Naomi" <naomi@innocent.com>
Hey Mumia supporters, We've had some setbacks... but here's the
GOOD news: Have you seen the nationally syndicated cartoon The
Boondocks, by Aaron McGruder? Mumia's in it, this past Sunday
(10/3). Boondocks, if you haven't seen it, is about race and
racism -- its hero Huey Freeman is a little Black Power
radical. This week the other kids are pissed at Huey. One says,
"Whatever it means, I think it's childish. Shame on you, Huey."
Huey says, "I'm rather proud of myself, actually. Other kid:
"PLEASE, that is SO stupid." In the next frame, the kids are
saying: "I mean, you just HAD to make a political statement,
you couldn't just write "kick me" like everyone else? MAN --
even when you're being bad you're still dull!" And there they
are in school, watching the teacher's back which has a big sign
pinned to it that says "FREE MUMIA!"
==================================>
From: Cybrgrace7@aol.com
We must mobilize to save Mumia’s life! Get in touch and come to meetings:
(1) Come to Free Mumia Coalition meetings 1st & 3rd Weds., 39 W. 14th St.
#206, next meeting this weds. Oct. 6th (a member of Mumia’s legal team will
be present), (2) listen to Mumia and the Coalition on WBAI, 99.5 fm, Thurs.,
8-9 pm, (3) leave your e-mail address, and your name/phone #/address if you
want, at the Coalition Hotline (212-330-8029) or at this email (cybrgrace7@aol
.com) for updates.
Justice for Mumia! Free Mumia Abu-Jamal Coalition, NYC
In the event of a signing of a new death warrant, there will be " Day After"
the signing demonstrations worldwide. In New York City this will be ABC
Studios, 4:30 PM to be followed by a "Saturday After" demonstration in
Philadelphia, will buses and train groups leaving together from New York.
More details will be decided at tomorrow’s (Oct. 6th) Free Mumia
Coalition-NYC meeting and detail e-mailed to everyone whose e-mail we have,
as well as telephoned to everyone whose telephone number we have (call yours
in to the Hotline at 212-330-8029), as well as announced on the Hotline
(same).
For Further Information Call: 212-330-8029
=========================================>
From: "C. Clark Kissinger" <cck1@earthlink.net>
Mumia’s Legal Situation Following the Recent Action by the
U.S. Supreme Court
by C. Clark Kissinger (10-6-99)
On Monday, October 4, the United States Supreme Court denied Mumia’s
petition for a writ of certiorari. Many of the mainstream media have
reported this action as though it were “the end of the line” for Mumia. This
is not the case. The petition for “cert” was only the opening shot in Mumia’
s new struggle in the federal courts. But people should be outraged at the
court’s action.
The petition for cert was a request to the Supreme Court to look at the case
before it works its way up through the normal federal appeals process.
Sometimes the Supreme Court will do this, when an important legal question
is presented. In Mumia’s case, the important legal questions are whether it
was constitutional to deny him the right to act as his own attorney and to
bar him from the court room when he protested this denial. In declining to
hear these issues now, the court has not ruled against Mumia on these
points, but is certainly attempting to build public opinion against Mumia.
Another effect of the denial is that Governor Ridge of Pennsylvania may use
this action, and the false media reports that Mumia has lost conclusively at
the Supreme Court, as the occasion to sign a new death warrant. Any such
death warrant, as well as this highly political rejection of Mumia petition
by the Supreme Court, must be protested everywhere -- in the streets, in the
media, through the voices of prominent people, and throughout our
communities.
The next legal step for Mumia will be to file a petition for a writ of
habeas corpus in the federal district court in Philadelphia. If a new death
warrant has been signed, the federal district court will be asked to stay
the execution order, and this is expected to be granted. Thus Mumia would
not face an immediate threat. But the overall plan of the government remains
that of killing him, and a stay is nothing but a temporary postponement of
the execution order.
Under the restrictive terms of the Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996,
Mumia must file his petition for a writ of habeas corpus before the end of
October, 1999. “Habeas corpus” is simply the technical legal term for asking
the federal courts to review whether Mumia has been sentenced legally by the
state courts.
This will be a most critical moment in the whole appeals process. A federal
district judge in Philadelphia will be asked to hold a hearing on Mumia’s
petition. If he agrees, this hearing will be Mumia’s LAST opportunity to
present the evidence and witnesses denied by the Pennsylvania court system.
After the federal district court, higher appeals courts will only review
transcripts -- they will not hear new evidence.
The federal judge who gets this case is not required to grant a hearing. He
could simply read the trial transcripts and issue a ruling. In fact, the
1996 federal law is specifically designed to discourage federal courts from
reviewing and overturning death sentences handed down in the state courts.
This is why the government has to hear a loud popular demand for a new trial
for Mumia.
If the judge at the federal district court level rules against him, Mumia
will then appeal to the federal 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals. But if the
judge rules in favor of Mumia, the state of Pennsylvania is sure to appeal
to the 3rd Circuit Court. So there will be two rounds of federal court
action in Philadelphia over the next year (the district court and the
circuit court of appeals).
In general, action in the federal courts will go much faster than it did in
the state courts. Thus we are now entering the final phase of the battle to
save Mumia’s life. This is why we must proceed with a greater sense of
urgency and determination.
--------------
More on Possible Death Warrant for Mumia
On Monday October 4, the Supreme Court rejected seven cert petitions from
death row inmates in Pennsylvania. On Wednesday, Governor Ridge signed death
warrants for three of them. It is quite possible that he will sign warrants
for the other four (which includes Mumia) on Thursday.
So far Ridge has signed 170 warrants, which is 5 times the number signed by
governors in the previous 25 years. He is the first governor to sign death
warrants for 100 African Americans. 99% of Ridge’s warrants were signed on
inmates who not yet exhausted the appeals process. Ridge tries to speed up
the execution process by putting pressure on the judges, saying that he has
signed the war-rants and it is the judges who are dragging their feet.
The lawyers were not fully ready to file Mumia’s habeas petition yet, but if
a warrant is signed they will file on the next court day. The habeas
petition will be approximately 150 pages (600 paragraphs), de-tailing 30
constitutional violations in Mumia’s case.
Whether or not a death warrant is signed for Mumia, we are entering the
final stages in this show-down death penalty case. To stop the execution,
the government will have to hear a loud out cry from an increasingly broad
and determined array of people.
====================================>
WE MUST NOT FAIL!
International Concerned Family & Friends of Mumia Abu-Jamal
P.O. Box 19709 - Philadelphia, PA 19143
Ph: 215-476-8812 / Fax: 215-476-7551
Web: www.mumia.org / E-mail: mumia@webcom.com
MUMIA MUST LIVE! TIME IS RUNNING OUT!