J. Patrick O'Connor: "The Mumia Exception"

Interviewed on July 1, 2009, J. Patrick O'Connor is the author of the 2008 book "The Framing of Mumia Abu-Jamal" which has been completely ignored by the mainstream media in Philadelphia, despite a New York Times article released on the day of the book's release. In this new interview O'Connor criticizes the April 6, 2009, ruling by the US Supreme Court, which refused to consider an appeal from death-row journalist and former Black Panther, Mumia Abu-Jamal, who was convicted of first-degree murder in the shooting death of white Philadelphia Police Officer, Daniel Faulkner, at a 1982 trial deemed unfair by Amnesty International, the European Parliament, the Japanese Diet, Nelson Mandela, and numerous others.

Mumia Abu-Jamal had petitioned the US Supreme Court to review the US Third Circuit Court ruling of March, 27 2008, which rejected his bid, based on three issues, for a new guilt-phase trial. One issue was that of racially discriminatory jury selection, based on the 1986 case Batson v. Kentucky, on which the three-judge panel split 2-1, with Judge Thomas Ambro dissenting. Ambro argued that prosecutor Joseph McGills use of 10 out of his 15 peremptory strikes to remove otherwise acceptable African-American jurors, was itself enough evidence of racial discrimination to grant Abu-Jamal a preliminary hearing that could have led to a new trial. In denying Abu-Jamal this preliminary hearing, Ambro argued that the Court was creating new rules that were being exclusively applied to Abu-Jamals case. The denial "goes against the grain of our prior actionsI see no reason why we should not afford Abu-Jamal the courtesy of our precedents," wrote Ambro.

In his new essay titled The Mumia Exception, author J. Patrick OConnor argues that the Third Circuit Courts rejection of the Batson claim and of the other two issues presented is only the latest example of the courts longstanding practice of altering existing precedent to deny Abu-Jamal legal relief. OConnor cites many other problems, including the 2001 affidavit by a former court stenographer, who says that on the eve of Abu-Jamals trial, she overheard Judge Albert Sabo say to someone at the courthouse that he was going to "help" the prosecution "fry the nigger," referring to Abu-Jamal. Common Pleas Judge Pamela Dembe rejected this affidavit on grounds that even if Sabo had made the comment, it was irrelevant as long as his rulings were legally correct.

The phrase Mumia Exception was first coined by Linn Washington, Jr., a Philadelphia Tribune columnist and professor of journalism at Temple University, who has covered this story since the day of Abu-Jamals 1981 arrest. For more background, read J. Patrick O'Connor's "Mumia Exception" article here: http://www.phillyimc.org/en/mumia-exception

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• Mumia Abu-Jamal
• US Supreme Court
• racism
• prisons
• police
• death penalty

[bloodshotcomedy]

watching the video gives us the reason, but soon we will be there, and that will give us the passion. we can act now, and stop that, or we can walk willingly into the wood chipper untill we learn. our choice as brothers of humanity to make. Peace and love will rein again, but how many will have to die first? how many of our inspiration mush go on death row before we act right?!? Peace.

[EXTRABLK]

That's Deep!

[LordMumia]

Amazing video!!

* * * * *

[mediajusticenow]

Listen to Judge Thomas Ambro! He was right! The courts have rewritten their precedents to railroad Mumia.