[News] Mumia & Legal Update

Tue Jul 6 08:54:44 EDT 2004

Please forward:

Death Penalty Again Looms Over Mumia's Head
July 5, 2004

On June 29, 2004, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit lifted
its stay in the case of Mumia Abu-Jamal, and ordered briefing.  At issue
is whether the death judgment should stand.  Also pending is the
prosecution's unconstitutional use of racism in jury selection.

Robert R. Bryan, Mumia's lead attorney, has summed up the impact of the
latest developments:

  "Mumia's case is now moving forward.  He is in extremely grave danger.
The authorities want to silence his voice and pen.  They thought this
could be accomplished by convicting this innocent man and placing him on
death row.  However, his voice against injustice and oppression is now
stronger then ever, and is heard and read throughout the world.  The
government knows that the only way to stop Mumia is to murder him in the
name of the law, to execute him.  In over three decades of litigating
death-penalty cases, I have not seen one in which the government wants
so badly to kill a client.  We must not rest until Mumia is free!"

The Court of Appeals briefing order came on the heels of a U.S. Supreme
Court decision in Beard v. Banks, ___ U.S. ___, 2004 WL 1402567 (June
24, 2004).  The issue is whether this ruling should apply to the case of
Mumia.  The prosecution is contending that the order for Mumia's
execution must remain and be carried out.  However, it is the view of
Mr. Bryan that "this tragically unfair decision in the Banks case should
not have an effect on Mumia."

Mr. Bryan explained that Beard v. Banks is a complicated case.  The
Supreme Court ruled on the appeal by Pennsylvania stemming from a Court
of Appeals decision that invalidated the death sentence of George Banks,
who has been on death row over 20 years for multiple murder.  Mr. Banks'
death sentence had been overturned on the grounds that the jury
instructions violated a Supreme Court ruling which held that jurors did
not have to agree unanimously on the existence of mitigating
circumstances in order to vote against death.  The issue in the Banks
appeal was whether Mills v. Maryland, 486 U.S. 367 (1988) could be
applied retroactively, as the Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit had
held.

On June 24 the Supreme Court reversed in a 5-4 decision written by
Justice Clarence Thomas.  He concluded that the Mills case, which held
unconstitutional capital sentencing schemes that require juries to
disregard mitigating factors not found unanimously, did not apply
retroactively.  It was determined that the Banks conviction became final
in 1987, thus the 1988 Mills decision did not affect his case even
though what had occurred was unconstitutional.  Hence, Mr. Banks and
others similarly situated could not benefit from the Mills decision and
his death judgment will stand.  It is understood that about 30 other
Pennsylvania death sentences are at stake for similar concerns.

Mr. Bryan pointed out that Justice Stevens, joined by Justices Souter,
Ginsburg, and Breyer, strongly dissented.  Justice Stevens said that the
"use of such a procedure is unquestionably unconstitutional today, and I
believe it was equally so in 1987 when respondent's death sentence
became final."  He further explained that "Mills simply represented a
straightforward application of our longstanding view that 'the Eighth
and Fourteenth Amendments cannot tolerate the infliction of a sentence
of death under [a] legal syste[m] that permit[s] the unique penalty to
be . . . wantonly and . . . freakishly imposed.'"  Justice Souter said
that "a death sentence based upon a verdict of 11 jurors who would have
relied on a given mitigating circumstance to spare a defendant's life,
and a single holdout who blocked them from doing so, would surely be an
egregious failure to express the public conscience accurately."  He
found that too much importance is given "to the finality of capital
sentences and not enough to their accuracy."

There are other legal developments concerning the legal fight to free
Mumia.  Robert Bryan is awaiting a ruling on a petition he filed in the
trial court, the Court of Common Pleas, Philadelphia, concerning new
evidence of innocence and prosecutorial fraud.  He will also be
attempting to go back into the U.S. District Court regarding the
statement by the trial judge, who said during the trial in reference to
Mumia:

"Yeah, and I'm going to help'em fry the nigger."

Mumia Abu-Jamal is an award winning author and broadcast journalist. He
has been languishing on Pennsylvania's death row for over 23 yrs.
Writing from a solitary confinement cell, his essays have reached a
worldwide audience.  Mumia is the author of five books including "Live
 >From Death Row", "Death Blossoms", "All Things Censored", "Faith of Our
Fathers" and the recently released "We Want Freedom."  They have sold
over 150,000 copies and been translated into seven languages.  His 1982
murder trial and subsequent conviction have been the subject of great
debate.

Mumia's insightful essays and melodic baritone breathe life into the
numbing statistic -- 5.1 million people under correctional control.
Whether Mumia Abu-Jamal's voice will reach the airwaves, and ultimately
whether he lives or dies, will be a true test of the strength of our
struggle.  It will also depend on our independence, the depth of our
courage, and our will to organize.

Legal Overview: "The government's quest to murder in the name of the law
is based upon its desire to silence Mumia's voice and pen.  This case
has been riddled with racism and fraud since his arrest 1981.  The trial
was a travesty of justice.  Mumia is innocent."  Robert R. Bryan, Esq.

A decision in Mumia's first and only federal habeas corpus appeal was
issued on Dec. 18, 2001 by Judge William Yohn, U.S. District Court. In
that ruling, Mumia's death sentence was reversed, but his conviction was
upheld.  Both the Philadelphia DA and Mumia's lawyers appealed. The
Court granted the DA's motion to keep Mumia on death row.  If the appeal
panel grants relief on Mumia's death sentence, the case will go back for
a re-trial on whether Mumia is again sentenced to death, or is to spend
the remainder of his life in prison.   Mumia's attorneys are seeking a
completely new trial, and have issues pending in both state and federal
courts.  In order for Mumia to be released from prison he must first
have a new trial.  For legal updates and to see an excellent summary of
the case visit: www.freemumia.org/Petition.Mar.8.pdf

Health Crisis Update: In the past year Mumia has had two serious bouts
of inflammation of his ankle and leg with discoloration, caused by his
many years on death row.  Mumia needs to be seen by an outside doctor
for a diagnosis and a health care plan.  He is housed in isolation at a
supermax security control unit on death row.

----------------------

"I have never seen a case where the government wanted so desperately to
kill one of my clients.  Mumia Abu-Jamal is in grave danger." Robert R.
Bryan, Esq., Lead Attorney

10 Things you Can Do to Help Free Mumia

1. Get involved.  Contact International Concerned Friends and Family of
Mumia Abu-Jamal, P.O. Box 19709, Philadelphia, PA 19143, (Tel (215)
476-8812) www.Mumia.org.

2. Contribute to Mumia Abu-Jamal's Legal Defense Fund. Write a check to
the National Lawyers Guild Foundation/Mumia.  Make sure to write Mumia
on the memo line, and mail to: Friends of MAJ, 130 Morningside Drive,
Suite 6C, NY, NY 10027.

3. Call, write or fax Ed Rendell, Governor, to demand a new trial for
Mumia: 225 Main Capitol Building, Harrisburg, PA 17120, 717-787-2500 ph
717-783-1198 fax.

4. Organize a speaking engagement in your town or at a college with
Mumia Abu-Jamal's lead attorney Robert R. Bryan (Bryanlawsf at aol.com).

5. Call your local community radio station and ask them to play Mumia's
insightful commentaries, hear the commentaries at www.prisonradio.org.

6. Contact Pennsylvania Department of Corrections Director Jeffrey A.
Beard and ask that inhumane conditions, isolation, and torture of
death-row inmates be immediately addressed. (717) 975-4918 PA Dept of
Corrections, 2520 Lisburn Road P.O. Box 598 Camp Hill, PA 17001-0598

  7. Write to Mumia Abu-Jamal, AM 8335, 175 Progress Dr., Waynesburg, PA
15370.

8. Call 1-800-VISIT-PA to say you will only vacation in Pennsylvania
when Mumia is granted a new trial, a moratorium on executions is
enacted, and the MOVE 9 are free.

9. Buy his new book "We Want Freedom" (www.southendpress.org).  Ask your
local bookstore to carry Mumia's books.

10. Join your local Mumia organizing group, or start a new one. For more
information about the death penalty and the pennsylvania prison system
contact  www.prisonsociety.org;

The Freedom Archives
522 Valencia Street
San Francisco, CA 94110
(415) 863-9977
www.freedomarchives.org 
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