[ Abu-Jamal’s bid for a new trial based on new evidence of
racism and corruption within the prosecution has failed, leaving
supporters with one less path for the decades-long political
prisoner’s freedom]
[[link removed]]

MUMIA ABU-JAMAL’S APPEAL IS DENIED  
[[link removed]]


 

April 3, 2023
Peoples Dispatch
[[link removed]]


*
[[link removed]]
*
[[link removed]]
*
*
[[link removed]]

_ Abu-Jamal’s bid for a new trial based on new evidence of racism
and corruption within the prosecution has failed, leaving supporters
with one less path for the decades-long political prisoner’s freedom
_

, Image Credit: Joe Piette

 

Despite an international
[[link removed]],
high profile campaign for his release, Mumia Abu-Jamal
[[link removed]]’s
appeal was denied by Philadelphia Judge Lucretia Clemons on Friday,
March 31.

Abu-Jamal has spent over 40 years in prison, convicted of killing a
police officer after being politically persecuted for his work as a
journalist and Black liberation fighter. The movement for his release
has spanned decades and has grown to international levels, with
high-profile figures such as NUMSA General Secretary Irvin Jim counted
among his supporters
[[link removed]].

As Angela Davis wrote in an open letter
[[link removed]] in
February, on December 16, a judge ruled that over over 200 boxes of
materials must be handed to Abu-Jamal’s defense after
previously-unseen exculpatory evidence was mysteriously discovered in
2018. This evidence relates to Abu-Jamal’s trial and included
documents that indicate that a witness was bribed for her testimony,
that the prosecutor removed Black people from the jury for racial
reasons, and that the prosecution offered leniency to one of their key
witnesses for crimes she had been charged with.

Based on this new evidence, Abu-Jamal’s defense requested a new
trial. This evidence was not available to the defense during the first
trial, and could very well have affected the outcome.

RACIST JURY SELECTION

Evidence includes the trial prosecutor’s notes in which he tracked
the race of each juror during jury selection. The trial prosecutor
also wrote the template that he created to select jurors, which he
applied unevenly to potential jurors based on race. Documents
submitted by Abu-Jamal’s defense indicate that the prosecutor
“deemed certain characteristics important for selecting jurors but
struck prospective Black jurors who were more favorable with respect
to those criteria than non-Black panelists whom he did not strike.”
The prosecution hid those notes for over 35 years.

Abu-Jamal’s supporters have pointed to an official Philadelphia
District Attorney’s Office training tape
[[link removed]] from 1986 that revealed that
prosecutors were trained on how to strike Black people from the jury
without revealing racist intent in order to avoid a Batson challenge,
or a challenge to jury selection on racial grounds. In the infamous
tape, senior prosecutor Jack McMahon is filmed telling his trainees,
“in selecting Blacks [to the jury], again, you don’t want the real
educated ones.”

The new evidence could have given Abu-Jamal his best chance at
release, after having endured medical neglect and torture during his
decades-long stay in prison. Judge Lucretia Clemons dismissed
Abu-Jamal’s appeal largely on procedural grounds. As journalist and
longtime Abu-Jamal supporter Noelle Hanrahan wrote
[[link removed]], “Everyone
in Philadelphia knows that his trial judge Judge Albert Sabo was a
stone cold racist. Everyone knows that witnesses were bribed. Judge
Lucretia Clemons stated that even if the jurors KNEW witnesses were
bribed, it would not have affected their decision. Now, come on.
Really?”

Abu-Jamal’s supporters vow
[[link removed]] to continue
fighting despite the setback.

* Mumia Abu-Jamal
[[link removed]]

*
[[link removed]]
*
[[link removed]]
*
*
[[link removed]]

 

 

 

INTERPRET THE WORLD AND CHANGE IT

 

 

Submit via web
[[link removed]]

Submit via email
Frequently asked questions
[[link removed]]

Manage subscription
[[link removed]]

Visit xxxxxx.org
[[link removed]]

Twitter [[link removed]]

Facebook [[link removed]]

 




[link removed]

To unsubscribe, click the following link:
[link removed]