{"id":107178,"date":"2018-03-12T12:00:19","date_gmt":"2018-03-12T12:00:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=107178"},"modified":"2018-03-11T11:46:59","modified_gmt":"2018-03-11T11:46:59","slug":"new-legal-action-is-a-path-to-mumia-abu-jamals-freedom-but-a-re-ignited-international-mobilization-is-critical-for-victory","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2018\/03\/new-legal-action-is-a-path-to-mumia-abu-jamals-freedom-but-a-re-ignited-international-mobilization-is-critical-for-victory\/","title":{"rendered":"New Legal Action is a Path to Mumia Abu-Jamal\u2019s Freedom, but a Re-ignited International Mobilization Is Critical for Victory"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cIt will take international mobilization of the masses, centrally labor and its allies, minorities, immigrants and youth to turn the tide and win Mumia\u2019s freedom.\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

7 Mar 2018 – <\/em>For over three decades thousands of organizations and hundreds of thousands of individuals around the globe have mobilized to save Mumia Abu-Jamal from execution, to overturn his conviction, to demand his freedom. Without these international mobilizations, crucially including the organized labor movement, we would not have saved Mumia from two warrants of execution and compelled the state to concede defeat in trying to execute him. Mumia is now off death row and out of solitary confinement in prison general population.<\/p>\n

Mumia remains on \u201cslow death row,\u201d life imprisonment without parole. During the past two years an international campaign of call-ins, protests at the prison and at the Pa. Department of Corrections (DOC), and letters including labor resolutions won medical treatment for his hepatitis-C. Medical malfeasance has left Mumia with cirrhosis of the liver and the secondary symptoms of his decades-long hepatitis-C, including a painful skin condition.<\/strong> Quality medical care in prison is an oxymoron.<\/p>\n

Now, unfolding in the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas is the latest legal battle for Mumia\u2019s freedom. It is a constitutional challenge to his conviction, pursuant to a precedent-setting U.S. Supreme Court case, Williams v. Pennsylvania<\/em> (2016), based on the due process right to an impartial appeal process which is violated if a prosecutor who had a significant personal involvement is later a judge in the same case.<\/p>\n

\u201cMedical malfeasance has left Mumia with cirrhosis of the liver and the secondary symptoms of his decades-long hepatitis-C, including a painful skin condition.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The prosecutor who aggressively fought and prevailed in getting the Pennsylvania Supreme Court to uphold Mumia\u2019s conviction and death sentence in 1989 and to prevent the U.S. Supreme Court from considering Mumia\u2019s case was District Attorney Ronald D. Castille. Then as a justice in the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, Castille participated in the Pennsylvania Supreme Court\u2019s deliberations, agreed with the arguments he had made as District Attorney (DA), and denied those and numerous new legal challenges made in Mumia\u2019s appeals from 1998-2012.<\/p>\n

If Mumia wins this court action the Pennsylvania state court appeal denials from 1998-2012 upholding his conviction are vacated and appeal rights restored; his conviction is open to be reversed in new appeals. This is now the legal path to Mumia\u2019s freedom.<\/p>\n

All last year the District Attorney\u2019s Office (DAO) insisted documents evidencing DA Castille\u2019s personal involvement in Mumia Abu-Jamal\u2019s appeal process and death sentence did not exist.<\/p>\n

Since January 2, 2018 Mumia\u2019s case and fourteen other similar cases have been in the hands of District Attorney Larry Krasner, newly elected on a \u201cprogressive program.\u201d Notably, retired Justice Castille was appointed to DA Krasner\u2019s post-election advisory board. In court on January 17 and again on February 26 Krasner\u2019s DAO continued the stonewalling. The DAO requested time for \u201cfurther investigation\u201d and \u201cto \u201cformulate an office policy for their approach to these cases.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cKrasner\u2019s DAO continued the stonewalling.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

At the conclusion of the court hearing on February 26, 2018 Judge Leon Tucker once again ordered the DAO to produce a critical document and curtailed the requested time for the next court proceedings. Another status report conference is set for March 27, 2017. A full court hearing will be April 30, 2018.<\/p>\n

In fact, Judge Tucker already has in his hands\u2014released from the DAO files\u2014the evidence that District Attorney Castille was pushing to ensure that capital cases, including Mumia Abu-Jamal\u2019s, were expedited and that death warrants signed by the governor. This is the proof required under Williams v. Pa<\/em>.<\/p>\n

April 30, 2018 is set to be decisive point in Mumia\u2019s legal fight for his freedom.<\/p>\n

An international campaign is being re-ignited to free Mumia. To win this legal action and the victory of Mumia\u2019s freedom the activity of the recent months must grow and deepen, making it clear that we will not rest until Mumia walks out of prison a free man.<\/p>\n

The San Francisco Labor Council (SFLC), comprised of 150 unions, with more than 100,000 union members and family, unanimously adopted a \u201cResolution to Free Mumia Abu-Jamal\u201d <\/a>on February 12, 2018. It is powerful support, stating that Mumia\u2019s new legal action \u201cis an opening toward Mumia\u2019s freedom that again requires a massive campaign of workers\u2019 organizations worldwide.\u201d<\/p>\n

The SFLC follows International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) Local 10 <\/a>and the actions of Doro-Chiba (Japanese Railway Workers Union); the International Dockworkers Council, an association of 100,000 dockworkers over the world; the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa, the largest trade union in South Africa; the Maritime Union of Australia (Queensland), UNITE, the largest union in Great Britain with 1.4 million members; Oakland Educators Association, United Steelworkers, Local 8751, School Bus Drivers Union (Boston) and others in calling for Mumia\u2019s freedom.<\/p>\n

\u201cJudge Tucker already has in his hands the evidence that District Attorney Castille was pushing to ensure that capital cases, including Mumia Abu-Jamal\u2019s, were expedited and that death warrants signed by the governor.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The International Offensive to Free Mumia Abu-Jamal <\/a>is underway in coordination with a demonstration in Philadelphia on April 30. This follows the outpouring of international solidarity toward Mumia shown by over 500 organizations and individuals from every continent except Antarctica who responded to the December 9, 2017 International Call to Release the District Attorney and Police Files Relevant to Mumia Abu-Jamal\u2019s Case and to Free Him<\/em> <\/a>(International Call). Signatories included long-time advocates for Mumia\u2014Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Angela Davis, Edward Asner, Danny Glover, Dr. Cornel West, Alice Walker, Chris Hedges, and Tariq Ali. The International Call was initiated by Mireille Fanon- Mendes-France, President, Franz Fanon Foundation and Dr. Suzanne Ross, International Spokesperson for International Concerned Family and Friends of Mumia Abu-Jamal (ICFFMAJ).<\/p>\n

Fighting and winning Mumia\u2019s freedom is not the struggle for just one man. Using his voice and pen, having written eight books and recorded over 3000 commentaries, Mumia Abu-Jamal inspires and educates millions around the globe who identify with his fight against \u201cthe system\u201d and for justice for all humanity.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Mumia Abu Jamal – Liberation News<\/p><\/div>\n

Mumia: \u201cFighting to Create Revolution<\/strong>\u201d<\/p>\n

In a 1989 interview on death row Mumia stated he is \u201cfighting to create revolution in America. Revolution means total change.\u201d Mumia continues to be steadfast in his political views. He has not been intimidated into silence despite the decades on death row or now serving life imprisonment without parole. Mumia continues opposition to the policies of the American imperialist state, at home and abroad: the political repression, racial oppression and class exploitation, imperialist war and colonial depredations.<\/p>\n

To the American capitalist state, governed through both the Democratic and Republican parties, Mumia represents the specter of black revolt, of defiant opposition to their system of racist oppression. All elements of the criminal injustice system, with the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) in the forefront, colluded to kill this innocent man and have never stopped in their attempts to silence him.<\/p>\n

Mumia Abu-Jamal is in his 37th year of imprisonment, innocent and framed for a murder he did not commit and sentenced to death for being a former spokesman for the Black Panther Party, a MOVE supporter and a radical journalist, known as the \u201cvoice of the voiceless.\u201d<\/p>\n

No court, not the Pennsylvania state courts nor the federal courts, have taken account of the evidence of Mumia\u2019s factual innocence in the 1981 murder of police officer Daniel Faulkner <\/a>, or the total denial of due process at his trial or post-conviction hearings, including that Judge Albert Sabo was exposed and admitted that he was biased in favor of the prosecution and police, and a racist determined to see Mumia convicted and executed. At the time of Mumia\u2019s trial, Judge Sabo remarked to another judge, \u201cYeah, and I\u2019m going to help them fry the n\u2014-r.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAll elements of the criminal injustice system, with the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) in the forefront, colluded to kill this innocent man.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

If Mumia\u2019s petition is granted he can re-appeal all the Pa. Supreme Court denials from 1998-2012. This could result in a new trial or dismissal of the charges based on Mumia\u2019s actual innocence and the police, prosecutorial and judicial misconduct that resulted in his frame-up conviction and death sentence. A new appeal by Mumia could strike down his conviction because of the racial bias of judge Albert Sabo who presided over both Mumia\u2019s trial and post-conviction hearings from 1995-1997.<\/p>\n

Ronald D. Castille, Philadelphia District Attorney, then State Supreme Court Justice <\/strong><\/p>\n

Ronald Castille was elected Philadelphia District Attorney in 1986, after years as a senior assistant district attorney under District Attorney Edward Rendell during the time of Mumia\u2019s trial. The Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) Lodge No. 5 named Castille its \u201cMan of the Year\u201d in 1986 and in 1989 supported him for re-election. As DA, Castille prosecuted Ramona Africa, the lone adult survivor of the incendiary bombing of the MOVE <\/a>commune by Philadelphia city officials, the police and FBI. Eleven Black people, including 5 children were burned alive. This was a racist act of state terror against MOVE. Castille convened a grand jury to consider criminal charges against the Mayor, chiefs of the police and fire departments, and others. After two years, no charges were brought.<\/p>\n

To ensure that Mumia\u2019s conviction and death sentence were not reversed on appeal, Castille\u2019s prosecutors argued that Pennsylvania Supreme Court and U.S. Supreme Court precedents should not apply to Mumia\u2019s case and suppressed evidence of the Philadelphia District Attorney\u2019s policy and practice to exclude Black people from serving as jurors. That required answering not only the arguments made by Mumia\u2019s lawyer, but also the amici curiae<\/em> briefs filed by the ACLU of Philadelphia and the National Conference of Black Lawyers.<\/p>\n

The March 1989 Pa. Supreme Court denial of Mumia\u2019s appeal that rubber-stamped the prosecution arguments was not the end of Castille\u2019s involvement. Mumia made motions for re-argument, and filed two petitions in the U.S. Supreme Court. Mumia\u2019s supplemental pro se<\/em> petition to the U.S. Supreme Court in May 1990 emphasized the issue of the pattern and practices of excluding Black people from serving on a jury. Castille assigned his Deputy District Attorney Gayle Barthold McLaughlin to oppose Mumia\u2019s petition in the U.S. Supreme Court, substituting her for a more junior prosecutor.<\/p>\n

\u201cCastille bragged that his office had secured 45 death sentences and that he prosecuted some of the city\u2019s most \u201cnotorious criminals.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In 1994 Ronald Castille won a seat on the Pennsylvania Supreme court as a \u201claw and order\u201d candidate, endorsed by 36,000 police officers of the FOP. Castille bragged that his office had secured 45 death sentences and that he prosecuted some of the city\u2019s most \u201cnotorious criminals.\u201d<\/p>\n

After Castille was elected as a justice to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court Mumia\u2019s lawyers made repeated motions to Castille to recuse himself from participating in the appeals to the Pa. Supreme Court because of his pro-death penalty, pro-police bias. Castille denied these motions, asserting he had no personal knowledge of Mumia\u2019s case and no bias against him. Castille made the argument that he was not the only justice on the Pennsylvania Supreme Court who was elected with the political and financial support of the Fraternal Order of Police, but shared that distinction with four other justices. In fact it is a norm that elected judges are routinely former prosecutors and solicit financial and political support from law enforcement.<\/p>\n

In Williams v. Pennsylvania<\/em>, for the first time in American judicial history the Supreme Court established an \u201cobjective test\u201d in criminal cases that the \u201cdue process right to an impartial tribunal free of judicial bias\u201d is violated where the judge previously had \u201csignificant personal involvement in a critical prosecutorial decision\u201d in the same case. Mumia\u2019s new petition is based on the precedent set in Williams<\/em> and was filed on August 7, 2016. Fourteen other men, also prosecuted by Castille and who received death sentences, filed \u201cWilliams<\/em>\u201d petitions.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) Lodge No. 5 named Castille its \u201cMan of the Year\u201d in 1986 and in 1989 supported him for re-election.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In Williams<\/em> the U.S. Supreme Court deliberately did not rule it is automatically a conflict of interest and due process violation if a prosecutor in a case became a judge in that same case; or that political and financial support from the FOP is evidence of bias. Such a ruling would have been an unacceptable strike at the ideological core of the U.S. criminal injustice system, the claim the judicial system is neutral and fair and that its operational components\u2014police, prosecution and courts\u2014are duty bound to act to protect the populace, to seek justice, not convictions. The reality is a legal system that protects the interests of the capitalist class, defending the profit system against the working people, particularly Black people and other minorities, immigrants; against any and all perceived opponents of this government\u2019s policies.<\/p>\n

To establish bias, Williams<\/em> requires evidence that as a prosecutor, Castille had significant personal involvement in a critical prosecutorial decision in Mumia\u2019s case. And the \u201cproof\u201d of that personal involvement is being interpreted as locating a specific document or other evidence of Castille\u2019s personal involvement in Mumia\u2019s case. This procedure poses an apparent conflict of interest. Prosecutors are tasked to produce evidence of judicial misconduct committed by a former District Attorney.<\/p>\n

The FOP, DA Ronald Castille and the early Campaign to Save Mumia\u2019s Life <\/strong><\/p>\n

It is inconceivable and ludicrous to suggest District Attorney Castille was not personally involved in the oversight and preparation of the prosecution\u2019s case against Mumia to the PA Supreme Court and U.S. Supreme Court.<\/p>\n

Castille could be deemed negligent if he hadn\u2019t done so, since Mumia\u2019s case was the high-profile murder conviction for killing a police officer; the FBI and Philadelphia police had targeted Mumia for his political activity, including opposition to police brutality; and the FOP vigorously demanded Mumia\u2019s execution. In addition there is the issue of Ronald Castille\u2019s political and financial indebtedness to the FOP and his braggadocio about the number of death sentences he secured while he was District Attorney.<\/p>\n

While DA Castille was defending Mumia\u2019s conviction and death sentence in the Pennsylvania Supreme Court and U.S. Supreme Court, a campaign calling to \u201cSave Mumia Abu-Jamal! Abolish the Racist Death Penalty!\u201d initiated by the Partisan Defense Committee (PDC), was gaining support of trade unions, civil rights and civil liberties organizations, death penalty abolitionists, elected officials, leftist and other political organizations. Mumia\u2019s written commentaries were published in Philadelphia and across the U.S.<\/p>\n

Letters and petitions demanding \u201cMumia Abu-Jamal Must Not Die\u201d were delivered to Pa Governor Robert Casey, including from former U.S. attorney general Ramsey Clark, national publications such as the Nation<\/em> and the Black Scholar<\/em>, and representatives of Amnesty International in New York, the National Campaign Against the Death Penalty, the NAACP, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) and many others.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe FOP vigorously demanded Mumia\u2019s execution.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Labor Federations internationally, including the Metro Toronto Labour Council; the CGT, France\u2019s largest labor federation; the British National Union of Railwaymen; the Australian Firemen and Deckhands\u2019 Union, national journalists associations; union locals, including AFSCME (public sector workers), CWA (communications workers), SEIU (service workers), ILA and ILWU (longshore workers), the Amalgamated Transit Union, the United Auto Workers, and others supported the campaign.<\/p>\n

On November 5, 1988, Mumia\u2019s voice boomed over loudspeakers in Independence Mall against the Ku Klux Klan, which had planned a \u201cWhite Pride\u201d rally at the Liberty Bell. Mumia endorsed the mobilization to stop the Klan. A publicized demand was made to Governor Casey for Mumia to be \u201cspecially paroled to speak at the rally.\u201d Over 1000 protesters and the hundreds of Philadelphia and federal police surrounding the rally site heard Mumia\u2019s recorded message.<\/p>\n

In Philadelphia on October 14, 1989, a rally to \u201cSave Mumia Abu-Jamal! Abolish the Racist Death Penalty!\u201d was held, co-sponsored by the late David Richardson, President, National Black Caucus of State Legislators and Pa. State Representative with the PDC. Over two hundred trade unionists, educators, prison activists and death penalty abolitionists participated. Wadiya Jamal, Mumia\u2019s wife, spoke of the state\u2019s intent \u201cto kill Mumia to silence him.\u201d MOVE supporter I Abdul John emphasized Mumia\u2019s truthful reporting on MOVE and the consequences for him. Rep. Richardson attacked the prosecution as political and stated that Mumia is innocent. The event was prominently covered on TV.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe first pamphlet by Mumia, Survival is Still a Crime, was published by Friends and Family of Mumia Abu-Jamal Press in August 1990.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

A Bastille Day rally was held for Mumia in Philadelphia, July 14, 1990. The FOP organized a counter-rally. The head of the Philly FOP, Richard Costello, declared that all Mumia\u2019s supporters were part of a \u201cmisfit terrorist group\u201d who should be put on an \u201celectric couch.\u201d This was big news in Philadelphia, covered on TV and in the print media.<\/p>\n

The video From Death Row, This is Mumia Abu-Jamal<\/em> <\/a>was shown in Philadelphia, as it had in other cities around the world, including New York, San Francisco, Chicago, Los Angeles, London, Paris, Berlin, Tokyo, Sydney. Mumia sets forth his political history, the police murderous violence against MOVE <\/a>and attacks his conviction and death sentence. Each of these rallies included trade union representatives, spokesmen for other defense cases, civil liberties and civil rights organizations, leftist and socialist groups. The first pamphlet by Mumia, Survival is Still a Crime,<\/em> was published by Friends and Family of Mumia Abu-Jamal Press in August 1990.<\/p>\n

This campaign for Mumia and the FOP counter-attacks were a political reality while Castille was prosecuting Mumia\u2019s appeal to the Pa. Supreme Court and U.S. Supreme Court. This history adds to the lie that DA Castille had no knowledge of Mumia\u2019s case and no reason for personal involvement as a prosecutor.<\/p>\n

Law is Politics by Other Means<\/strong><\/p>\n

On March 6, 1989, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court upheld Mumia Abu-Jamal\u2019s conviction and death sentence. It adopted DA Castille\u2019s legal arguments not to apply recent precedent-setting rulings of the U.S. Supreme Court on jury selection and prosecutorial misconduct in jury summations to Mumia.<\/p>\n

Just days later Mumia penned \u201cLaw is Simply Politics by Other Means.\u201d (March 19, 1989)<\/p>\n

Of all peoples, Africans have the least reason to look to America\u2019s courts for even a semblance of justice. The record of overt injustice echoes down the ages, and the heirs of Justice Taney, of Dred Scott infamy, still sit upon courts, proving his dictum, \u2018A black man has no rights, that a white man is bound to respect,\u2019 has continuing relevance to today. The ideal is, of course, that all defendants are to be treated equally in American courts. The reality, of course, is something else again. \u2026. This [appeal denial] was not a legal decision; it was a political decision. \u201cLaw is simply politics by other means.\u201d<\/p>\n

In deciding against Mumia, the Pennsylvania Supreme court decision did not even maintain a pretense of upholding the established law. Rather, the denial of legal precedent to Mumia became the new precedent, \u201cMumia rules,\u201d applied to other Pennsylvania cases.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn deciding against Mumia, the Pennsylvania Supreme court decision did not even maintain a pretense of upholding the established law.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Mumia\u2019s historical reference to Dred Scott<\/em> is that slavery and its legacy is intrinsic to the American state. It took the Civil War to end slavery, won by the participation of over 200,000 Black troops. The U.S. Civil War remains unfinished, as seen in the post-Reconstruction convict leasing and debt peonage, de jure<\/em> and de facto<\/em> segregation, the oppression of Black people at the bottom of the economy, and mass incarceration. Black oppression is the bedrock of American capitalism.<\/p>\n

Thirty years later, the legal battles for Mumia freedom continue, each an instance of the relevance of Dred Scott<\/em>, an object lesson in the class nature of the capitalist state; that class and race bias are integral to what is a frame-up system. The injustices of Mumia\u2019s prosecution, death sentence and life imprisonment are those meted out every day, disparately suffered by Black people.<\/p>\n

At the same time the Pa. Supreme Court decision made crystal clear that Abu-Jamal\u2019s case is a special case of political persecution, intended to be a lesson for any who dare to speak out in opposition to racist oppression, bias and other inequities of American capitalism. This \u201cspecial case of political persecution\u201d is shared with other imprisoned former Black Panther Party members and Leonard Peltier targeted by the FBI\u2019s Counter-Intelligence Program (COINTELPRO) and the MOVE 9. Today, Black activists are targeted as \u201cBlack Identity Extremists.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mumia\u2019s Pending Legal Proceedings<\/strong><\/p>\n

Mumia\u2019s legal action was filed on August 7, 2016, but the first court date was not until April 24, 2017. The DAO opposed Mumia\u2019s action, arguing for dismissal and that reinstating Mumia\u2019s appeal rights would be \u201ctoo much justice.\u201d Instead, Judge Tucker issued six discovery orders to the DAO, each in response to DAO filings that there are no documents related to former Philadelphia District Attorney Ronald Castille\u2019s personal involvement in Mumia Abu-Jamal\u2019s appeals from 1986-1991.<\/p>\n

The prosecution position that there is no documentary evidence of Castille\u2019s involvement is outrageous, but expected; it constitutes a cover-up of the continuing frame-up of Mumia Abu-Jamal.<\/p>\n

Nonetheless, the DAO released a March 27, 1990 report on the status of pending capital cases, including Mumia\u2019s, requested by Castille. Several times Judge Tucker ordered the DAO to produce DA Castille\u2019s letter requesting that report. The DAO twice answered that it \u201ccannot locate\u201d Castille\u2019s instructions.<\/p>\n

On November 27, 2017 Judge Tucker ordered a court hearing for January 17, 2018 for the DAO to \u201cproduce former Deputy District Attorney Gayle Barthold McLaughlin to present testimony regarding the content of the [Castille] documents the DA\u2019s office cannot locate.\u201d (McLaughlin is the signatory on the March 27, 1990 memo and<\/em> the attorney assigned by DA Castille to represent the DAO in Mumia\u2019s U.S. Supreme Court proceedings.) Judge Tucker threatened sanctions against the DAO, but there is no order that Ronald Castille testify, although he is living in the Philadelphia area.<\/p>\n

Prior to the January 17, 2018 court hearing the International Call<\/em> with signatories was delivered to DA Krasner as well as a letter from Pam Africa, ICFFMAJ and Joe Piette of Mobilization 4 Mumia. <\/a>That letter requested they and international representatives meet with DA Larry Krasner to discuss the public release of all police and prosecution files related to Mumia\u2019s prosecution and obtaining Mumia\u2019s freedom. DA Krasner was also told he should immediately withdraw the prosecution\u2019s objection to Mumia\u2019s legal action and restore his rights to appeal, based on documentary evidence already released by the DAO.<\/p>\n

\u201cJudge Tucker threatened sanctions against the DAO, but there is no order that Ronald Castille testify.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The courtroom on January 17, 2018 was filled to overflow with over 100 Mumia supporters, including an international delegation of Mireille Fanon-Mendes-France and Jacqui Hortaut (LIBERONS MUMIA!). Outside a large group of demonstrators demanded \u201cPublic Release of All Police and Prosecution Files on Mumia Abu-Jamal\u201d and \u201cFree Mumia Now.\u201d<\/p>\n

DA Krasner\u2019s new team did not acknowledge Judge Tucker\u2019s standing order to the DAO to produce evidence. Instead, based on a meeting with DA Krasner, Judge Tucker was asked to give a 60-day continuance for the DAO to \u201cformulate an office policy.\u201d Mumia\u2019s attorneys Sam Spital of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund and Judith Ritter agreed. Judge Tucker granted the 60 days, but required a status report in 30 days, and instructed the DAO to provide the information ordered.<\/p>\n

On February 26, the process was repeated. The DAO said they still couldn\u2019t locate Castille\u2019s instructions to prepare the status report on pending 70 capital cases as of March 1990. This time they asked for 90 days to review the boxes of files of those cases. Judge Tucker instead ordered another status report on March 27 and a hearing on April 30. Per the request of Mumia\u2019s counsel, the DAO agreed that if there is no new documentation from the files, there will be a deposition of former Deputy DA McLaughlin.<\/p>\n

Not mentioned in court was another document: a June 15, 1990 letter from DA Castille to then-governor Robert Casey. This letter urged the governor to issue death warrants in 16 Philadelphia capital cases where the appeals process was completed. DA Castille\u2019s letter states: \u201cI urge you to send a clear and dramatic message to all police killers that the death penalty actually means something.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

This letter was disclosed by the DAO with the caveat that it does not apply to Mumia because he is not specifically named. But Mumia\u2019s appeals were still pending in the U.S. Supreme Court, so a death warrant could not be requested for him. The \u201call police killers\u201d was an unmistakable reference to Mumia Abu-Jamal.<\/p>\n

\u201cMr. Castille actively tracked Mr. Abu-Jamal\u2019s case.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

As Mumia\u2019s attorneys argued to Judge Tucker in an October 19, 2017 letter: \u201cThe [June 15, 1990] letter makes clear that Mr. Castille made a policy decision\u2014which would include Mr. Abu-Jamal\u2019s case\u2014 to expedite litigation in capital cases so they would \u2018move forward to their ultimate conclusion.\u2019 Indeed, under the Commonwealth\u2019s own reasoning, Mr. Castille actively tracked Mr. Abu-Jamal\u2019s case \u2026 Those facts, in and of themselves, show Mr. Castille\u2019s \u2018significant, personal involvement\u2026in a critical decision regarding Mr. Abu-Jamal\u2019s case.\u201d<\/p>\n

In other words, the March 27, 1990 status report on capital cases and Castille\u2019s June 15, 1990 letter to Gov. Casey meet the standard required by Williams <\/em>that Justice Castille\u2019s participation as a justice in Mumia\u2019s appeals deprived Mumia of a fair and impartial tribunal. Mumia\u2019s appeal denials from 1998-2012 should be vacated and his appeal rights restored.<\/p>\n

The International Offensive to Free Mumia is organized to make it clear to District Attorney Krasner and Judge Leon Tucker there is an international movement that will not stop until Mumia is free.<\/p>\n

The District Attorney serves a specific repressive function in the criminal injustice system. It cannot be fundamentally changed, any more than racist, brutal policing can be ended without overturning the entirety of the capitalist injustice system. The progressive aura of Larry Krasner, a defense attorney for 30 years, whose campaign promises included to help end mass incarceration and to \u201creview past convictions and free the wrongfully convicted\u201d and \u201cnever to seek a death sentence\u201d is already dimmed.<\/p>\n

Not surprisingly, Krasner now says, \u201cnever say never\u201d on capital punishment. When Krasner put Ronald Castille on his post-election advisory board it served to quell some opposition from prosecutors and the FOP. Castille is a known zealot in favor of executions; he excoriated defense attorneys who aggressively represented defendants in capital cases. In addition, the Williams<\/em> Supreme Court decision was national news, and Castille publicly disagreed. DA Krasner had to have known of the 14 pending Williams v. Pennsylvania<\/em> cases, including Mumia\u2019s.<\/p>\n

No less political pressure, in the form of protest and publicity, should be exerted on DA Larry Krasner than was previously directed at district attorneys Edward Rendell, Ronald Castille, Lynne Abraham or Seth Williams. Rather, precisely because Bernie Sanders-supported Larry Krasner is a self-defined \u201cprogressive\u201d more demands need to be made on him.<\/p>\n

\u201cJudge Tucker has his own legal bias in cases challenging prosecutorial misconduct as shown.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Judge Tucker has repeatedly ordered the DAO to search its files for any document evidencing Castille\u2019s personal involvement in Mumia\u2019s case, but he has not responded to Mumia\u2019s lawyers\u2019 requests to order the DAO to specifically account for its search and to allow a full evidentiary hearing.<\/p>\n

There is no basis to assume Judge Tucker will go beyond the prosecution\u2019s narrowest interpretation of Williams<\/em>: that evidence of Castille\u2019s personal involvement in prosecuting Mumia requires a document in which Castille specifically references Mumia Abu-Jamal, his appeal and\/or his death sentence. And Judge Tucker could accept the DAO\u2019s statement that there is no such document, despite the released documents decisively demonstrating Castille\u2019s tracking of Mumia\u2019s case to insure an execution warrant as soon as possible.<\/p>\n

And if that is the case, Judge Tucker has the authority to rule against Mumia. And if so, this would not be the first time a court ruled against Mumia, carving out an exception or distinguishing element to deny the application of a constitutional principle or court precedent.<\/p>\n

Judge Tucker has political ambitions of his own. He attempted to get on the ballot as the Republican candidate for DA after Larry Krasner won the Democratic primary for district attorney. Reportedly Judge Tucker is seeking a federal judgeship. How Judge Tucker handles these \u201cWilliams\u2019 cases,\u201d especially the result in Mumia\u2019s case, is being closely watched.<\/p>\n

Additionally, Judge Tucker has his own legal bias in cases challenging prosecutorial misconduct as shown in the dismissal of the post-conviction petition of Major Tillery <\/a>without even an evidentiary hearing. Judge Tucker struck down witnesses\u2019 recantation of lying testimony as \u201cuntimely,\u201d blaming Tillery for waiting \u201ctoo long\u201d to get the proof that the police and prosecution coerced the witnesses with threats and promised plea deals.<\/p>\n

Judge Tucker\u2019s courtroom will be packed and there will be protest demonstrations <\/a>outside the courthouse for the March 27 status hearing and the April 30, 2018 evidentiary hearing.<\/p>\n

For Class-Struggle Defense to Free Mumia<\/strong><\/p>\n

The almost 40 years of legal proceedings against Mumia in the state and federal courts, aided by the concerted FOP-led propaganda campaign against him, have shown again and again there is no way to dodge the central truth that Mumia is directly up against a state machine that is united in its determination to kill him, to imprison him for life, to silence him\u2014for who he is, and what he continues to fight for.<\/p>\n

There is pressure that can be brought to bear on the courts, which do not sit in judgment and rule in isolation. But it will take international mobilization of the masses, centrally labor and its allies, minorities, immigrants and youth to turn the tide and win Mumia\u2019s freedom.<\/p>\n

Organizing on the basis of class struggle, non-sectarian defense is our key strategy to win Mumia\u2019s freedom. While utilizing all possible legal proceedings and allying with all those who support the cause of Mumia\u2019s freedom, class struggle defense recognizes the social force of mass mobilization, and most decisively organized labor. In countries and cities in the U.S. and around the globe, mass organizations and numbers of people are needed for agitation, publicity, organizing protest on a national and international scale as well as rallies, community meetings and leafleting and petitions to the Pa. Governor and Philadelphia DA, from any and all organizations who share in the commitment to free Mumia.<\/p>\n

At the same time we need to act on the understanding of the nature of the capitalist state, that the courts are not neutral and that there can be no illusions in the courts, prosecutors, or capitalist politicians, whether they are white or black, Democratic, Republican or Green; but place instead our reliance on the power of the working class and its allies.<\/p>\n

\u201cMass organizations and numbers of people are needed for agitation, publicity, organizing protest on a national and international scale.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This is not a rejection of support from elected officials in the U.S. including the late Pa. State Rep. David Richardson, congressmen Barbara Lee, John Conyers and Ron Dellums, or internationally including Labour MP Jeremy Corbyn. Dozens of elected members of parliaments and elected bodies around the world have signed on to the International Call, including Labour MP John McDonnell, Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer, members of the European Parliament, 15 Danish Parliament members. Elected officials from France, Germany, Britain, South Africa Zimbabwe, Tanzania, Senegal, Australia, Haiti, Mexico, Canada, the U.S. and other countries added their names and positions.<\/p>\n

Class struggle defense is the recognition that the strategy to free Mumia lies in the streets and in the actions of the masses.<\/p>\n

Historically, in the United States class struggle defense was codified in the principled work of the International Labor Defense (ILD), formed by the early Communist Party. That work is still honored today in the San Francisco longshore union hall in a proudly displayed mural of the \u201cRed Angel,\u201d ILD Secretary Elaine Black Yoneda, the only woman on the San Francisco 1934 General Strike Committee.<\/p>\n

Labor and trade-union organizations are strategic for class-struggle defense. That understanding has two components. One is based on the social power of the working class\u2014social power that can bring production, transport and communications to a halt. Imagine what it would mean if the Philadelphia transit workers and sanitation workers, postal workers and others went out on strike, fighting not only for job security, higher pay, medical and better work conditions but to demand Mumia\u2019s freedom.<\/p>\n

While on death row Mumia has stood for labor solidarity with workers in struggle. He is a proud member of the National Writers Union (UAW). In 1996, when ABC-TV sent a strike breaking \u201c20\/20\u201d crew to interview Mumia, during a recent CWA-NABET strike, Mumia said \u201cNo,\u201d that he\u2019d rather die than cross a picket line. He spoke in support of the Liverpool dockers struggle (1997), the striking Charleston, South Carolina longshore union (2000), locked out West Coast longshore workers of the ILWU (2002), and striking NYC transit workers (2005), and others.<\/p>\n

From the beginning of the fight for Mumia, labor organizations internationally have stood up for him with resolutions and signatures on petitions. The International Call is signed by over 50 trade unions and union leaders from around the globe including from Britain, Spain, Portugal, India, Pakistan, Japan, Australia, Argentina, U.S and Canada.<\/p>\n

\u201cDozens of elected members of parliaments and elected bodies around the world have signed on to the International Call.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Crucial to winning Mumia\u2019s freedom is turning this support into concrete militant labor action, up to and including strike action.<\/p>\n

In early January 1999 the Labor Action Committee to Free Mumia Abu-Jamal (LAC) <\/a>, Oakland, California, was formed \u201cdedicated to educating workers about Jamal\u2019s case, and to promoting a class-struggle movement, including strikes and other job actions wherever possible, to Free Mumia Abu-Jamal!\u201d<\/p>\n

Oakland Teachers for Mumia, supported by the LAC, initiated the January 1999 Oakland Education Association (OEA) high school teach-ins on \u201cThe Case of Mumia Abu-Jamal and the Death Penalty.\u201d The OEA teach-in which took place despite a crescendo in the media against a \u201cconvicted cop killer\u201d in the wake of a killing of an Oakland cop.<\/p>\n

The 1999 one-day action of the ILWU on the West Coast, <\/a>initiated by supporters of the LAC, on the basis of \u201cFree Mumia!\u201d and \u201cAn Injury To One Is An Injury To All\u201d is a concrete example of the labor strike action needed. Members of the LAC worked within ILWU Local 10 to win a coast wide vote that the ILWU would shut down all West Coast ports on April 24,1999 to express their solidarity with Mumia Abu-Jamal. The eight-hour \u201cstop-work meetings\u201d approved by the delegates halted all shipping from Bellingham, Washington to San Diego, California.<\/p>\n

The adopted demands of the ILWU were \u201cStop the Execution!\u201d and \u201cFree Mumia Abu-Jamal!\u201d Although the 1972 ILWU Convention voted to free Angela Davis, this was the first time the ILWU shut down all West Coast ports in support of a political prisoner.<\/p>\n

This powerful labor action helped mobilize 25,000 people in the Free Mumia Abu-Jamal demonstration initiated by the Mobilization to Free Mumia Abu-Jamal and was led by the 300-strong contingent of members ILWU from San Francisco, Sacramento, Los Angeles, Port Hueneme, Seattle, and other port cities along the Western seaboard in the streets of San Francisco demanding Mumia\u2019s freedom on April 24. Chanting, \u201cAn injury to one is an injury to all! Free Mumia Abu-Jamal!\u201d the West Coast-based ILWU set an historic precedent for the U.S. labor movement and beyond.<\/p>\n

Messages of international dockworkers\u2019 solidarity with the ILWU\u2019s action in defense of Mumia came from Liverpool, Sweden, Denmark, Cyprus, Finland, Japan and from the 100,000 member teachers\u2019 union in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil which struck for two hours the day before calling for freedom for Mumia.<\/p>\n

The latter demand \u201cAn injury to one is an injury to all!\u201d speaks to the other component of why class struggle defense for Mumia is so important. Labor rights go hand in hand with Black rights. The fight to free Mumia Abu-Jamal is part of the need for labor to champion every struggle for Black rights and Black freedom. Karl Marx at the time of the Civil War said: \u201cLabor cannot emancipate itself in the white skin where in the black it is branded.\u201d Poisonous white chauvinism is the tool of the American capitalist class, intended to divide workers, cripple immediate struggles and the recognition there is a class enemy that needs to be defeated in united class-struggle.<\/p>\n

Teamsters Joint Council 16 representing some 120,000 Teamsters throughout New York City and across Long Island are training to challenge federal immigration agents who show up to search their work sites. Their statement is: union solidarity first, immigration status second. This labor solidarity shows a potential openness to what is needed.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe fight to free Mumia Abu-Jamal is part of the need for labor to champion every struggle for Black rights and Black freedom.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The fight for Mumia\u2019s freedom\u2014and in defense of democratic rights and of all the oppressed\u2014is also part of labor\u2019s own fight, a fight that requires getting rid of the class-collaborationist trade-union leadership that sells out the workers\u2019 interests. By taking up such struggles, workers are fighting not just for themselves as workers pitted against individual employers, but on behalf of the whole working class, which has the power and interest to overturn the rule of capital.<\/p>\n

Labor actions, like those in 1999, are needed today and around the world, joining the fight to free Mumia with other struggles. This can become a reality.<\/p>\n

The struggle for Mumia\u2019s freedom requires solidarity and unity with those oppressed and exploited across the world. It is of necessity a fight back against capitalist repression, oppression and exploitation. Mumia\u2019s conviction, death sentence, and now life imprisonment without parole embodies all aspects of the legacy of slavery in the criminal injustice system\u2014from racist legal lynching to police terror and shootings on the streets; the denial of legal rights and frame-up prosecutions in the courts; the repression, dehumanization and warehousing of men and woman through mass incarceration; and the inhumane conditions of imprisonment, solitary confinement, life sentences without parole, medical negligence and malfeasance.<\/p>\n

We can win Mumia\u2019s freedom with international mass mobilization, with labor action and the strategy of class struggle defense. Mumia\u2019s freedom and the political struggle to win it, is part of the fight for the liberation of us all.<\/p>\n

\n

FREE MUMIA ABU-JAMAL!<\/h3>\n

BUILD THE INTERNATIONAL MARCH 27 OFFENSIVE!<\/h3>\n<\/blockquote>\n

____________________________________________<\/p>\n

Rachel Wolkenstein<\/em> is a legal advocate and political activist working with Mumia Abu-Jamal for over 30 years. She was co-counsel for Mumia during his post-conviction proceedings in front of Judge Albert Sabo from 1995-1998. From 1974-2010 she was staff counsel for the Partisan Defense Committee. She was chief legal consultant for the 2013 film <\/em>Manufacturing Guilt. She can be reached at <\/em>rachelwolkenstein@gmail.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Go to Original \u2013 blackagendareport.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

7 Mar 2018 – For over three decades thousands of organizations and hundreds of thousands of individuals around the globe have mobilized to save Mumia Abu-Jamal from execution, to overturn his conviction, to demand his freedom. Using his voice and pen, having written eight books and recorded over 3000 commentaries, Mumia Abu-Jamal inspires and educates millions around the globe who identify with his fight against \u201cthe system\u201d and for justice for all humanity.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":107180,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[139],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-107178","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-justice"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107178","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=107178"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107178\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/107180"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=107178"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=107178"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=107178"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}