Just received word from Pam Africa of the ICFFMAJ that
the letters going out demanding a new hearing for Mumia
should NOT go directly to Judge Yohn but instead go to
Leonard Weinglass who will hand them over to Judge Yohn
when he goes to court. This request comes from Mumia
himself. Please don't be frustrated by this, the battle is
coming at us so fast and furious that we got to be able to
deal with whatever and correct errors wherever necessary
as quickly as possible.
So if you have not sent your letter out yet, please send it
ASAP to:
Hon. William H. Yohn, Jr.
c/o Leonard Weinglass
6 West 20th Street, Suite 10A
New York, NY 10011
If you want to put the judge's address distributed yesterday
in the body of the letter, that's fine, but please address the
envelope per the above.
This is EXTREMELY important to do becuz Judge Yohn can
deny a hearing and decide the case only on the "evidence"
as allowed and interpreted by Judge Sabo! Only a new
hearing can get the facts on the record. Denying a stay
of execution could mean that the judge believes the appeal
can be disposed of before Dec. 2.
We now have reached a new stage in the movement to Free
Mumia. Hopefully, in a few weeks Mumia will be present
in court in Philadelphia for a hearing on this new appeal. This
should be the occasion for a mass demonstration in
Philadelphia, bringing people from all over the country.
CONTINUE TO PROTEST AND EDUCATE NOW!!
-------------------------
SAMPLE LETTERS
Hon. William H. Yohn, Jr.,
I was shocked and appalled that Governor Ridge signed the death
warrant for Mumia Abu-Jamal, knowing that his attorneys were filing an
appeal.
New evidence points not only to Mumia Abu-Jamal's innocence but also to
police and prosecutorial misconduct during his original trial. There is
substantial evidence that the police intimidated and coerced witnesses
into giving false testimony and fabricated the existence of a
confession. Also the prosecution withheld evidence from the defense and
systematically excluded qualified African-American jurors.
I attended the Post Conviction Appeals in 1995 to see for myself whether
claims made by the supporters of Mumia abu-Jamal were valid or not. I
can only characterize the behavior of the appeals (and trial) judge,
Albert Sabo, as bizarre, biased, and altogether contemptuous of
justice. Having read the transcript now, I am convinced that Mumia
Abu-Jamal did not receive a fair trial. Legal scholars of all
political sympathies (including conservatives) join with artists,
scholars, dignitaries and common people from this country and around the
world in demanding justice and a fair trial, so that the evidence can be
examined in an open court, presided over by a fair judge, and weighed by
a jury chosen according to constitutional guidelines.
All across the United States and throughout the world, attention is
focused on Pennsylvania, to see whether a commitment to justice survives
in our state and nation today.
Judge Yohn, I urge you to do everything in your power to ensure that Mr.
Abu-Jamal receives a new, fair trial.
Thank you.
Sincerely,
(Ms.) Ronnie Dadone
=======================================>
Dear Judge Yohn:
The case of Pennsylvania death row Habeus Corpus petitioner
Mumia Abu-Jamal, assigned to your court last week after Governor
Ridge signed Mr. Jamal's death warrant, casts you as the representative
of American law and justice, in a historic controversy involving race,
police brutality, prosecutorial misconduct, and fundamental human rights.
I am honored to add my voice to the calls of many others for a new trial,
leading to Mr. Jamal's freedom. The shocking history of this murder case,
and especially the myriad indices of an appalling frame-up of the
Defendant, mandate a new trial.
You will undoubtedly receive many eloquent pleas for Mr. Jamal's fair
treatment at the hands of the State. This matter is a symbolic test of
American freedom. Mr. Jamal, an African American radio journalist who
was sentenced to death for allegedly killing a police officer, after a farce
of a trial where he was misrepresented by incompetent counsel forced on
him by the trial judge, and then excluded from his own trial for refusing to
acquiesce in this blatant violation of his legal rights, is himself a symbol:
of disfavored groups' dissatisfaction with a biased justice system; of the
irrationality of the death penalty in a case where there is not only
reasonable
doubt of guilt, but substantial evidence of actual innocence; and of the
commitment of an independent judiciary to protect cherished constitutional
rights, even where the accused is hated by the police. Mr. Jamal's African
American peers were systematically removed by the prosecution from the
jury. There is a notorious history of manufactured evidence of guilt by
Philadelphia police in countless cases. In this case there was a
fabricated "confession", and offers of legal protection for prostitutes to
testify
for the prosecution. Several witnesses came forward before and after Mr.
Jamal's "trial" and testified they saw another man shoot Officer Faulkner
and run away from the scene, while both Mr. Jamal and the officer lay shot
and bleeding. Does the modern concept of "law and order" include a fair
trial, and conviction beyond doubt of guilt, before imposition of the
ultimate penalty? I certainly hope so, or God help us.
In addition to the briefs and evidence I hope you will carefully consider
at a thorough hearing of the issues raised in Mr. Jamal's petition, and the
pleas you will undoubtedly receive from many quarters, I wish to ask:
Why, as noted in Kathy Sheehan's October 16 story in the Philadelphia
Inquirer, will you be receiving "lots of mail in the coming months" about
this case? And why does Ms. Sheehan, in the same article regarding
a rally addressed by Mr. Jamal's supporter Ramona Africa, place Ms.
Africa's apt phrase "the system" in quotation marks (as in "Africa railed
against 'the system' for more than an hour")? Answering these questions
says a lot about the all-important social context of the life and death legal
issues that will come before you.
In addition to the tragic facts of the killing that gave rise to this
case,
and the numerous outrages in Judge Albert Sabo's courtroom that are
being put forth by proponents of this execution as justification for their
blind vengeance, this case is about the integrity of "the system" of social,
economic, racial, legal, political, psychological and cultural norms
that govern us all. Death row inmates. Police officers. Judges.
Citizens. Blacks and whites. Whether it is a question of electoral politics,
career options, or putting a man to death, we share fundamental interests
in the fairness of the norms, rules and procedures used to reach the
decisions that shape our lives and our world. Many people - becoming
aware of the facts of Mr. Jamal's case - understand that "the system's"
rules and procedures are being applied unfairly; that this would be a
political execution after a political trial; that the police authorities of
Philadelphia, as an absolute minimum, should have to confront
Mr. Jamal "fair and square", with counsel of his choice and access
to the law requiring a fair jury trial, before they kill him.
The eyes of people all over the world are on your court. The fairness
and thoroughness of the hearing you provide on Mr. Jamal's petition will
determine not just if he lives or dies, not just if he gets a fair trial
after
almost 18 years; you will determine if we should still place our faith in
the type of justice "the system" provides in this new, interconnected, 21st
century world. You represent the power of democracy to stay the killing
hand of a biased State. You hold the constitutional power and authority
to require the State of Pennsylvania to cease its frame-up and deal fairly
with Mr. Jamal, after all these years. You are, by the ancient
rituals of the Great Writ, the last real hope of averting a horrible and
permanent miscarriage of justice. That's why you'll be getting lots of
mail about this case.
If "the system" can put Mumia Abu-Jamal to death on the basis of
this transparent frame-up of a "trial", the conclusions to be drawn will be
truly terrible: harsh denunciations of persistent, institutionalized
racism in
the American legal system; the acts of Philadelphia's police governed not
by legal restraints, but by implacable hatred of their critics; the solemn
institutions of the law put to the service of a legal lynching. Only your
action in providing a thorough, fair hearing will protect Mr. Jamal's rights
and earn the respect of citizens justifiably alarmed by the history of his
case in the Pennsylvania courts. And when you see and hear the evidence
of the systematic vendetta pursued by the Fraternal Order of Police
through the Pennsylvania courts, I hope and believe your judgment will
stand as a historic monument in the never-ending struggle for human
decency. Mumia Abu-Jamal deserves a new trial. You have the power,
and if convinced by the evidence the duty, to grant his fundamental human
rights. I pray that Mr. Jamal's supporters have the courage and
energy to make the heavens ring for his freedom.
In justice,
Thomas W. Stephens
(address cut out for privacy)
To Contact Pam Africa/ICFFMAJ call 215-476-8812 or fax
215-476-7551; e-mail icffmaj@aol.com.
!! IT'S CRUNCH TIME !!
More info to come later ....