The death penalty case of Mumia Abu-Jamal took a surprising turn this week, as a federal appeals court declared, for the second time, that Abu-Jamal\u2019s death sentence was unconstitutional. The 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, in Philadelphia, found that the sentencing instructions the jury received, and the verdict form they had to use in the sentencing, were unclear. While the disputes surrounding Abu-Jamal\u2019s guilt or innocence were not addressed, the case highlights inherent problems with the death penalty and the criminal justice system, especially the role played by race.<\/p>\n
Early on Dec. 9, 1981, Philadelphia Police Officer Daniel Faulkner pulled over a car driven by William Cook, Abu-Jamal\u2019s brother. What happened next is in dispute. Shots were fired, and both Officer Faulkner and Abu-Jamal were shot. Faulkner died, and Abu-Jamal was found guilty of his murder in a court case presided over by Judge Albert Sabo, who was widely considered to be a racist. In just one of too many painful examples, a court stenographer said in an affidavit that she heard Sabo say, in the courtroom antechamber, \u201cI\u2019m going to help them fry the ni\u2014r.\u201d<\/p>\n
This latest decision by the Court of Appeals relates directly to Sabo\u2019s conduct of the sentencing phase of Abu-Jamal\u2019s court case. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court is considering separate arguments surrounding whether or not Abu-Jamal received a fair trial at all. What the Court of Appeals unanimously found this week is that he did not receive a fair sentencing. Philadelphia District Attorney Seth Williams has decided to appeal the decision to the U.S. Supreme Court, saying, \u201cThe right thing for us to do is to ask the U.S. Supreme Court to hear this and to make a ruling on it.\u201d<\/p>\n
As a result of this ruling, Abu-Jamal could get a new, full sentencing hearing, in court, before a jury. In such a hearing, the jury would be given clear instructions on how to decide between applying a sentence of life in prison versus the death penalty, something the court found he did not receive back in 1982. At best, Abu-Jamal would be removed from the cruel confines of solitary confinement on Pennsylvania\u2019s death row at SCI Greene.<\/p>\n
John Payton, director-counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, which is representing Abu-Jamal in court, said:\u00a0 \u201cThis decision marks an important step forward in the struggle to correct the mistakes of an unfortunate chapter in Pennsylvania history … and helps to relegate the kind of unfairness on which this death sentence rested to the distant past.\u201d<\/p>\n
His other attorney, Judith Ritter, a professor at Widener University School of Law, told me: \u201cThis is extremely significant. It\u2019s a life or death decision.\u201d I asked her if she had spoken to Abu-Jamal yet, and she told me that the prison failed to approve her request for an emergency legal phone call. I was not surprised, given my many years of covering his case.<\/p>\n
Abu-Jamal has faced multiple obstacles as he has tried to have his voice heard. On Aug. 12, 1999, as I was hosting \u201cDemocracy Now!,\u201d Abu-Jamal called into our news hour mid-broadcast to be interviewed. As he began to speak, a prison guard yanked the phone out of the wall. Abu-Jamal called back a month later and recounted that \u201canother guard appeared at the cell hollering at the top of his lungs, \u2018This call is terminated!\u2019 I immediately called to the sergeant standing by and looking on and said, \u2018Sergeant, where did this order come from?\u2019 He shrugged his shoulders and said: \u2018I don\u2019t know. We just got a call to cut you off.\u2019\u00a0\u201d Abu-Jamal sued over the violation of his rights and won.<\/p>\n
Despite his solitary confinement, Abu-Jamal has continued his work as a journalist. His weekly radio commentaries are broadcast from coast to coast. He is the author of six books. He was recently invited to present to a conference on racial imprisonment at Princeton University. He said (through a cellphone held up to a microphone): \u201cVast numbers of men, women and juveniles … populate the prison industrial complex here in America. As many of you know, the U.S., with barely 5 percent of the world\u2019s population, imprisons 25 percent of the world\u2019s prisoners … the numbers of imprisoned blacks here rivals and exceeds South Africa\u2019s hated apartheid system during its height.\u201d<\/p>\n
The United States clings to the death penalty, alone in the industrialized world. It stands with China, Iran, North Korea, Saudi Arabia and Yemen as the world\u2019s most frequent executioners. This week\u2019s decision in Mumia Abu-Jamal\u2019s case stands as one more clear reason why the death penalty should be abolished.<\/p>\n
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Denis Moynihan contributed research to this column.<\/em><\/p>\n Amy Goodman is the host of \u201cDemocracy Now!,\u201d a daily international TV\/radio news hour airing on more than 900 stations in North America. She is the author of \u201cBreaking the Sound Barrier,\u201d recently released in paperback and now a New York Times best-seller.<\/em><\/p>\n \u00a9 2011 Amy Goodman – Distributed by King Features Syndicate <\/em><\/p>\n