Court to hear death-row Black Panther case

By Jon Hurdle

PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) – A U.S. appeals court has agreed to
consider the case of Mumia Abu-Jamal, a journalist and Black
Panther convicted 23 years ago for murder who has attracted
international support from death-penalty opponents.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit said it
will hear arguments on whether Abu-Jamal suffered from racial
discrimination in court proceedings, whether prosecutors
illegally removed blacks from the jury pool and whether a
prosecutor delivered an improper summation.

Abu-Jamal, 51, is widely known by his first name. He was
convicted in 1982 for the murder of Daniel Faulkner, a
Philadelphia police officer. His supporters say he was
wrongfully convicted and that there was insufficient evidence
to prove the case. He has been on death row in a Pennsylvania
prison since the conviction.

Supporters, including Nelson Mandela, Archbishop Desmond
Tutu, author Alice Walker and actor Paul Newman, argue that
Faulkner was killed with a different type of handgun from the
one Mumia was legally carrying while working as a taxi driver
– a fact they say was not communicated to the jury.

They also argue that police at the scene failed to test his
gun to see whether it had been recently fired, or to test his
hands for powder residue.

The court’s decision to hear the appeal was issued on
Tuesday and made public on Thursday. It is the most important
decision in the case since a federal judge in 2001 ordered
either a new sentencing hearing or a commutation of his
sentence to life in prison. Abu-Jamal remains on death row
pending appeals by both sides.

“Today we achieved a great victory in the campaign to win a
new trial and the eventual freedom of Mumia,” Robert Bryan,
Abu-Jamal’s lawyer, wrote in a letter to supporters.

His supporters have also alleged racism on the part of the
Judge Albert Sabo, who convicted him. In an earlier appeal,
Abu-Jamal cited a statement by a court reporter that she had
heard Sabo say, “Yeah, and I’m going to help ‘em fry the
nigger.”

Abu-Jamal, a founding member of the Philadelphia chapter of
the militant Black Panther Party, was a radio reporter who
focused on alleged police brutality toward minorities.

According to his Web site, he remains a member of the MOVE
organization, whose house in West Philadelphia was firebombed
by the city’s government in 1985.

Opening briefs in the new appeal are to be filed by January
17, 2006.