Re: [A-List] Court overturns Mumia Abu-Jamal death sentence

[bar@xxxxxxxxxxx]

Well, that's not the way I see it. I have been involved, like a lot of
other people, in his defence over the years (support committees, legal
reps etc) and this is a travesty. It was clear the evidence against him
was fabricated and distorted and it was clearly established the police had
a vendetta against him because of his reporting on the MOVE raid in which
the police used high explosives. It was clear there were many procedural
and evidentiary violations in the trial. And now, he still faces the death
penalty. He has only been sent back for resentencing and he could again
face the death penalty. And frankly, life in a US prison is the
equivalent.

Chris

> What? You expect analysis from BBC?
>
> At least they threw out the death penalty part of the sentencing.
>
> Just think... due to changes in the death penalty laws over the years,
> if he had been arrested more recently, he'd be dead by now, along with a
> number of framed BPP members.
>
> At least he'll be... relatively "OK" (term used loosely) to live and
> fight another day in court.
>
> bar@xxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
>> The real story is that the Third Circuit denied Mumia Abu Jamal the knew
>> trial he has been seeking and justly deserves if not outright acquittal
>> on
>> the frame-up he has faced all these years. But the BBC as usual makes no
>> comment on how he was framed and the motivations behind it.
>>
>> Chris
>>
>>
>>> BBC: US court overturns death sentence
>>>
>>> March 28 2008
>>>
>>> A US federal appeals court has overturned the death sentence imposed on
>>> former Black Panthers member Mumia Abu-Jamal.
>>>
>>> The court said Abu-Jamal's conviction for murdering a Philadelphia
>>> police officer should stand, but that he should have a new sentencing
>>> hearing.
>>>
>>> The former radio journalist and activist was sentenced to death for the
>>> murder in 1982.
>>>
>>> While in jail he became a leading campaigner against the death penalty.
>>>
>>> He appealed against the sentence, on the grounds that racism on the
>>> part
>>> of the judge and the prosecutors had corrupted his conviction, which
>>> was
>>> by a jury of 10 white and two black people.
>>>
>>>
>>> In Full: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7317451.stm
>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>>
>
>