[Ppnews] Mumia Abu-Jamal - Legal Update

[Political Prisoner News]

To: RobertRBryan at aol.com
Sent: Thursday, November 30, 2006 7:27 PM
Subject: Mumia Abu-Jamal - Legal Update [Please Circulate]


Dear Friends:

Two weeks ago the District Attorney of Philadelphia filed a brief in reply
to our most recent brief filed on behalf of Mumia Abu-Jamal.  Even though
this was to be the last of the briefs before oral argument, we felt
obligated to respond due to the complexity of the issues and the
government's factual misrepresentations.  Attached is the Response of
Appellee and Appellant, Mumia Abu-Jamal, to Sur-Reply Brief, submitted
this week to the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit,
Philadelphia.

This case is of enormous consequence.  It concerns the political
repression of an outspoken journalist known globally as the "Voice of the
Voiceless," the right to a fair trial, and the struggle against the death
penalty.  The authorities want to kill my client in order to silence his
voice and pen.  We must not let that occur.  Racism and politics are
threads that have run through this case since his arrest on December 9,
1981, and continue today.

Each of the issues under consideration by the federal court are of great
constitutional significance.  They include:
   a.. The prosecutor's exclusion of African Americans from sitting on the
jury.
   b.. The bias and racism of the trial judge, Albert F. Sabo, who stated
that he was going to "help'em fry the nigger."
   c.. The prosecutor's "appeal after appeal" argument that essentially
called upon the jurors to disregard the right to the presumption of
innocence and reasonable doubt, and err on the side of guilt.
   d.. The judge's unfair and skewed jury instructions and verdict form
that resulted in the death penalty, since jurors were precluded from
considering any mitigating evidence unless they all agreed on the
existence of a particular special circumstance.
We will be presenting oral argument before a three-judge panel in the U.S.
Court of Appeals. Even though no date has been set, this will likely occur
within the next few months.


My purpose remains to win this life-and-death struggle, gain a new and
fair trial, and see my client walk out of jail a free person.  However, as
I have warned, Mr. Abu-Jamal remains in great danger.



Thank you for your concern in this campaign for justice.


With best wishes,

Robert
=========
Robert R. Bryan
Law Offices of Robert R. Bryan
2088 Union Street, Suite 4
San Francisco, California 94123

Lead counsel for Mumia Abu-Jamal

-- 
Free All Political Prisoners!
nycjericho at riseup.net • www.jerichony.org

<file://c:\documents%20and%20settings\administrator\application%20data\qualcomm\eudora\attach\2006%20Nov.27%20-%20Response%20of%20Mumia%20to%20Sur-Reply.pdf><file://c:\documents%20and%20settings\administrator\application%20data\qualcomm\eudora\attach\2006%20Nov.27%20-%20Response%20of%20Mumia%20to%20Sur-Reply.pdf> 
2006 Nov.27 - Response of Mumia to Sur-Reply.pdf

The Freedom Archives
522 Valencia Street
San Francisco, CA 94110
(415) 863-9977
www.freedomarchives.org 
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://freedomarchives.org/pipermail/ppnews_freedomarchives.org/attachments/20061203/d0954286/attachment.htm>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: 2006 Nov.27 - Response of Mumia to	Sur-Reply.pdf
Type: application/pdf
Size: 386278 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://freedomarchives.org/pipermail/ppnews_freedomarchives.org/attachments/20061203/d0954286/attachment.pdf>