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Abu-Jamal loses latest appeal for new trial

http://axisoflogic.com/artman/publish/article_27703.shtml

Abu-Jamal loses latest appeal for new trial
By Emilie Lounsberry
Jul 23, 2008, 07:10

To All Mumia Supporters:

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit denied Mumia's request for a rehearing of his appeal for a new trial today.

Please be on alert for PROTEST information!

!!FREE MUMIA!!
In Solidarity,

Jeff Mackler and Laura Herrera
Co-coordinators, Mobilization to Free Mumia Abu-Jamal
510-268-9429
http://freemumia.org

Abu-Jamal loses latest appeal for new trial
By Emilie Lounsberry

INQUIRER STAFF WRITER

Abu-Jamal loses latest appeal for new trial

A federal appeals court yesterday refused to reconsider the decision denying a new trial for Mumia Abu-Jamal in the 1981 murder of Philadelphia Police Officer Daniel Faulkner.

In a two-page decision, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit denied Abu-Jamal's request for a rehearing of his appeal in the controversial case, which has helped fuel an international debate about the death penalty.

Abu-Jamal's lawyer, Robert R. Bryan of San Francisco, said he planned to ask the U.S. Supreme Court to consider the case.

In March, a three-judge panel of the Third Circuit left intact Abu-Jamal's conviction but said a new jury should decide whether he deserved death or should be sentenced to life behind bars.

Deputy District Attorney Ronald Eisenberg said no decision had been made on whether his office would ask the high court to reinstate the death sentence.

Abu-Jamal and his lawyers contend that the panel should have ordered a hearing on their contention that prosecutors intentionally excluded blacks from his jury in violation of a later 1986 U.S. Supreme Court decision.

They noted that one of the panel members, Judge Thomas Ambro, wanted a hearing held on that issue, though he was in the minority on that issue.

All three members of the panel, which also included Chief Judge Anthony J. Scirica and Judge Robert E. Cowen, affirmed the December 2001 decision by U.S. District Judge William H. Yohn Jr., who threw out the death sentence.

Yohn concluded that the jury might have been confused by the trial judge's instructions and wording on the verdict form filled out when the jury decided on death.

He found that the jury might have mistakenly believed it had to agree unanimously on any mitigating circumstances - factors that might have persuaded the jury to decide on a life sentence, rather than death.

Abu-Jamal, 54, has been on death row since his 1982 conviction in the killing of Faulkner, who was shot to death near 13th and Locust Streets early on Dec. 9, 1981.

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court upheld his conviction and death sentence in 1989, and also rejected three other appeals.

Unless the nation's high court agrees to hear the case, Abu-Jamal most likely would face a new Philadelphia jury to decide only whether the penalty should be life or death. The high court hears only a tiny percentage of all petitions filed each year.

Contact staff writer Emilie Lounsberry at 215-854-4828 or elounsberry@phillynews.com.
http://www.philly.com/inquirer/br..._latest_appeal_for_new_trial.html

Dear Friends,

We are sending you this legal update from Mumia's attorney, Robert
Bryan, knowing full well how disturbing this news is. We will be
sending you further analysis, and plans for our continued work very
shortly, and hope to hear your feedback very soon. We already have a Town Hall Meeting planned for August 9th in Philadelphia. More on that later. But, mainly, we did not want to delay your getting this news and hearing it for the first time from the mainstream media.
Vicious injustice continues to dominate every branch of this
government and society, the courts being a prime example, and the
attacks on Black revolutionaries never cease. That is why we fight
back and RESIST!

a luta continua,

Suzanne Ross, for the Free Mumia Abu-Jamal Coalition

Legal Update

Date: July 22, 2008

From: Robert R. Bryan, lead counsel

Subject: Federal ruling regarding Mumia Abu-Jamal, death row,
Pennsylvania [please circulate]

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, Philadelphia Today our
Petition for Rehearing and Rehearing En Banc, submitted on behalf of my client, Mumia Abu-Jamal, was denied by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. Simply put, we did not receive the needed majority vote from the nine sitting judges; at least five votes for a rehearing were necessary. However, Justice Thomas L. Ambro continues to urge the granting of relief on the issue of racism in jury selection. That position, as detailed in his brilliant dissenting
opinion of March 27, 2008, will continue to serve as a beacon of hope as we press on for a new trial and Mumia's freedom. Judge Ambro said that the "core guarantee of equal protection, ensuring citizens that their State will not discriminate on account of race, would be meaningless were we to approve the exclusion of jurors on the basis of . . . race. . . . I respectfully dissent." A copy of today's
decision is attached.

Reaction Mumia and I had a legal conference this afternoon. He, as
I, was stunned by the federal court's refusal to grant relief since
it flies in the face of established legal precedent in both the U.S.
Court of Appeals and the U.S. Supreme Court. I am furious because
racism continues to raise its ugly head in this country, and should
have no place in our legal system. The indisputable facts are that
the prosecutor engaged in racism in selecting the jury in this case,
and that bigotry lingers today in Philadelphia. It would be naive
not to realize that this case continues to reek of politics and
injustice.

U.S. Supreme Court We will be seeking relief in the Supreme Court.
The Petition for Writ of Certiorari will be filed by October 20,
2008, unless there is an extension. The racism issue will be
presented, along with the fact that the prosecutor made
misrepresentations to the jury in order to obtain a murder conviction against Mumia.

Conclusion My goal remains a complete reversal of the conviction,
even though the federal court has already granted a new jury trial on the question of the death penalty. We will not rest until Mumia is free.

Yours very truly,

Robert R. Bryan

Law Offices of Robert R. Bryan

2088 Union Street, Suite 4

San Francisco, California 94123-4117

Lead counsel for Mumia Abu-Jamal

[RobertRBryan@aol.com]

*As to panel rehearing only.
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE THIRD CIRCUIT
Nos. 01-9014 & 02-9001
MUMIA ABU-JAMAL,
a/k/a WESLEY COOK
Mumia Abu-Jamal,
Appellant at No 02-9001 v.MARTIN HORN,
PENNSYLVANIA DIRECTOR OF CORRECTIONS;

CONNER BLAINE, SUPERINTENDENT, SCI GREENE;
DISTRICT ATTORNEY FOR PHILADELPHIA COUNTY;

THE ATTORNEY GENERAL OF THE
STATE OF PENNSYLVANIA,
Appellants at No. 01-9014
(D.C. Civ. No. 99-cv-5089)
SUR PETITION FOR REHEARING
Present: SCIRICA, Chief Judge,
SLOVITER, BARRY, AMBRO, FUENTES, SMITH,
CHAGARES, JORDAN, HARDIMAN and COWEN*, Circuit Judges.

The petition for rehearing filed by appellee/cross-appellant Mumia
Abu-Jamal in the above-entitled case having been submitted to the judges who participated in the decision of this Court and to all the other available circuit judges of the circuit in regular active service, and no judge who concurred in the decision having
asked for rehearing,and a majority of the circuit judges of the circuit in regular service not having voted for rehearing, the petition for rehearing by the panel and the Court en banc, is denied. Judge
Ambro would grant rehearing en banc.
BY THE COURT,
/s/ Anthony J. Scirica
Chief Judge
Dated: July 22, 2008
CMD/cc: Robert R. Bryan, Esq.
Judith L. Ritter, Esq.
Hugh J. Burns, Jr., Esq.
Ronald Eisenberg, Esq.
Christina Swarns, Esq.
Jill Elijah, Esq.

Free Mumia Abu-Jamal Coalition, NYC
P.O. Box 16, College Station, NY, NY 10030
212-330-8029, www.FreeMumia.com, info@FreeMumia.com