Supreme Court rejects Mumia death penalty
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(Left) March on U.S. Embassy in Pretoria, S. Africa, in 1995 demanded “Free Mumia!”
thus open the door even wider to a new trial. Prosecutors now have 180 days from Oct. 11 to decide whether to pursue this new sentencing hearing—and risk potential damage to the legal system’s very credibility—or whether to let the matter of execution drop and accept a sentence of life imprisonment.
Philadelphia’s and Pennsylvania’s hate-filled of ficials are likely to avoid making a final decision until the 180-period is exhausted, thus keeping Mumia in the tiny death-row cell in which he has been barred from any human contact for 30 years. After this final insult, Mumia must be returned to the general prison population, thus ending his cruel and racist isolation.
Meanwhile, Mumia’s struggle for freedom is far from ended. His attorney’s have announced the hiring of a professional investigator to assemble a team to search for new evidence sufficient to demand a new trial. To meet the legal standard for such a trial the new evidence must be “com pelling and not previously litigated,” as well as evidence that could not have been “previously discovered through due diligence.” Mumia’s legal team is highly motivated to meet these difficult standards. If they are successful they will file for yet another Post Conviction Relief Act hearing to resume the struggle for Mumia’s freedom.
Finally, an ongoing legal effort remains in progress and is currently pending before Pennsylvania courts. This concerns the facts revealed in a report of the Na tional Academy of Sciences that the state’s original ballistics evidence submitted at Mumia’s 1982 trial was fundamentally flawed—if not falsified by police officials. If the courts agree, the possibility remains that this might be considered sufficient to re-open the case, assuming that the same racist criminal “jus tice” system that has ruled against Mumia on spuri ous grounds for decades has a change of heart—an unlikely variant.
Yet, Mumia’s supporters in the U.S. and across the globe remain dedicated to his freedom and fully un derstand that the continuing legal battle must be supplemented by the continued building of broad, national, and ongoing mass mobilizations and politi cal battles demanding Mumia’s freedom. A coalition of several longstanding Mumia solidarity groups, initiat ed by the International Concerned Family and Friends of Mumia Abu-Jamal, is planning a mass rally in his de fense on Friday, Dec. 9, marking the 30th anniversary of his incarceration.
The event will take place in Philadelphia’s National Constitution Center at 7:30 p.m. Featured speakers include Cornell West, Ramona Africa, Arundhati Roy, and Michelle Alexander (via video), Mark Lamont Hill, Pam Africa, Immortal Technique, Vijay Prashad, Ami na Baraka, Christina Swarns (Mumia co-counsel), and Martina Correia (sister of Troy Davis). Contact free mumia.com for further information.
A solidarity rally in San Francisco with Ramona Af rica and others, sponsored by the Mobilization to Free Mumia Abu-Jamal, is set for Sunday, 2 p.m., Dec. 11, at 518 Valencia Street, (510) 268-9429. Free Mumia Abu-Jamal! End the Racist Death Penalty! n est in this protest is to exploit it, to weaken it, while they continue to serve the very bosses the protestors oppose. You can count the number of politicians who truly oppose Wall St. on one hand—and still have a few fingers left.
Perhaps America’s greatest white revolutionary, abolitionist John Brown, had little regard for politi cians. He told his family: “A professional politician … you never could trust; for even if he had convictions, he was always ready to sacrifice his principles for his advantage.”
Think about that. Now think about every politician you know. See?
This is People’s Power, sparked, in part by the mass protests in Cairo and Wisconsin. Other sparks were the Troy Davis injustice, the assault on several demon strators by New York cops, the repression on the poor and working class by the political class, and discontent with the long, wasted years at mindless wars abroad.
This is people’s power. May it remain so.
©MAJ 2011