A judge denied political prisoner Mumia Abu Jamal a new trial, and in so doing denies prosecutorial misconduct, suborning of perjury, and other wrongdoing committed against him.
“Mumia is the community, Mumia is the world movement, Mumia is the heartbeat when we talk about revolutionary thinkers, and you know, Mumia represents all that are in prison. Mumia’s story as a political prisoner is the story of your family members and your friends who are being held behind bars from a racist system. So we’re not stopping, we’re not stopping at all.” – Jamal Jr. on Black Power Media
Today at 4:08 pm, March 31, 2023, Common Pleas court Judge Lucretia Clemons denied Mumia Abu-Jamal’s request for a new trial.
This is simply devastating news.
After 43 years in prison, Mumia Abu-Jamal has exhausted nearly all of his avenues for relief.
Make no mistake: Justice required that Mumia Abu-Jamal be given a new trial.
The enemy now is time. At 68 years old Mumia is suffering from cardiac disease and has had a double bypass, and nearly died from lack of treatment for acute Hepatitis C.
If you put thick blinders on that block out all reality and rely on procedural minutia for cover, honestly, it is still impossible to avoid the scorchingly blatant racism of trial Judge Albert Sabo, Assistant District Attorney Joseph McGill, Mayor and former police chief Frank Rizzo, District Attorney during Mumia’s trial Ed Rendell, and Ron Castille, DA and former Pennsylvania Supreme Court Justice.
Striking Blacks from the Jury
Judge Clemons stated that she was dismissing the claim of striking Black jurors on procedural grounds, dismissing Mumia’s claim about the prosecutor excluding Black people from the jury, without addressing the merits of the claim. One only has to look at the McMann training tapes that were made by the Philadelphia DA’s office which instructed prosecutors how to strike Black jurors. The tapes were made after Mumia’s trial, but they document the practice which was the norm in the office.
Suborning Perjury: Paying Witnesses
Additionally, there’s the note from supposed “eye witness” Robert Chobert that asked prosecutor McGill after the trial “where is the money that is owed to me?” This note was scrubbed from any filings and buried by the prosecution for 40 years. This dramatic “Brady evidence” previously unavailable to the defense, was dismissed by the Judge in her written opinion as not “being material.” Meaning it would not have affected the jury’s verdict! Underlying this is the wholesale adoption of the credibility determinations of the original trial court Judge Albert “I am going to help them fry the n—word” Sabo. It allows his racist tainted rulings to stand.
Judge Clemons also dismissed records from prosecutor McGill that extensively track and monitor another key witness, Cynthia White, who’s pending criminal cases were ALL were dropped by the prosecution following her testimony.
“It’s heartbreaking… Mumia is a scholar, he is a good dude who is being framed up by Philadelphia for a murder he didn’t commit … the Judge knows this, the prosecution knows this, and it really saddens me that they won’t give my grandfather the freedom that he deserves” – Jamal Jr. on Black Power Media
There will be rallies in Philly and several other locations around the country.
Noelle Hanrahan is the founder and director of Prison Radio. Ms. Hanrahan is a licensed private investigator in Rhode Island. She specializes in recording, salvaging, transfer, noise reduction and enhancement of audio and all media formats, as well as conducting research and interviews for civil and criminal defense investigations. She has a B.A. from Stanford University, and an M.A. in Criminal Justice from Boston University. Additionally, she is a member of AWI (Association of Workplace Investigators), the Licensed Private Detectives Association of Rhode Island, and New Jersey Licensed Private Investigators Association (NJLPIA).
BAR contributing editor Ann Garrison continues her reporting from Ethiopia.
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