freedomforum.org: Convicted reporter Abu-Jamal loses high court appeal

Convicted reporter Abu-Jamal loses high court appeal

The Associated Press

10.04.99

WASHINGTON — A former radio reporter convicted and sentenced to death for the 1981 killing of a Philadelphia policeman lost a Supreme Court appeal today.

The court, without comment, turned away arguments that Mumia Abu-Jamal was denied a fair trial.

Abu-Jamal's jailhouse writings about the justice system attracted worldwide attention. Thousands of supporters have staged demonstrations in Philadelphia to demand a new trial.

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court twice upheld Abu-Jamal's conviction and death sentence, most recently last year. The state court found no merit in the various arguments his lawyers raised.

Abu-Jamal, a onetime Black Panther and radio journalist, was convicted of fatally shooting Philadelphia police officer Daniel Faulkner, who was shot after stopping Abu-Jamal's brother for driving the wrong way down a city street.

Abu-Jamal was found wounded at the murder scene. He has denied shooting Falkner, contending he was framed.

The appeal acted on today raised three legal arguments, none of which focused on Abu-Jamal's claim of innocence. But his lawyers did tell the justices about "an array of evidence powerfully supporting his longstanding insistence that he is victim of a monumental injustice."

The appeal centered on these claims:

Abu-Jamal wrongly was stripped of his right to represent himself during his trial's jury-selection phase.
He wrongly was removed from the courtroom after disrupting the trial proceedings, a violation of his right to confront the witnesses against him.
He wrongly was excluded from a meeting in which the trial judge disqualified a sequestered juror who secretly had gone home to tend a sick cat.

"The prosecution's theory of the case was never placed within the crucible of meaningful adversarial testing such that the resulting verdict engenders confidence that justice was done," the appeal said.

State prosecutors had urged the justices to reject Abu-Jamal's appeal. They said he killed Faulkner "by cold-bloodedly shooting him in the face as the officer lay helpless on the ground."

While today's action frees state prosecutors to seek an execution date, Abu-Jamal is not likely to be executed any time soon. He still can challenge his state court conviction in federal courts, a process that someday could lead back to the Supreme Court.

The case is Abu-Jamal v. Pennsylvania, 98-1702.