Mumia Abu-Jamal: Convicted Cop Killer

On December 9, 1981, Mumia Abu-Jamal shot and killed Philadelphia Police Officer Daniel Faulkner. Faulkner had pulled over Mumia's brother, William Cook, for driving the wrong way on a one way street, with his lights off. Cook slapped Faulkner across the face, and in retaliation, Faulkner hit him back with his nightstick. Then, Mumia, who had been sitting across the street, ran over and shot Faulkner several times, including shots in the back and between the eyes. The gun that was found at the scene was registered to Mumia.

This story has been proven in a court of law and upheld by 13 different appellate judges.

Mumia Abu-Jamal was sentenced to death for the premeditated and cold-blooded murder of Officer Daniel Faulkner. His original conviction took place in July of 1982. Since then, the verdict has been appealed many times but has not been overturned, regardless of claims that Mumia is innocent and has been framed.

Mumia's attorneys have made allegations of Mumia's innocence, of judicial misconduct, and of police intimidation and coercion of witnesses. Beginning in 1995, the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania allowed Mumia and his attorneys the opportunity to prove these allegations.

After a 3-year review of the facts surrounding these allegations, the Supreme Court of Pensylvania unanimously upheld Mumia Abu-Jamal's conviction. The Supreme Court also stated that Mumia's attorneys "misrepresented the record" to support their allegations, and that these allegations are "without merit".

Despite the fact that Mumia's conviction has been upheld many times, there is currently a movement to "Free Mumia." There are people who insist that Mumia is innocent, and many companies and celebrities stand for this cause. Some of them only believe in the cause because they are against capital punishment, and don't really know much about the case; others just believe Mumia is innocent. I believe that if more people knew the true facts about Mumia Abu-Jamal, then fewer people would support the "Free Mumia" movement.

Mumia's supporters have several arguments that they claim show his innocence. I feel that these arguments are unfounded, as they lack facts to back them up.

One argument is that the jury that originally convicted Mumia in 1982 was racially stacked against him, and that this was a violation of Mumia's civil rights. This is not true. In 1982, when jury selection began, Mumia was acting as his own attorney. He was granted the opportunity to personally select his own jury, and he was given complete control of the questions to be asked of eash prospective juror.

The jury that was originally seated at the 1982 trial was a nearly perfect reflection of the racial makeup of Philadelphia at that time.

Another claim made by Mumia Abu-Jamal's supporters is that the judge at the original trial, Judge Sabo, has sentenced more people to death than any other judge in the United Ssteates. So, they think that Judge Sabo was biased against Mumia right from the beginning.

Records actually show that Judge Sabo has presided over more capital murder cases, or cases involving the death penalty, than any other sitting judge in the United States. Therefore, it is not unusual for him to have presided over more cases where the jury sentenced individuals to death than any other judge in the country, since it was the jury, and not Judge Sabo, who sentenced Mumia to death.

The law in Pennsylvania is that the judge does not sentence a defendant to death. In PA, a jury of twelve citizens must unanimously agree to convict the defendant; then, the jury has two options: to impose a life sentence, or the death penalty. Then, the decision must be once again unanimous by all twelve jurors.

Some people believe that Mumia is a "political prisoner", who received his death sentence because of his political beliefs and prior membership in the Black Panther Party.

The court transcripts from the 1982 trial show that it was Mumia Abu-Jamal, not the prosecution, who continually brought up his political beliefs. Mumia openly proclaimed his political beliefs before the jury. Virtually everyday of the 1982 trial, Mumia demanded to be "represented" by John Africa, the leader of MOVE, a violent anti-government group. With repeated loud outbursts in the courtroom, Mumia fought with the judge, questioned the authority of the US legal system, insulted the prosecution, and openly ridiculed his own defense attorney.

Only after Mumia had expressed his political beliefs to the jury in a lengthy statement that he read to them, did Assistant DA Joe McGill question himm about various political quotes that he had made.

Finally, in regard to the claims that police intimidated and coerced witnesses, and lost and withheld evidence in an attempt to frame Mumia, I want to mention that the defense has never established even one example of this. Therefore, it is an unfounded argument.

These are just several of the arguments made by those people who support Mumia Abu-Jamal. I feel that the "Free Mumia" movement is wrong, because regardless of the controversy surrounding capital punishment, Mumia Abu-Jamal has been convicted of murder. It would be wrong to overturn the conviction of this guilty man. After all, even Mumia himself has not personally denied killing Faulkner.

I am not saying that I am for or against capital punishment---I am only saying that I am against releasing a man who killed a police officer.

The Fraternal Order of Police, which is the nation's largest organization of law enforcement officers, has organized a boycott of celebrities, rock groups, and companies that support Mumia. Among those on the boycott list are Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream, Paul Newman, Susan Sarandon, Spike Lee, Oliver Stone, Naomi Campbell, Sting, Rage Against the Machine, Beastie Boys, and Michael Stipe of "R.E.M."

The idea behind the boycott is to dry up the funds from Mumia supporters.

In closing, I encourage all of you to take part in this boycott to end the "Free Mumia" movement, because on December 9, 1981, Mumia Abu-Jamal shot and killed Police Officer Daniel Faulkner.