Statements from MUMIA, WILLIAMS + WEINGLASS

["Greg Butterfield" <theredguard@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

>From: nattyreb@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
>
>MUMIA ABU-JAMAL'S STATEMENT IN
>RESPONSE TO SUPREME COURT
>DENIAL FOR NEW TRIAL
>
>It was not unexpected that the Supreme Court would deny my
>appeal. The Supreme Court hears only a tiny percent of the
>cases that are brought before it, roughly 75 out of 7,000 in one
>semester or a term of the court. I entertained no expectations
>that mine would be granted. We have to remember that we
>are working with a conservative court that has worked
>deciduously in the Bush and Reagan administrations and
>now in the Clinton administration to narrow the chances of
>anyone having had their case heard, not just a prisoner on
>death row. Even the most charitable observer must agree
>that by virtue of the court taking such a small fraction of the
>important cases that are filed before it, it is impossible to
>ignore the fact that many grave injustices are going unresolved.
>Given the tone and tenor of recent Supreme Court opinions
>there is even a sense of relief that they didn't grant my third
>appeal. And the trend is increasingly in favor of the State,
>the trend is increasingly to disfavor the defendant and the
>accused. Certainly there are exceptions, but that's the undeniable
>trend, the expansion of state power and police power in the
>retractions of prisoners' rights.
>
>The struggle continued, the same old forces are still at work.
>Look what happened when I called into WBAI. I was literally
>pulled off the air a few weeks ago. The recent Phillip Block
>debacle reflects too how desperate the state is and their
>desperation is really an acknowledgement that none of them
>believed Phil's confession story to begin with. Still we can't
>forget the old saying that the truth shall set you free. I still
>believe that. I'd be a fool not to.
>
>October 4, 1999 -
>From Death Row, Mumia Abu-Jamal
>
>///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
>
>October 4, 1999
>
>
>TO:    MUMIA SUPPORTERS
>
>FROM:  DANIEL WILLIAMS AND LEONARD WEINGLASS
>
>       RE: DENIAL OF CERT.
>
>
>Today, the United States Supreme Court failed to seize an
>opportunity to do justice and to end a 17-year nightmare. An
>opportunity to vindicate a well-established right, secured within
>the Constitution itself, has been squandered. We are sorely
>disappointed in the Supreme Court's unwillingness to give Mumia
>a hearing in that court, even though the record is crystal clear
>as to what happened in Mumia's trial. Mumia was unquestionably
>stripped unjustifiably of his right to represent himself.
>He had decided to represent himself after it became apparent that
>his court-appointed lawyer was unwilling and incapable of representing
>him adequately. Yet, at the very moment that the trial began, Mumia's
>right to handle his own case was taken from him and the case placed
>back into the hands of his incompetent defense counsel who did not
>even expect that he would be trying the case.
>
>When Mumia refused to sit in silence as his rights were being abridged,
>he was forcibly removed from the trial proceedings.
>
>All that we asked of the Supreme Court was to put this case on its
>docket so these incontrovertible facts could be evaluated in the light
>of the Constitution. Unfortunately, the Supreme Court let this golden
>moment pass, and we must now present these, and other claims concerning
>Mumia's innocence, to the federal courts. We are finalizing our federal
>habeas petition and shall file it shortly. Although disappointed by the
>Supreme Court's lack of courage and resolve, we are hopeful that the light
>we see in front of us is the light of justice.
>
>(end statement)
>///////////////////////////////////////////////////////
>
>International Concerned Family & Friends of Mumia Abu-Jamal
>P.O. Box 19709 - Philadelphia, PA 19143
>Ph: 215-476-8812 / Fax: 215-476-7551
>Web: www.mumia.org / E-mail: mumia@xxxxxxxxxx
>
>MUMIA MUST LIVE! TIME IS RUNNING OUT!
>
>
>

______________________________________________________
Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com