[1346] in peace2
Mumia Abu-Jamal death sentence thrown out
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Martin Voelker)
Tue Dec 18 14:35:30 2001
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Date: Tue, 18 Dec 2001 14:34:09 -0500
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From: Martin Voelker <nouturn@mediaone.net>
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http://commondreams.org/headlines01/1218-04.htm
Published on Tuesday, December 18, 2001 by the Associated Press at 1:09 PM
Federal Judge Throws Out Death Sentence of Mumia Abu-Jamal
PHILADELPHIA -- A federal judge threw out Mumia Abu-Jamal's death
sentence on Tuesday, ruling that the former journalist and Black
Panther is entitled to a new sentencing hearing for killing a
Philadelphia police officer in 1981.
U.S. District Judge William Yohn ordered the state to conduct the
hearing within 180 days.
"Should the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania not have conducted a new
sentencing hearing ... the Commonwealth shall sentence petitioner to
life imprisonment," the judge said in his 272-page ruling.
Abu-Jamal is America's most famous death-row inmate - revered by a
worldwide "Free Mumia" movement as a crusader against racial
injustice, and reviled by the officers's supporters as an unrepentant
cop-killer who deserves to die.
The judge refused Abu-Jamal's request for a new trial, upholding his
1982 conviction on first-degree murder charges.
The ruling could be appealed to the U.S. 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals.
Abu-Jamal was convicted of shooting officer Daniel Faulkner, 25,
during the early-morning hours of Dec. 9, 1981, after the officer
pulled over Abu-Jamal's brother in a downtown traffic stop.
© 2001 The Associated Press
