By the time they get around executing this guy he is going to die of old age.


http://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/politics/Court-Tosses-Ruling-on-Mumias-Death-Sentence-82109792.html


The Supreme Court on Tuesday threw out a ruling that had set aside the death sentence of Mumia Abu-Jamal, convicted of killing Philadelphia police officer Daniel Faulkner in a racially tinged case that has made the former Black Panther an international cause celebrity.

The justices ordered the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia to revisit its 2008 ruling that Abu-Jamal deserved a new sentencing hearing because of flawed jury instructions at his 1982 trial.

The Supreme Court pointed to its ruling in an Ohio case last week, when it said a neo-Nazi killer did not deserve a new sentencing hearing on those grounds.

Prosecutors called the Ohio case directly on point.

“The order pretty much says it all,” Philadelphia Assistant District Attorney Hugh Burns Jr. said. “I don't see how you can possibly distinguish them.”

But Abu-Jamal's lawyer insists the facts differ.

“If our cases are similar, of course it doesn't bode well. But they're different,” said lead appellate lawyer Robert R. Bryan of San Francisco. “It's always uphill with a death-penalty case.”

The 3rd Circuit could still order a federal trial court to consider Abu-Jamal's case anew on other still-pending defense claims.

A mostly white Philadelphia jury convicted Abu-Jamal of killing white Officer Faulkner in 1981 after the patrolman pulled over Abu-Jamal's brother in an overnight traffic stop.

Prosecutors believe the 25-year-old Faulkner 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 consider the evidence against him overwhelming.

Since Abu-Jamal's 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 has kept his case in the spotlight through books and radio broadcasts.

“His body's locked up, but his mind is free as a bird,” Bryan told The Associated Press. “He has a lot to draw from within that most people similarly situated don't have.”

Faulkner's widow, Maureen, did not immediately return phone messages Tuesday.

Abu-Jamal, a former radio reporter born Wesley Cook, has been on Pennsylvania's death row for about 28 years. Hundreds of supporters gathered outside the federal courthouse in Philadelphia when his latest appeal was argued in May 2007.

Bryan unsuccessfully argued for a new trial on grounds the prosecution improperly excluded blacks from the jury, made up of 10 whites and two blacks.

In March 2008, the 3rd U.S. Circuit upheld the first-degree murder conviction but found the jury instructions and verdict form flawed and agreed Abu-Jamal deserved a new sentencing hearing. The Supreme Court rejected Abu-Jamal's appeal of his conviction.

The issue over the instructions relates to whether jurors understood how to weigh mitigating circumstances that might have kept Abu-Jamal off death row. Under the law, jurors did not have to agree unanimously on a mitigating circumstance.

“The verdict form together with the jury instructions were misleading as to whether unanimity was required in consideration of mitigating circumstances,” the appeals court wrote.

But last week, the Supreme Court reversed a similar ruling from the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati. That case dealt with Frank Spisak, the neo-Nazi who killed three people in 1982.

Abu-Jamal's oldest brother argued Tuesday that new evidence that has surfaced over the years should be aired at a retrial.

“I don't think it should ever be too late to hear information that can save someone,” said Keith Cook, 66, of Hillsborough, N.C.

Good deal. I hope they stop it all together.

It disgusts me that my fellow humans are barbaric enough to believe killing him does any good for anyone or anything.

Yeah. After all...it wasn't even SLIGHTLY " barbaric " when the guy killed a police officer.

No big deal.

So we want to be just like him???

How stupid is that!!!!

What, exactly, is the alternative?

Spend hundreds upon thousands of dollars keeping him alive....giving him free health care....three square meals a day....cable TV...workout equipment...etc etc etc...on and on and on....

Why should HE....who KILLED a man...get benefits that a whole lot of law abiding Americans are not entitled to???

You people didn't read the article right.The high court tossed out his appeal for another sentence that didn't involve the death penality.That means he is going to be executed hopefully as soon as possible.

No. She read it and expressed that she would like to see his execution halted.

I was responding to those sentiments.

I don't see how anyone could be on death row for 28 years.This guys case has been appealed probably at least 20 times.Every time they come to the same conclusion that he is guilty.I think it's safe to say this guy is guilty and should pay the price.I also agree that we should not spend any more money on him considering he should have been dead 20 plus years ago.

It cost more to execute than it does to house the rest of their lives so cost isn't even a valid argument.

The desire to kill is the only valid argument for a death penalty advocate and that makes them as bad as the criminals.

Actually it costs $86.09 to execute (total costs of drugs for a lethal injection) the larger costs of an execution trial come from the repeated appeals etc.which do in fact come out to more than the cost of housing a prisoner for life.(Can reach $4million in court costs.)
Yet the point remains that a man has lost his life, a family a loved one and the person guilty of the crime lives with society funding his entertainment, education and even his repeated appeals.
I am not not a proponent of the death penalty save with certain exceptions......the killing of a on duty police officer being one of them. Police officers are there to uphold the laws of a society. When they are murdered while performing those duties it is up to society to exact punishment.

Very interesting - Mumia's own words.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bf2dtqsfxi8

So you admit to having the desire to kill?

Making you the same as the killer?

I guess if you can live with that, that is on you.

I find it disgusting that people will choose to be a killer too and it doesn't give anyone any solace. Their loved one doesn't come back. The families all suffer the same, the killers family included.

It is sick to believe that killing someone does anything positive. Maybe if we stop that kind of sickness less people will kill criminally because they won't be brought up to believe that killing accomplishes anything.

I did state that I am not a proponent of the death penalty. But there are exceptions to that...1) the killing of an on duty police officer,...2) the killing of a child.

Have you ever found a victim of murder? ....... I have.
Have you ever had to face the family of the victim? ...... I have.
Had to explain to family what happened to their loved one? .... I have.
Had to go to court, face the killer and testify? ... I have.

I don't want my tax money pissed off supporting long term prisoners . now if you folks that don't want anyone killed are willing to pick up the cost of keeping them a live then i don't care . but if your late on your payments we get to kill as many as possible til you are fully caught up on your payments .
I would rather see my tax money spend on better schools , way better teachers . at least ones that read the job descriptions before they take the jobs .and on the space program . flights to other planets . YOU KNOW THINGS THAT ARE IMPORTANT ..

None of which makes retribution killing any better than the original crime killing.

There is no solid justification for state sanctioned killing besides there are humans who have not evolved and still like to kill for no positive reason.

It costs more to kill them than house them so I will take the smaller bill myself and keep my healthy mind in the process.

Cost wasn't the main issue in my post.

Although, it doesn't surprise me in the slightest that you would focus on THAT part of it rather than the bigger issue of providing him things that NON CRIMINAL, LAW ABIDING citizens aren't entitled to.

I find it fascinating how you can manage to completely ignore the meat of an issue just so that you can keep your rosy glasses on.

It is a shame that some police are as corrupt as criminals to the point where we dont always know what to believe. I dont know if this man is guilty or innocent, I have read 'facts' on both sides. I would hate for him to have been executed for something he didnt do.

Considering this man was a newscaster, with no previous record, I can sadly believe that he MAY have been railroaded which causes me much pause. Its a matter of whom we believe, upon which I am erring on the side of not risking the life of someone who MAY be innocent.