AP, April 6, 2009
Mumia Abu-Jamal has lost his bid for a new trial in the killing of a Philadelphia police officer in 1981.
The Supreme Court said Monday it will not take up Abu-Jamal’s claims that prosecutors improperly excluded blacks from the jury that convicted him of murdering Philadelphia police officer Daniel Faulkner.
The 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia upheld Abu-Jamal’s conviction but held his death sentence invalid. The appeals court said it would not second-guess state court rulings rejecting Abu-Jamal’s claims of bias in the composition of the jury.
The high court considered only the conviction. The state has separately asked the court to reinstate the death sentence, but the justices have not acted on that request.
A Philadelphia jury convicted Abu-Jamal, who is black, of killing Faulkner, who was white, in 1981 after the patrolman pulled over Abu-Jamal’s brother during an overnight traffic stop.
Prosecutors say Faulkner, 25, managed to shoot Abu-Jamal during the confrontation. A wounded Abu-Jamal, his own gun lying nearby, was still at the scene when police arrived, and authorities considered the evidence against him overwhelming.
Since Abu-Jamal’s 1982 conviction, activists in the United States and Europe have rallied in support of his claims that he was the victim of a racist justice system. Abu-Jamal, 54, has kept his case in the spotlight through books and radio broadcasts.
The case is Abu-Jamal v. Beard, 08-8483.
Original article
(Posted on April 6, 2009)
Comments
Has he won as much as one case in the judiciary, state or Federal? I keep hearing the left take up his cause as if he were some sort of Saint, yet he seems to lose in court every time.
Justice has now been partially done. The next step is for the death penalty against this murdering animal to be reinstated, then carried out as soon as possible.
This whole case has made the U.S. criminal justice system look absolutely absurd before the world — not for “unfairness” toward a black thug, for there was none; but for the fact that justice has been paralyzed at every turn, the system unable or afraid to do its duty to the citizens of this country and especially to the family of Michael Faulkner.
As to the thousands here and overseas who idolize this arrogant beast, I’ll simply say, “It’s unbelievable that so many people could be stupid and gullible.”
they should bring charges against all of these liberals and hollywood types that support this killer…enough of this is enough…we should boycott all films made by these hollywood liberals..they think they are cool by supporting wrong. that makes them hip, but in the meantime its tearing down the system..and none of them for sure live in the inner city war zones. they are all hypocrites…
His case does show that the American justice system is racist. A fair, blind court would not only convict him without a second thought, but expediently execute him as well!
I read the book “Murdered by Mumia”, a factual recollection of this entire ordeal from the start, written by Maureen Faulkner, the murdered officer’s wife. The opposition that she has faced has seemed insurmountable at times. This court decision is a partial victory… this man deserves death.
“The Supreme Court said Monday it will not take up Abu-Jamal’s claims that prosecutors improperly excluded blacks from the jury that convicted him of murdering Philadelphia police officer Daniel Faulkner.”
Well, too bad for him, because with blacks on the jury it’s entirely possible he might have gotten off even in the face of overwhelming evidence proving his guilt beyond a shadow of a doubt, just like O.J.
Excuse my mistake in my earlier post on Officer Faulkner’s name. I should have written “Daniel Faulkner.”
I hope the liberal bed-wetters don’t give up on Mumia. By idolizing this vicious cop-killer while living in gated neighborhoods with security guards to keep the Mumias of the world away from their homes, they have succeeded in making themselves look like a ridiculous pack of hypocrites.
It would be an absolute shame if they were to stop now.
He has had a good ride. Why not let it continue. I once was in e-mail contact with Faulkner’s wife. I hope she has moved on and that all is well with her. Anymore, expecting justice is fantasy,
A Cranky old man
There is an accurate book about the murder of Officer Daniel Faulkner titled “Murdered by Mumia.”
I live in Philadelphia, PA. I wish the idiots who idolize Mumia Abu-Jamal, who real name is Wesley Cook, would do something more constructive, but could still have a radical chic to it, like fight to legalize marijuana. Marijuana prohibition is just as much a failure as was alcohol prohibition, but that is another story.
Getting back to the murder of Officer Faulkner. What if some brave, courageous filmmaker had the courage to stand up to the Hollywood liberal elite, by making a historically accurate mainstream movie about the murder of Daniel Faulkner, that would correctly depict Abu-Jamal as the murderer, with actress Jodie Foster playing the part of Faulkner’s widow, Maureen?
Jodie Foster would be an excellent choice for the part and the real Maureen Faulkner could be a consultant for making such a movie. I am sure the Philadelphia Police Department would gladly offer further assistance in making the film. How about Matt Damon, Chris O’Donnell, or Brad Pitt to be briefly in the beginning of the movie as Officer Daniel Faulkner? I would have the black actor, Harold Perrineau, of the TV series “Lost”, as Mumia Abu-Jamal.
To everyone reading this post, is there anyone else you would have to play the parts of either Maureen Faulkner, Mumia-Abu Jamal. and Officer Daniel Faulkner?
I would sure love to see the reaction of the left-wing whackos, who support Abu-Jamal, to such a movie! What if the movie itself were to premiere in Philadelphia? I am sure Abu-Jamal’s supporters, would demonstrate, and maybe even riot, outside of the theater showing the premiere.
Not enough blacks on the jury? How many blacks SHOW UP when summoned for jury duty?
Here’s the point about the disposition of due process in the Mumia thing that most people miss.
I keep hearing over and over again especially from France that Mumia was railroaded by a racist justice system. Now, if this would have happened in the Mississippi Delta in 1950, they might have a point. I wouldn’t agree with it, but one could rationalize the complaints.
No, this happened in Philadelphia in 1981. Don’t forget, Philadelphia is wholly unlike the rest of Pennsylvania in that its civic elite is historically Quaker/universalist, going back to Ben Franklin. And of course, they were anti-slavery and racially egalitarian all the way. So if Mumia can get convicted and get the death penalty when he had the advantage of going to trial in such a city, that only enhances the notion in my mind that he did it and should get the death penalty.
Ben Franklin hated Germans, and the good Krauts in Reading and the Pennsylvania Dutch Country had no use for Philadelphia likewise.
Wasn’t Mike Farrell from the TV show M*A*S*H one of the leaders trying to get this character freed?
Disgraceful even for a Hollywood leftist.
The killing was a set up intended to incite a riot. This was a standard ploy of black activists for decades. For a good 10 years before the Rodney King riots the blacks in Los Angeles did this. It was done all over the country. Sometimes the instigators were successful.
This is how it worked. A black man would drive around the neighborhood committing traffic offenses such as going through red lights. Activist would be hanging around. A bad black neighborhood was always the selected area.
Eventually a white officer would make a traffic stop. The motorist would rant and rave, others would move in, windows of stores would be broken and the riot was on.
There were many, many attempted incidents by black activists that developed into riots or even brawls. Most of the time the motorist and activists would rant and rave but the nearby black on lookers would stay out of it and there would be no problem.
Mumbo jumbo’s brother was doing driving erraractically around the area that night, hoping to be stopped so mumbo jumbo could either kill a white officer or instigate a riot. It was a high crime prostitution black area. The brother was stopped, officer Faulkner was killed and mumbo jumbo has spent more than 25 years in prison.
The case was on a true crime show a couple nights ago. It was disgusting. Totally even handed. More attention was given to idiots Alec Baldwin and Will Ferrell than the truth.
“How many blacks SHOW UP when called for jury duty?”
—Inspector Duke
I live in Colorado Springs, which has a major army base, Fort Carson. One could therefore expect a rather sizeable black population at the south end of town near that base, yet the one time I was called for jury duty, I saw no blacks in a room containing about 100 prospective jurors: just whites and a handful of Koreans and Hispanics. A perp like Mumia wishing for a black jury, which he knows will not convict him, is simply being unrealistic. (One also wonders just exactly what Mumia thinks the purpose of a trial is.)
A “fair” jury would have been one with twelve African - American young men, all under twenty five, all from the hood, all with a sixth grade education, that would all sing “Hot Boys’” rap lyrics, while they sat stoically in the jury box glaring at the prosecutors! This would have been “fair”?
And, were the appellate courts truly non racist [and politically correct] they would recognize that while African Americans are quite capable of judging whites, no white should EVER sit in judgment upon any African American, since no white would, or could, ever [fully] appreciate the African American experience.
In less than six months, when our economy collapses, perhaps beyond redemption,and whites can no longer afford the luxury of carrying “white guilt”, “real” race relations will begin to surface.
And, in my opinion, THAT will be fair [and about time too]!
MoMo
Every time this degenerate has been in the news, I can only shake my head. It’s actually quite humorous to me, as I know for a fact that if Mumbo Jumbo (to quote another poster) showed up on one of his supporter’s doorsteps, they’d be dialing 911 as fast as their soft little fingers could move.
The murder of Daniel Faulkner was a tragedy. His wife has suffered through hell on earth. However, I truly hope that Mumbo Jumbo remains incarcerated, as opposed to having his death penalty reinstated.
Prior to my current career, I was a prison guard in a maximum security institution for two years. Despite all the bravado of most inmates, a life sentence is absolutely miserable…it is literally a state of suspended animation for the inmate, with little to do but suffer a rat-like existence while waiting to die.
This is exactly the sort of miserable, unremarkable existence that a degenerate oxygen thief like Mumbo Jumbo should endure. Why immortalize him as a hero-martyr to the elitist left? Why give him the opportunity to say goodbye to his loved ones, speak his last words, and then slip quietly into death by way of lethal injection?
Daniel Faulkner’s life was stolen from him in the middle of the night. He was left to die on a filthy street in the middle of a jungle-like Philadelphia ‘hood. Mumbo Jumbo should go out with no fanfare, no recognition…just one day, far in the future, a meaningless, unremarkable death finds him, leaving his worthless body slumped one final time over the license plate machine.
Quiet Pro:
What you say is ironic, because a prison in a state with no death penalty is a dangerous one for prison guards. Lifers can get no worse punishment than what they already have, so they have carte blanche to assault and brutalize and kill the guards.
Question Diversity:
You raise a very good point, one that’s difficult to dispute. However, the dangers of the job are well-known at the outset and, quite frankly, it’s encumbent upon a professional to take responsibility for their fitness to do the job and thus prepare themselves accordingly.
Also, at the risk of sounding dramatic, I’ll gladly deal with a potentially higher degree of risk if it means knowing that a predatory degenerate is miserable each and every day of his existence.
My two years as a prison guard taught me something of great value that I’ve carried over to my career as a police officer: Never forget the victim. Whatever the dangers may be, the victim and their family, long forgotten and ignored by the criminal justice system, suffer in relative anonymity with the crime committed against them.
Lastly, if you aren’t familiar with the tenor of most of my posts, I sincerely believe that most citizens don’t demand enough from the police. You pay us to confront violence and disorder on your behalf - see to it that we do.
You pay us to confront violence and disorder on your behalf - see to it that we do.
I agree with you sir, but first we should elect government official/representatives who will allow LEOs to do the job they are hired to do and stop pandering to criminals. Sadly, police officers more often than not, only take the names of the victims and can do little to the criminal who (if arrested) will be on the streets before your paperwork is done.
Politics will see to it that this bum will never be executed.
He can’t be executed, as his death penalty was overturned. This means he just gets to rot in prison for the rest of his natural life.
When you are flying a kite in the park with your kids on a nice afternoon, making love to your wife on a summer night, working on your car or driving home from a hard day at work, please spare a thought for Mumia. He doesn’t get any of the things we enjoy, and he never will. Smile and laugh, because he won’t be getting out. Even if the court can’t put him down like a bad dog, we’re all a little bit better off with Mumia out of circulation.
